Excuse-Busting Marketing
My excuse-busting marketing method has been highly successful in helping potential author clients decide whether to get their books edited and published.
Excuse-Busting Marketing: How to Help Authors Get Ready for Editing
If you’ve hung around here for a while, you know that I’m a big fan of finding clients who already know they want to work with an editor but just aren’t sure which one. This makes turning them into clients so much easier! All you have to do is show why you’re the one.
If a writer is convinced they can go on to fame and fortune without hiring a developmental editor, I won’t waste my precious life trying to convince them otherwise. Maybe they will go on to fame and fortune without me. How do I know?
But I do sometimes get clients who are on the fence, just by busting their excuses. Or, in sales-speak, “overcoming objections.” But unlike a used car salesman, I’m looking for objections that are not about the service I’m offering (a common objection in this vein is, “I can’t afford it”).
Instead, I’m talking about addressing the challenges authors routinely have in their writing lives. I bust their excuses (so to speak) by showing how I can help them solve those problems.
You can also use excuse-busting to get more clients.
Here’s an example: “I don’t have time to write.”
It’s a very common frustration among writers. But instead of nodding and saying, “Yeah, too bad. Let me know when you do find time to finish that draft, and I’ll edit it for you,” you could help them solve this problem.
- You could say, “I’ll write it for you.”
- You could say, “I’ll be your accountability partner.”
- You could say, “I’ll coach you in using your time more effectively.”
These aren’t, strictly speaking, editing jobs, but they are jobs that many editors can do well. Once you’ve helped the author bust their excuses (and – this is key – have gotten paid for it!), you might also be able to do an edit on their project since your efforts have now helped them finish it.
Even if not, you’ve at least earned some bucks and sharpened your skills.
Tips for Editors & Writers
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Setting problems: lack of concrete locations
Writers often use setting like a painted backdrop to their stories, rather than as an integral element of their storytelling. As developmental editors, we can help them make the setting come to life. If we think of Wuthering Heights, we think of the Yorkshire moors. When we think of Moby Dick, it’s a whaler on
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How Setting Can Reflect Character
Authors have a tendency to prefer focusing on character and/or plot at the expense of setting/world-building. (The exception is some SFF writers, who focus on setting and forget about plot and character.) So as editors we will often call that out and say something like, “Add a little description here. Otherwise it’s like Miles and
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How to Identify Developmental Problems
Noticing a developmental problem (the pacing is slow, the character is inconsistently portrayed) is only the first step in the editing process. The next step is to explain why it’s a problem for this manuscript. This second step is one that most editors skip at first (and many editors skip forever) but it’s crucial for
