Anne H. Janzer's Blog, page 32

Readers’ Favorite Press Release: The Writer’s Process Gold Medal

For immediate release:

Reader’s Favorite recognizes “The Writer’s Process” in its annual international book award contest.

The Readers’ Favorite International Book Award Contest featured thousands of contestants from over a dozen countries, ranging from new independent authors to NYT best-sellers and celebrities.

Readers’ Favorite is one of the largest book review and award contest sites on the Internet. They have earned the respect of renowned publishers like Random House, Simon & Schuster, and Harper Collins, and have received the “Best Websites for Authors” and “Honoring Excellence” awards from the Association of Independent Authors. They are also fully accredited by the BBB (A+ rating), which is a rarity among Book Review and Book Award Contest companies.

We receive thousands of entries from all over the world. Because of these large submission numbers, we are able to break down our contest into 140+ genres, and each genre is judged separately, ensuring that books only compete against books of their same genre for a fairer and more accurate competition. We receive submissions from independent authors, small publishers, and publishing giants such as Random House, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster, with contestants that range from the first-time, self-published author to New York Times bestsellers like J.A. Jance, James Rollins, and #1 best-selling author Daniel Silva, as well as celebrity authors like Jim Carrey (Bruce Almighty), Henry Winkler (Happy Days), and Eriq La Salle (E.R., Coming to America).

“When the right books are picked as winners we pay attention. We will be spreading the word about Readers’ Favorite.” –Karen A., Editor for Penguin Random House

Readers’ Favorite is proud to announce that “The Writer’s Process” by Anne Janzer won the Gold Medal in the Non-Fiction – Writing/Publishing category.

You can learn more about Anne Janzer and “The Writer’s Process” at https://readersfavorite.com/book-review/the-writers-process where you can read reviews and the author’s biography, as well as connect with the author directly or through their website and social media pages.

Readers’ Favorite LLC

Media Relations

Louisville, KY 40202

800-RF-REVIEW

support@readersfavorite.com

https://readersfavorite.com

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When Writing Is a Team Sport

When you think of a writer, what do you envision?

Do you picture someone struggling alone in an attic, surrounded by crumpled papers, overflowing ashtrays and empty whiskey bottles? Papa Hemingway, perhaps?

Or maybe you envision a cozy writing retreat, with scenic views and solitude.

No matter what you imagine, it’s probably one person, working in solitude.

That’s the Myth of the Lone Writer – and like most myths, it can get in our way.

Writing is a social act.

As writers, we must connect with readers. If we never interact with people, whether virtually or in person, we probably won’t succeed. Even novelists and poets will tell you that that, with book promotion and platform building, their lives are hardly lonely and quiet all the time.

In the Workplace, No One Writes Alone

The Lone Writer myth is particularly damaging for people who write as part of their jobs – workplace writers. If you buy into this myth, you risk falling into one of two dangerous traps:

Because you think of yourself as a writer, you isolate yourself from others. Then you’re disappointed and frustrated when your efforts aren’t appreciated or valued.
Because you work with other people, you don’t think of yourself as a “real” writer.

Neither attitude serves you well.

Isolation is Dangerous

Sure, you may shut yourself away from others when the time comes to draft the content, but drafting is only part of the writing process. (See my post on the One Step Writing Myth for a rant on that subject.)

To set yourself up for success, you need to interact with other people when planning and getting approval for your writing. If you neglect the key stakeholders, your work will flounder.

The Self-Perception Problem

You may not be writing the great American novel on the job. Perhaps you’re working on a project plan, blog post, or an annual report with colleagues or on a team. It’s writing nonetheless, requiring both craft and creativity. You’re a writer.

For workplace writers, success doesn’t depend on booze-fueled inspiration or sacred silence. For you, writing is a team sport.

Workplace Writing is a Team Sport

Set aside the myth of the Lone Writer. Embrace teamwork instead.

Your team may be large or small. Players may include:

Project managers
Subject matter experts
Editors
Proofreaders
Managers
Approvers
Gatekeepers to publication

The readers are the fans. Without them, you won’t get paid to play the game.

