Time-saving marketing tip for freelance editors
If you’re a freelance editor trying to drum up business, then stay tuned for a big time-saving marketing tip.
One of the challenges when you’re starting out as a freelance editor is that there is SO MUCH you could be doing to market your services.
There’s Facebook and Instagram and TikTok and YouTube (not to mention LinkedIn!). Then Threads or Bluesky or maybe Mastodon (or maybe all three).
Also, press releases, conferences, talks at conferences, webinars (paid and unpaid), blogging, guest blogging, podcasting, and that’s just what I can think of in the first ten seconds.
I have seen a lot of people never get any traction because they are trying to fill too many bottomless pits. So they spend fifteen minutes once a week on each social media outlet, an hour writing a blog post, half an hour writing a note to a conference organizer, an hour designing a logo for their podcast. In the end it feels like they’re doing a lot of marketing work but it doesn’t amount to anything.
The best time-saving marketing tip
Pick one or two social media outlets where your clients are likely to hang out and focus on those.
If you’re going to use content marketing to establish your expertise, then write good, meaty posts that will get shared and will establish your credentials. Don’t just write what everyone else is writing; find and share your unique spin.
If you’re going to give talks, get really good at giving talks and at pitching them. You get the idea: not everything, just a few things, but give them a meaningful chunk of your attention.
Successful marketing requires persistence, let me emphasize that. But flitting from one thing to the next is worse than doing nothing because it wastes your energy. At least doing nothing gives you a chance to rest up.
Other Helpful Content
-
Helping Clients Understand the Differences Between Beta Reading and Developmental Editing
Authors often use beta readers to give them feedback on their work and I think this can be a great way for them to get a sense of a reader’s experience of the novel. But unpaid beta readers often flake out and never provide feedback. This is the number one complaint I hear from authors…
-
Your Real Skills Are Never Outdated
Once upon a time, ten key by touch was one of the most sought-after skills I possessed. For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, it’s basically being able to quickly enter numerical data into a computer. I’m sure there are still jobs where it’s a helpful skill to have, but…
-
Helping authors create strong character arcs
Readers like to see character change, even if the change is small, and even if the change is negative. Often a character will be just the same at the start of the story as at the finish, and generally this is less satisfying to the reader than when a character is confronted with the need…
