Marketing hurts so lets think differently

And an alternative to social media marketing

It hurts my head sometimes thinking about how to market my writing.

There are days with social media—I just can’t.

I have to think differently about it.

I mean, we could…

• put pressure on ourselves to grow Twitter to 10,000 followers in 12 months.

• try to go viral twice a week on Instagram.

• live 24/7 in the virtual world building our audience—who needs fresh air?

But I don’t want to.

I’m guess you don’t want to either. We tend to agree on that generally here, right?

But Kelly, how many hours a day should I be on socials? Where should I post? What should I do??

I know. It’s helpful to have hard and fast rules and schedules. Schedule your way to marketing success. And some people will happily tell you there are rules (Big fat liars).

But there just isn’t one way to market “properly”.

What is helpful is:

1. setting yourself marketing goals you can control.

2. doing what you can control in a manageable way.

What does that look like IRL

It might look like you posting links to your writing on Facebook once a week.

Or testing out Twitter to seeing if scheduling 4 tweets a day increases your audience.

It could be creating one Pinterest pin or Instagram story a week linked to your writing.

You can control how often you post, tweet, or pin. You can’t control how fast your audience grows, whether you go viral, or how many people click on your link.

You can control where and how often you share your work.

Different things work for different writers

• Pinterest users love articles about babies, crafts, and kids parties. If you write about certain (mostly parent friendly) topics, Pinterest is a great marketing platform.

• If you write about health, relationships, beauty, or books, Instagram could be the place to be.

• Business, money, science, intelligent analysis, creativity all do well on LinkedIn.

You have to find what works for you. Experiment (in a way that feels manageable) and then keep an eye on the stats.

We can waste a lot of time on social media. It can take a year to see results—but there should be something. Some clue what you’re doing is paying off.

Drop anything that isn’t.

Quitting is good! It frees you up to do more of what works.

Market yourself off social media

There is another way to market yourself as a writer than social media. *sigh of relief*

It builds up your credibility and gets more eyes on your work.
I’ve been doing it for over 14 years.

Getting published in magazines, newspapers, and literary publications—most of which are online now.

It’s not easy initially, but it’s also not hard to learn.

Once you get on a roll, you’ll find it gets easier and easier.

I’ve had several people ask for help with this lately. So I decided to offer a pitching challenge for November.

If you want to gain confidence pitching publications, come and spend 14 days with me online.

November Pitching Challenge (15th to 28th November)

This month three of my writing mentorees have been published in large publications.

One of them had 3 stories commissioned in a row!

Here’s what he had to say:

“Pitching editors is difficult- and despite being a confident writer I wasn't sure on the best approach.

Working with Kelly helped me refine my pitch and get accepted by editors. But her advice didn't stop there, she would offer feedback on my drafts, offering insights into what editors were looking for.

I owe my first few writing credits to Kelly”–Ash Jurberg

One story can sell for around $200-300, a wider audience gets to read your work, and you add to your credibility as a writer.

It’s my favorite kind of marketing.

P.S. I’ve popped a special price on for my Because You Write family
(down from $199 to $115—I have favorites, shhhh don’t tell).

Talk soon

Kelly