If you’re lucky, you’re the star player on the team, and others around you recognize and value your efforts. You’re Steph Curry on the Golden State Warriors, for example – a star performer who also brings out the best in those around him.

Sometimes the writer is a supporting player, doing the work yet remaining invisible to the fans. This happens if you ghost write, or write in the voice of a business brand.

The best thing you can do for your writing career is to put aside that image of the lonely writer, and substitute one of a valuable team player.

Dedicate time and effort to communicating with the team.
Understand (and articulate) your role, and those of the other players.
Make sure everyone knows the play.

Simplify shifting this mindset goes a long way to changing your pattern of success at work.

For more along this theme, see my latest book The Workplace Writer’s Process.

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Subscription Marketing: All About Change

A new season arrives with autumn equinox. So, our theme this month is change, with all of its joys and trials.

Mountain View, California, where I live, is in the midst of a construction boom. I recently returned from a few weeks of travel to find buildings that were one-story metal frames now looming up four stories. Leaving town for a few weeks made the rapid pace of change even more obvious than it already was.

Change can be fun and invigorating when we instigate it ourselves, but threatening when we’re not in control. The faster the pace of change, the less time we have to adapt.

The subscription model acts as a change agent in many industries. Remember that “disrupting” isn’t always fun when you’re on the receiving end.

How do your customers handle change?

When switching an existing business to a subscription model, the transition can be tough for your business and customers alike.

Some customers dislike the trend toward subscriptions. Perhaps they feel forced into a subscription model when they would rather buy goods outright. If they don’t trust a vendor, they don’t want to embark on a subscription relationship. And sometimes, the pace of change is simply too fast.

If you’re switching from a traditional, one-time sales model to a subscription model, consider how you can overcome resistance to change during the transition. For example:

Do you provide levels of membership, giving new subscribers an element of control?
Is there a transition period for people to adapt?
Can you add value to the subscription, so people feel they are getting something new and better rather than being forced into a different payment model?

Even if you’re excited about the new model, take the time to understand customer perspectives.

Is it time to change the way we go to the movies?

Hollywood had a tough summer at the movies. This was apparently the worst summer in a decade in terms of box office receipts.

MoviePass might suggest that subscriptions are the answer.

MoviePass offers a monthly subscription to movies in the theater. To spur subscriber growth, the company recently lowered its price, offering unlimited movies for $10 per month. According to an article in Mashable, its subscriber base exploded by hundreds of thousands in a few days.

Handling that rapid growth has been a challenge, but MoviePass is on course to shift the way we go to the movies.

How about college textbooks?

The cost of college textbooks has risen almost as quickly as tuition itself. Change is on the way for college students as well. Check out College Textbooks Are Going the Way of Netflix on Quartz.

Changing your approach to marketing

Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose, of the Content Marketing Institute, are always pushing the boundaries of content marketing.

Their latest book, Killing Marketing, takes content marketing and value nurturing to the next logical step. In their model, the content and community that marketing creates can become a core business asset, beyond its function in generating and nurturing leads. Read my review of the book here.

Inspiring and leading change (September’s book deal)

Are you in a management or entrepreneurial role, or do you aspire to one? If so, check out The Moonshot Effect, on sale on Kindle for 99 cents through the end of September. This book is a guide to leading change in an organization. (It won the 2017 Gold Axiom Business Book Award Winner in Leadership.)

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Disclosure: I helped Lisa Goldman and Kate Purmal write this book, so I know that it’s chock full of good advice on team communications and leadership.

Fundamentals never change

Seth Godin just keeps shipping great advice. My recent favorite from Seth is a short post entitled Selfish Marketing Doesn’t Last. This quote summarizes the essence of value nurturing for the long-term relationship:

“In the long run, your selfishness will catch up with you. Day by day, the long run keeps getting shorter.”

Upcoming Events

From Idea to Publication: Crafting Your Nonfiction Book Plan

Writing a book can transform your professional life. If you’re in the Bay Area, join me on October 4th, on the LinkedIn campus in Sunnyvale, for a half-day workshop on going from concept to publication.

Women In Consulting is sponsoring the workshop, but you don’t have to be a woman or consultant to attend! Here’s the registration link: http://bit.ly/WIC-BookWritingWorkshop.

