Craft of Writing

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Craft of Writing

Leanne Johnston

Internet Marketing – Image

Writers! Welcome to the 21st Century and an abundance of new writing opportunities!

Rollover, newspaper editors, the Internet is treading on your territory!

As newspaper companies flick through their pages, more readers and advertisers are migrating daily to the Internet and many newspaper-based businesses are grappling with the problem of keeping their readers and advertisers. It is not clear yet if newspaper-based businesses will keep pace with the Internet-based onslaught, but fortunately through this marketing war, writers are the winners, being given greater opportunities than ever before.

This millennium the Internet holds a multitude of opportunities for writers to reach their reading audience. This year alone more people became millionaires than in any other year. What consequence does this have on you as a writer?

It means people have more spare time for leisure activities and more time to read your wonderful words.

How many of these people would like to read your novels, articles or short stories?

Now, this is where we get to the nitty-gritty. If I were to read your work, what picture do you think I would get from it?

If I asked, “What image do you portray?” would you know how to answer?

More importantly, what image do you want to portray online?

Many hundreds of people have commented that online we,

“Find it hard to communicate because we cannot use facial expressions.”
How much harder is it to sell ourselves or our work online?

We have to gain trust. How can our words do this? Another difficult part about marketing our writing online is the lack of voice inflection, (unless of course you have invested in the latest video conferencing equipment). Tone of voice can give so much more meaning to what someone is saying and the way they intend their words to be interpreted.

Most human communication is non-verbal. That is why users of the Internet are easily misunderstood. You only have to join any online group and you will soon see the disagreements that ensue due to misunderstandings caused by a word written incorrectly here or there or the reader misunderstanding the intent of the post. We can use emoticons or the commonly used “LOL” or “ROFL” of today’s Internet language to help but they cannot replace the tone of our voices and intended inflection.

But, not to get too hung up on the communications side of things, back to concentrating on marketing.

How does your online image play a part in marketing your novel or any of your work?

And, how can a writer who wants to market a novel get taken seriously?

Basically, it is everything about you and your ability to project your persona. Projecting a professional image is paramount to getting your work sold.

For instance, if you were offering your services as an Editor, you would need to display your best work online, always. If your credibility was to be believed, the customer needs to know you are good at what you do and qualified to do what you say you can. If they viewed your website only to find it contained errors, what do you think the chances would be of that potential customer using your services?

If you are serious about writing then take your craft seriously too. If your work is not up to scratch, not as perfect as you can make it, then do not post it!

In my work in a small publishing company, I am constantly disillusioned, dumbstruck and annoyed by writers who submit poorly written query letters only to have a half-decent manuscript attached. Can I emphasize how much this upsets me? No. But, I can say, the query letter is the first point of contact. It is your “image” being projected to your potential publisher. Polish it, make it the best it can be and stick strictly to the publisher's guidelines. If you are not sure, read over the guidelines again or get someone to help you interpret them. Chances are, if the publisher's guidelines are too ambiguous for you to understand, then you will not find much joy in taking on a publishing relationship with them. Ask them to clarify if you are in any doubt. If they do not want to assist you – find another who will.

The other place a customer may “see you” or “your work” is on your web page, blog or wherever that customer happens to stumble across your posts while using an online search engine or a link from another site.

If we, as writers, don’t step up to the mark and make a strong bid toward marketing our work with perfection we will only ever be seen as mediocre. This is okay for some. Heck! A few have been sitting in their mediocre solar-heated swimming pools splashing around for years screaming at the top of their voices,

“Come on in, the water's fine!”

Our readers are a switched on bunch and they might realize that they deserve better work for their consumer dollar. They want their fantasy to be fantastical and their other people’s lives to be portrayed with substance.

If you want a bestseller to add to your list of accomplishments in this life, you can no longer be happy with mediocre or average. You have to aim for the best of the best, always strive for perfection. Not everyone wants to go where you want to go, and just as well, because there isn’t much room up there!

Don’t forget, once you are there, someone will always be willing to take your place. This is a fact of a writer’s life and a well-known marketing dilemma—competition!

Consider this: It took Dr. Seuss’s twenty-three attempts to get his first children’s book published. It was finally accepted by the 24th publisher he approached. That publisher sold six million copies!

What I am saying is, do not be discouraged, for all your effort, with persistence something good can happen!

Consider Moses, he said,

“I’m no good at communicating with people.” And yet, from a marketing viewpoint, what a success his story became! In fact, who are better marketers than religious organizations?

As I stated in previous articles in this e-zine, if you write a book you should decide on your target market before venturing into the first chapter, but due to the creative intent of most writers they usually write the book and then try to sell their work.

Again, with this point in mind it is important to project the right image from the start. If you know your writing goal in life, you need to start projecting that image from the very first post you make online or elsewhere. Not always possible and unfortunately this realization usually comes to light after you have posted online only to work out later what it was you wanted from writing.

When you project your marketing image over the Internet, as my mother used to say,

“Don’t do as I do. Do as I say!”

“When marketing your writing on the Internet—Image is everything! Project the image you want people to see and most of all, be seen!

Good luck with your writing career!

About the Author
Imagine 60’s Australia: A cool, early, autumn morning. A mother gives birth to a girl child. This child continues to wake early every morning, talk the leg off an iron pot,* including any animals nearby, entertains herself with her vivid imagination and detest late nights because they interfere with her precious dreamtime.

Nowadays Leanne lives and works on a Stud Murray Grey cattle farm. She considers the Murray Grey breed exceptional and one that will become the most popular breed in the world due to their wonderful temperament and marbling. She shows absolutely no bias of course. Her love of animals will not cease.

The other side of her personality loves to tell tales and until a few years ago she worked in office management. One wild Wednesday she quit her job to pursue a career as a writer. She believes everyone is here for a reason. Everyone has something unique or great about them and others should encourage them to develop their special skills. Leanne likes to use her ability as a writer to help others become all they can, realising there is heaps of good in the world if you seek it in people.

Life is like a large brainteaser to Leanne and she believes in things unseen, unheard of, and sometimes only felt.

If you wish to contact Leanne, you may, at huonmurraygreys@bigpond.com.

*Common Aussie slang