Marketing Yourself As a Freelance Writer

Let’s face it if most of us freelancers really enjoyed marketing we’d be in Marketing not it in writing. Makes sense, no? But if we want to feed ourselves and our families we have to constantly be on the lookout for new clients. And here let me add that those of you who think that you are all set because you have one big client who keeps you busy all the time, may be in for a rude awakening. I would prefer to be making a little less money with several clients than more money with one big client. A freelance relationship by its very nature means that your big client can drop you tomorrow with no prior notice suddenly drying up your income and we all know that little Suzie isn’t interested in hearing that she has to stop her ballet lessons because Daddy’s (or Mommy’s) big client pulled the plug. The time between when you start to look for a new client and when actual money enters your bank account from this new client can be several months.
The only way to overcome our aversion to marketing is to set aside several hours per week for marketing and not compromising on this point.
What do I mean by marketing? I don’t mean cold-calling. I do mean setting up a web site if you don’t already have one, or maintaining one that you already have. If you are a writer it is a minimum that you have a web site. There is no excuse for not having one. I also mean doing web searches for likely clients or outsourcing companies and contacting them. I also mean considering setting up a professional blog, working on your CV, registering with LinkdIn and putting an ad in Google AdWords or similar services. If some of these things cost money, so be it. The amount of money that you can make from one serious client will pay all your marketing costs for several years.
Finally, if you’re looking for just one book to teach you about sales I recommend Soft Selling in a Hard World by Jerry Vaas. It deals with the types of clients who would be buying our services and also has lots of concrete examples.