B2B Marketing Forum

October 3-6, Boston, Mass. This terrific conference is almost sold out. Find out more here.

SUBCOM 2017: The Subscription Commerce Summit

November 14-15, Marines Memorial Club, San Francisco.

The event organizers have been adding some interesting speakers.

Sean Kelly, CEO and CO-founder of SnackNation, will present how prioritizing a positive and fun workplace environment will not only improve employee retention, but will in turn increase customer engagement and minimize churn in your subscription business.
Ali Lichtenstein, Director of Customer Experience Design at Dow Jones, will give a talk on the importance of mapping the customer experience in a subscription business in order to identify opportunities to reduce points of friction and improve ROI.

Register here.

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Killing Marketing: A Book Review

The title of the latest book by Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose really grabbed my attention: Killing Marketing: How Innovative Businesses are Turning Marketing Cost into Profit.

That sounds like a manifesto – and manifestos are fun. I’ve been known, on occasion, to rant about “death to the funnel” and other topics.

Yet, as any student of history knows, it’s easier to get people excited about toppling the current regime than to build something new in its place. (French revolution, anyone?)

But Joe and Robert do not disappoint; they love creative marketing and effective content, and want to build a better world incorporating both. And they provide solid advice for how we can get there.

The Next Logical Step in Content Marketing Mastery

As founder of the Content Marketing Institute, Joe Pulizzi was an early advocate of content marketing. He laid out its precepts and practices in his book Epic Content Marketing in 2015, and the role of content for start-ups in Content Inc. He co-authored Managing Content Marketing with Robert Rose, his partner in crime.

So perhaps these authors are partly accountable for the dominance this marketing practice. Like all great inventions, content marketing has brought along its share of pain.

Marketers today suffer from the burdens of creating and promoting content, often with little direct measure of success. Further, they have to invest more effort each year just to keep pace, while the cost of promoting content continues to rise.

In this book, Rose and Pulizzi propose a shift from content as a marketing tactic to content as a business strategy. With this approach, content marketing becomes a business model rather than a cost center.

That’s a revolutionary stance. To get there, we will need to stop doing many things, including (gasp) a few current “best practices” you may hold dear.

Happily, the book offers numerous examples of companies making this shift, as well as practice advice to build a business case:

How you can make money with content
How to save money by producing and owning your content
Creating content that is, in itself, a business asset

The grand vision is supplemented with stories and examples of those companies forging this new path. It’s a compelling read.

Writing Observations

Writing collaboration is a fascinating topic, and this book is a great example. In Killing Marketing, Robert and Joe each write in their own voices, trading off chapters.

This is writing as a two-person team sport. It’s fun to watch them pass the ball off as you read. You can hear their unique voices and styles; each contributes considerable experience and perspective.

While the voices may vary slightly between chapters, the style and message are consistent. If you listen to their This Old Marketing podcast, you get the sense that they could easily finish each other’s sentences. The hand-offs are never jarring for the reader because the two seem so completely aligned.

My Take

If you’re looking for easy answers to content marketing conundrums, or three things you can do tomorrow to make an incremental change, then this isn’t the book for you.

But if you’re passionate about the possibilities of marketing and genuinely want to contribute to business strategy, this is absolutely the book you should read. It’s thought-provoking and inspiring.

Other Book Reviews
Master Content Marketing by Pamela Wilson

Known by Mark Schaefer and Grit by Angela Duckworth: Two Books to Build Your Writing Resistance

FairPay by Richard Reisman: Disrupting Subscription Pricing

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Writers and the Planning Fallacy

You don’t want to hear this, but I need to say it anyway:

Your writing project probably won’t go exactly as you plan.

The book will take longer to draft than you think.
You will be surprised by the length of the revision phase or magnitude of comments from editors or early readers.
Your blog post will have problems that need last-minute (or post-publication) fixes.
That report that you’re working on with your team? A key contributor will change roles, or an essential reviewer get crushed by another deadline.

This stuff happens to writers every day. Yet we are often surprised. When we make our plans, we forget to account for the unexpected.

We suffer from the planning fallacy.

