Creative Marketing Ideas for Writers

In “Golden Rule Marketing for Writers,” Emily Akin reminded us that aspiring authors should learn to love marketing and spend as much as 80% of their time marketing their writing.  Still, some writers chew on this idea with apprehension, hoping they will be the exception. I think the problem is that we tend to approach marketing with the wrong perspective.

I recently ran across Meeting Needs, a blog post by Sarah Bolme, Director of Christian Small Publishers Association. She challenges Christian writers to see marketing differently. She says this:  ”Promoting a book is like being a missionary. Missionaries don’t sit at home and wait for people who need Jesus to come to them. They go “into all the world” and seek the lost.”  What a great perspective!

If you are beginning to feel differently about marketing, then you are ready for some new ideas to reach your readers. Here are five links to articles from creative writers and marketers that can get your creative juices flowing:

1. 1. Book Launch Party on Facebook
   2. Guest Blogging
   3. Virtual Author Touring
   4. Twitter Book Marketing
   5. Publishing and Marketing with Scribd.com

Question: How about you?  Do you have some creative marketing ideas that help you reach your readers?  Share them with us.

Golden Rule Marketing for Writers

Editor’s Note: This is a guest article by Emily Akin. Read on and find out how you can enter to win a copy of Emily’s e-book, A Business Approach to Marketing Your Work .

The Golden Rule

 ”So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” Matthew 7:12 (TNIV).

Would you like to sell more of your writing? To get your work published, you must give your customers, the editors, what they need. Editors know what their readers (customers) want, and they only accept work that addresses their readers’ needs. Writers and editors apply the Golden Rule every day, not pursuing their own interests but the interests of their readers.  Read more

The Place to Start

“I just don’t know where to start.” 

Have you ever entertained these words?  I hear them often from my writing students or friends who sense a calling to write.

In her “must have” Bible study for Servant Writers, Write HIs Answer, Marlene Bagnull ofters the only plausible answer:

“Jesus’ example [of prayer] shows us that the place to begin all our writing is on our knees.  It is essential that we seek ‘the mind of Christ’ (1 Cor. 2:16) if we hope to bring his answer to our hurting world. If we’re too busy to pray, we’re too busy.”

“Who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?”  But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.  1 Cor 2:16 NLT

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Related Reading:

Goals, Habits, and Process of a Servant Writer

What part does prayer play in your writing?  We would love to hear from you.

Blogging to Serve Part I

This is the first installment on a three-part series to help you take the first step to build writing discipline, an essential habit for the Servant Writer who wants to serve the needs of others.

In a previous article, Five Reasons to Unleash the “Servant Writer” in You, I challenged you to use the power of words to serve the needs of others and honor God with the gifts He has given you.  The challenge focused on the “whys.”  Now I want to begin focusing on the “hows.” 

Is Blogging for You?

If you are passionate about a topic that can benefit others, one of the easiest and fastest ways to begin sharing your message (and building a platform if that’s what you desire to do) is by starting a blog.  If you already blog to serve, don’t leave yet. I have a challenge for you at the end. 

Many aspiring writers get discouraged because the publishing industry is hard to penetrate.  Yet, never before has “publication” been so accessible to so many.  Blogs are a great way to share your message, build an audience, and get used to writing consistently.  Blogging, believe it or not, can also become a source of income if you decide you want to go pro (more on that later). Read more

Tip #2: An Essential Habit for Writers

If you want to improve your writing, you have to become an avid reader.  Every prolific writer will confirm that.  This is what Kathi Macias, author of 30 books, says about this essential habit:

“I read everything. Put something with words in front of me — a book, newspaper, magazine, milk carton-and I’m reading it. If you are not an avid reader, forget writing. What’s the point? You might learn enough to get by, but you’ll never be great because there will be no passion or calling to show through your words.”

If you are a servant writer, you must develop the habit of consistent reading — it will help you stay inspired, internalize the intricacies of the craft, and understand how other writers communicate their message effectively to their target audience.

Register for a chance to win…

…a free book from Kathi Macias.  Click here now to visit her exclusive interview.  Then enter a comment at the bottom of the page.  The winner will be contacted by email and posted on this site the first week of May.