The Planning Fallacy

The term planning fallacy, coined by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, refers to our tendency to underestimate potential problems when planning.

When planning, we picture the forward path toward our objective. We envision the successful completion, and work backward from that to create a schedule or deadlines.

It’s difficult to envision the many ways that those plans can go wrong, much less determine the probability of mishaps. Out of sight, out of mind – and off the schedule.

Yet you and I know that we live in an imperfect world. People get sick, priorities shift, you sprain your wrist, or the laptop dies. Things happen.

Following a plan keeps you focused and moving forward. Clinging to the plan in the face of unexpected upsets may cause you pain.

The longer your project, the more adaptable your writing plans need to be.

Counteracting the Planning Fallacy

We can get better at planning over time. Whenever we encounter problems, we can include them in our plans going forward. But it’s never easy to predict the precise nature of the unexpected threats to our objectives.

That’s why I’m a firm believer in building buffer periods into writing project plans.

When the unexpected happens, you’ll be glad you added a buffer.

I’m an optimist by nature, but try not to let it get me into too much trouble. In the years I spent working as a freelance writer, I’d regularly add a 20 percent emergency buffer to my internal estimates of how long things should take.

When I tracked my actual time spent against the estimates, I discovered that I tapped into the emergency buffer nearly half the time.

Even when you don’t use it, having the buffer makes you look efficient. People don’t get upset if you deliver work ahead of schedule.

Careful planning protects you from the exigencies of the real world. Make plans, create buffers, and adapt on the fly.

How do you protect your writing from the unexpected?

The Workplace Writer’s Process includes a number of planning checklists that you might find helpful in business writing.

Register here to download these planning worksheets. Let me know if you find them helpful!

 

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Don’t Buy Into the One-Step-Writing Myth

“Before they hire you, the client wants you to come in for a timed writing test. They’ll give you a topic, then see what you can do in fifteen minutes.”

This request came from a technology company a few years ago.

The founders probably thought that they were cleverly optimizing the hiring process by making sure only the fastest writers could work with their team. Start-ups have to move quickly, after all.

Unfortunately, they weren’t measuring the right thing. Except in cases of real-time journalism, that’s not how productive writers work.

(I hoped the company did not hire software engineers purely based on coding speed.)

Clearly, the founders were strong believers in the One-Step-Writing Myth – the idea that the entirety of the work of writing happens when you sit down to draft.

Why This Myth Is So Pervasive

Watch any movie about famous writers, and what do you see? The writer hammering away at a keyboard or typewriter, or stacking up piles of paper covered in hand-written script.

The most visible part of the writing process is the act of putting the words down on paper.

So much more goes on in writing than simply pounding out words. There’s the deep thought and outlining that happens before drafting.

Writers incubate ideas before and during the writing process – usually away from the desk.

When the draft is done, they may spend hours revising and perfecting the words. If you’ve ever watched someone do this stuff, you know that it wouldn’t make good cinema.

The Dangers of the One-Step-Writing Myth

Filmmakers aren’t alone – writers often focus on the drafting because it’s the part of the process most obviously within our control.

We can schedule the drafting. We can measure progress in the form of completed words. I did 2000 words today! So we conflate drafting with writing.

That can lead us into serious trouble, in many ways.

Unrealistic schedules. In the workplace, you may neglect to plan for review processes and ensuing revisions.

For example, if someone asks if you have time to write a 2,000 word post on a familiar topic, you might do some quick mental math. You can write 800 words an hour, so you can get this done in three hours. You’ve got exactly three hours to spare this week, so you commit to the project.

What about the time talking with stakeholders about what they need? Structuring the post? Editing and revising it? Handling revisions?

When your time commitment expands, you’ll feel frustrated or badly used – all because you bought into the One-Step-Writing Myth.

Uninspired writing. Inspiration rarely descends when you’re sitting at the desk, churning out words.

Creativity is the result of non-linear, associative thought processes. Creative insight generally arrives after you struggle with the work, put it aside, and let ideas incubate.

Leave room in the schedule for creativity.

Insufficient revisions. Great writing nearly always owes its existence to careful revision. If you don’t leave time for it … well, you’ll get what you plan for.

Frustrating writing sessions. If you want to write quickly and fluidly, you need to prime your mental pump with fodder.

Spend time doing research, thinking about the topic, and outlining before you start writing. If you don’t do this work, the drafting phase is likely to be frustrating and slow.

What’s the best defense against this myth? Planning. Account for all of the phases of the work, even the ones that don’t look productive.

(If you’re a business writer, download my planning checklists here.)

What’s your favorite writing myth?

Related Reading

Writing Productivity: Why Counting Words Can Mislead You

Anyone Can Write, But … (the Universal Writer Myth)

Writing is Effort, Not Destiny (the Destiny Myth)

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How to Find Your Unknown Audience

The other day, a company called Tenfold added me to its Top 40 Customer Success Influencers list. (You can download the list here.) I never set out to write and speak for the Customer Success industry; it happened by accident.

I tell you this story not to brag, but to illustrate the importance of looking for your unknown readers.

Your work may resonate with people outside the audience that you have defined.

When Your Real Audience Isn’t Where You Think It Is

My first book, Subscription Marketing, was written specifically for marketers working in large organizations. As it turned out, getting the attention of over-burdened marketers was tough.

Instead, entrepreneurs and people in Customer Success roles started contacting me about the book, inviting me to their podcasts and conferences.

My most supportive and engaged audience wasn’t where I was looking for it.

I wasn’t targeting the wrong audience, exactly, but I was certainly missing very receptive groups outside my initial target readers.

This is a great problem to have, but I wish I’d figured it out sooner.

Listen to the Readers

Effective writing requires two parties: the writer and the reader. Your content isn’t complete until someone reacts to it.

Do everything you can do determine how your work is being received. You may discovered hidden audiences that find your content valuable and relevant.

To identify these audiences, you have to listen and look.

Writing is a conversation, but it’s hard to hear the other half.

Sometimes people contact you directly:

Sending an email
Commenting on a blog post
Writing unsolicited reviews on Amazon

Each of these responses is a golden opportunity to learn how people react to your work. What resonates with them, and why?

Even a negative review tells you something about who is not in your resonant audience. That’s valuable insight, even if it is painful to receive.

But a vast majority of readers won’t step forward and contact you, even if they love what you have written. To identify these readers, you may need to sift through data.

Finding Traces of the Unknown Audience in the Data

Where and how you look for this audience will depend on what you write and where you publish.

Here are a few places to consider looking for clues:

Google Analytics

You don’t have to be a data geek to get basic insight from this service. If you have a blog connected with Google Analytics, look for indirect clues about your audience:

Where are people connecting from?
Which social networks do they come from?
Which content gets the most attention?
How long do people spend before they leave? What paths do they travel through your pages?

Google Alerts

Create a Google Alert for your name and your book or business name. You might discover people discussing your work.

Social media in general

Which posts are shared most? That gives you a clue about what content resonates with people and who is sharing it. Social media management and scheduling services offer insight into which of your posts are most popular. (I’m a fan of Buffer.)

Facebook Insights

If you have a business or author page on Facebook, use the Insights feature to get a sense of the demographics of your followers. Keep track of which posts earn reactions or shares.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn offers basic analytic information on both posts (content you share) and articles (posts that you publish natively in LinkedIn.) Look for the icon that looks like a chart to find insights into the titles, companies, and geographic areas of the people who responded.

What Happens When You Find a Hidden Audience?

Over time you may notice trends about the type of people who like what you write. What you do with this insight is up to you.

Create content specifically for that audience.
You could change your audience focus altogether, if the new market merits it.
More likely, you can adjust or expand the content you’re already creating. I revised and updated Subscription Marketing to address the needs of startup entrepreneurs as well as Customer Success professionals.

But whatever you do, listen.

(Let me hear your part of this conversation: comment below, contact me, or share this post. Thanks!)

Related posts in the “Audience” series

One Question to Ask Before You Write

The Power of a Narrow Focus

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Three Reasons It’s Hard to Write for Your Audience

I’ve spent a couple weeks ranting about the importance of writing for an audience. (See One Question to Ask Before You Write.) But here’s the thing that I’ve neglected to mention:

Writing for a specific audience can be really tough.