Related Reading:

The Fragance: A Challenge for Servant Writers

Goals, Habits, and Process of a Servant Writer

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by writer and speaker Dawn Wilson of Heart Choices Ministries

When I write, three goals, inspired by Scripture, focus my writing — I want to glorify God (I Corinthians 10:31), support the saints (Galatians 6:10), and win the world (Mark 16:15). Regardless of the topic, these goals always give me direction. 

When I was asked to speak about my writing habits, I realized that although I’m not mechanical about them, I like to slow down and examine my work to see if I’m meeting at least two of my goals, one of which should always be to bring honor and glory to the Lord.

Luke tells us that as Jesus grew into manhood, He developed mentally, physically, spiritually, and socially (2:52), so my passion in writing is to teach and encourage for growth and change. I keep my readers’ growth potential firmly in mind as I write — I can inspire the spirit by using the Word of God and allowing the Holy Spirit to work through the Scriptures. I can inform the mind by teaching old truths in new ways, to capture a person’s imagination for God and build a biblical worldview. I can involve the heart by telling my stories with simplicity and authenticity, so people can identify and connect with my message. I can influence the will by offering choices that reflect the perspective and priorities of God.

“…as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”  (Galatians 6:10)

Everything else is process — the vehicle that helps me achieve these goals and minister to my readers. My writing process includes four habits: research, record, rewrite, and refine. Read more

Writing and Thinking: An Important Connection

Working as a writing tutor during my first year in graduate school I learned to perform triage.  

The writing lab, you see, was a busy place, very much like a hospital’s emergency room.  Many students walked in at the last minute in a state of panic, hoping to have their papers edited right before they were due. The role of the writing tutor, however, was not to give quick fixes, but to give guidance and strategies to help improve writing skills. But because we had limited time and staffing resources, tutors had a clear purpose: find the bleeding in the writing and help stop it. 

But to find this bleeding, I first had to rely on the writer’s feedback.  ”What do you think is the problem with this paper?” I’d ask.

Nine out of ten writers offered the same response: “Grammar.” I’d believe them, of course, and quickly proceeded to read their work in search for the grammar hemorrhage. Soon I realized that, in most cases, grammar was the least of the their problems.  Eventually, I also learned a most profound lesson — one that deeply influenced the way I teach writing — that gibberish can be perfectly grammatical. Believe me, I have proof.   

Why is this concept important for the servant writer?  Read more

Beat Writer’s Block with a Timer

Sometimes we come to the empty page and… nothing.  Perfectionism.  Anxiety.  Fear. Discouragement.  These little beasts, in my opinion, feed writer’s block.  But don’t dispair.  You are in good company. When asked about the most frightening thing he had ever encountered, novelist Ernest Hemingway said, “A blank sheet of paper.”  The truth is that every writer needs to find strategies to combat the fear of the blank page. 

Lately, a great tool for such a task has been a cooking timer.  Here are two strategies that always get me going:

To Combat Perfectionism: Set the timer for 15 minutes and do what Anne Lamont suggests in Bird by Bird.  Write a crappy intro as fast as you can.  But don’t stop writing until the timer goes off. By then, you probably won’t want to.  Intros, I have found, always change and evolve, so there’s no need to massage a thought, a sentence, or even a paragraph endlessly until it’s just right.

I must warn you. If perfectionism rules much of your life (as it has mine), launching into imperfect writing will make you feel like you’re freefalling.  Don’t quit. Respect the timer.  The feeling will subside and you won’t want to stop writing.

To Combat Anxiety, Fear, and Discouragement: First, imagine a writer friend who is plagued by these feelings.  Your job is to  encourage her because you know she has an important message to share with others and the ability to articulate it.  Now do what Barbara DeMarco-Barrett suggests in her book Pen on Fire.  Set the timer and write for fifteen minutes and dispel each and every one of her fears until she is ready to take on the pen again. 

Now, set the timer for another fifteen minutes, and use your renewed outlook to write a letter to yourself about the different ideas you want to write about and the reason the world needs to read what you have to say about them.  I have found that this strategy helps me readjust my perspective and gather the ideas that had been blown away by the wind of discouragement.

Maria Keckler
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