Even when you’ve chosen an ideal audience, you may struggle to write stories or content that resonates with them.

It’s because you’re human.

You’re battling three basic human tendencies that interfere with effective writing. Here they are, leading with the most important one:

#1: It’s Hard To Get Outside Our Own Heads (The Curse of Knowledge)

It’s difficult for us to remember not knowing the things we now know. Cognitive scientists call this the Curse of Knowledge – and it’s more prevalent than you may realize.

When you imagine your ideal audience and try to take their perspective, you are still stuck in your own head. You may assume that someone knows more about your subject area than they do, or that they can follow your mental processes through a complex sentence.

Even if you’re writing for people just like yourself, your readers aren’t inside your head.

You are not your audience.

#2: We Like To Fit In With Peers

We are social creatures with a strong need to conform to our peer groups. So, we tend to write for the people we are surrounded with.

Think about this for a moment. Who do you spend time with?

When you write in an office setting, you’ll tend to write in a way that fits with the speech and thought patterns of those around you. If your coworkers use terminology or jargon, you’ll feel a pull to include those same words in your writing.

That’s fine, as long as you are surrounded by people who fit the general profile of your target audience.

The more empathetic we are, the more we mirror those around us. Local empathy can get us in trouble if we’re writing for a different audience.

Your team is not your audience

Unless you’re selling products or services to people who approximate your teammates, you’ve got to think outside your peer group.

#3 The System is Rigged and We Need to Impress Others

Sometimes, the audience isn’t the one appraising your performance or paying the bills.

This problem is most acute in the workplace.

Who does performance reviews? Your manager.

If you’re submitting a book proposal, who signs off? The publisher.

If you’re a freelance writer, who pays your invoices? That’s right, the client.

When writing, it’s natural to want to impress the people who hold your financial future in their hands.

Your management is not your audience.

What can we do about these forces conspiring against us – or more specifically, against the readers’ interests?

Use Process to Protect the Audience

Understand that these forces are in play, and then set up processes to protect your writing.

When planning and outlining, include the target audience in your planning process.
Envision specific readers from the audience when drafting (particularly nonfiction).
When revising, try reading your piece out loud as if you were addressing the ideal reader. If something seems awkward, rework it. Specifically, hunt out any jargon or industry terminology, and see if you can rephrase it.
Actively seek reviews from the target audience. If possible, find someone who can stand in for the ideal reader.
If you’re circulating a piece to other people in the workplace (like your manager), remind them about the objective of the piece and the audience. Don’t send a review copy out without a description of the target audience at the beginning.

When you start writing effective copy, people will notice. Track the metrics for your content (downloads, shares, or other available data), and use that to influence the people you need to impress.

Related posts in the “Audience” series

One Question to Ask Before You Write

The Power of a Narrow Focus

Want to know more about using process to protect the reader? Check out The Workplace Writer’s Process.

 

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To Expand Your Reach, Narrow Your Focus

Finding your audience, as a writer, is critical. But narrowing down on a specific audience can be quite painful.

That’s because as writers, we suffer from Fear of Missing a Reader (FOMaR).

FOMar is closely related to Fear of Missing Out (FOMO), except that I just made up the term and it’s not a documented syndrome.

But it should be. Let’s make it a thing.

Fear of Missing a Reader (FOMaR)

To see FOMAR in action, go to a writing conference, choose someone at random and ask them about the specific audience for their latest book.

Some people will answer quickly and efficiently. But others, particularly first-time writers, will stumble. You may detect a hint of panic in their eyes as they respond:

It’s a mystery, but there’s also a sci-fi component and a love story, so the audience should be huge.
My memoir should interest everyone.

Would-be authors aren’t the only ones who suffer from FOMaR – so do business writers. This is what it sounds like in the workplace:

Our blog posts target customers, prospects, investors, employees, and the press.
We’re writing this article for the technical decision maker and the business buyer. And our investors. Oh, and our partners, too.
Our market is broad: let’s say everyone over the age of 12 in the developed world.

When you try to write for everyone, you hedge your bets on tone and style, keeping the writing general rather than hunting out specific examples. Usually, the result is boring.

Try to be all things to all people, and you’ll be nothing special to anyone.

The Power of a Narrow Focus

The counter-intuitive practice is this: To expand your reach, narrow your focus.

Specific facts, examples and stories will resonate more deeply with readers. When you choose one specific problem to solve, you can write something compelling.

Focusing on a specific audience makes your writing more effective.

By focusing on the reader, you adopt their perspective when writing. This will help you:

Find the most important and relevant points (and prune the excess)
Weed out the jargon
Select examples and stories that connect with readers

What if You Choose the Wrong Reader?

Choosing one ideal reader or audience means putting aside others, at least temporarily. That’s why the hold of FOMaR is so strong. You worry about making the wrong choice, and missing out on important readers.

Just because you focus and write for a specific audience does not mean that others won’t find it. People are likely to find your content if you have a base of fans already. When your writing hits a nerve, people start sharing it.

I don’t read much science fiction, but I enjoyed The Martian by Andy Weir. Weir was not thinking of me when he wrote the book.

See how this works? His passionate fans spread the word and broadened his reach.

Choose an audience – the more specific, the better. If the writing resonates with an audience and they become fans, they will help you share your ideas.

 

If you like this post and want to help it find a wider audience, please share it. I wouldn’t want to miss a reader… Oh, rats, that’s my FOMaR talking.

Related Posts

On finding an audience: One Question to Ask Before You Write

On finding your resonant audience: Writing for Resonance

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Lazy But Efficient Content Marketing [Book Review]

A Review of Master Content Marketing by Pamela Wilson

Partway into the prolog of Pamela Wilson’s Master Content Marketing, there’s a section with the following heading:

“My Lazy (But Efficient!) Approach to Content Marketing”

As soon as I read that heading, I knew that I’d found a content marketing and writing soulmate. My life goal is to be lazy but efficient – anything that helps get me there is golden.

The book did not disappoint. It is a terrific guide to the nuts and bolts of content marketing – specifically, business blogging with a purpose. I wish that she’d written it years ago.

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This small package packs a ton of practical, actionable advice on creating the content that fuels successful content marketing, including:

A crystal clear, non-nonsense explanation of business blogging strategy – what you write
Solid advice about writing process and habits – how you write

The combination is a one-two punch for writers looking to be more effective. Writes Wilson,

“When you combine solid content structure with habits that will help you develop lifelong writing skills? Well, watch out, world!”

Demystifying Effective Business Blogging

The online world is littered with lonely, inconsistent, or ineffective business blogs.

Many businesses and entrepreneurs realize that they need to maintain a blog, but don’t know how to populate it with great content. So they toss up random posts every month or so, and wonder why blogging doesn’t work for them.

This book covers the whole business blogging process, from creating a strategy and finding topics to churning out posts consistently. This may be one of the best explanations of business blogging that I’ve ever read. I learned a few things and will have to up my game now.

The Habits of Effective Content Creation

How we write is almost as important as what we write. To create consistent, high-quality content in a busy, interrupt-driven world, we need to form habits that protect the work and our sanity.

This is the “lazy-but-effective” part of the book’s pitch, and it’s terrific. Writes Wilson,

“Content creation is a habit you form. Part of the process is setting up your physical environment for success — carving out a space and laying out your tools. The other part of the process is withholding judgment on the outcome.”

Preach it, Pamela!

Wilson divides the work of blogging into four phases, spreading it across multiple days:

Day 1: Build Your Article Backbone
Day 2: Fill in the Details
Day 3: Polish and Prepare to Publish
Day 4: Publish, Promote, and Propagate

In The Writer’s Process, the writing recipe calls for dividing the work into its different steps. This book offers another approach to that same advice.

This Book Is For Anyone Who….

… wants to consistently create blog content for business purposes. That includes:

Content marketers (the title is a dead give-away)
Authors marketing their books. Blogging is a powerful book marketing strategy: through blogs you can provide useful content that converts strangers into acquaintances.

… currently maintains a blog. You’ll find tactics for making the content creation process easier and your blogs more effective.

… is new to business blogging. I can think of no better way to start than with this book in your hand.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

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