You Need a Content Strategy
Let’s discuss why book editors need a content strategy in order to market their business effectively.
Why Book Editors Need a Content Strategy
A while back, I mentioned on a LinkedIn post that for years, my best-performing content for my personal website had been a screed about how I hated wind chimes. That post drew more people to my blog than almost everything else I’ve written. (“For Jessica” was the biggest – it broke my website a couple of times.)
Anyway, on that LI post, someone added a comment about how their biggest draw was a post on how to get a free illegal download of someone else’s intellectual property. I deleted the comment because “I hate wind chimes” and “I help people steal things” are not in the same universe, and please don’t pretend they are.
But it got me thinking about what that person was trying to accomplish. What was the purpose of offering free illegal downloads? Sure, it got people to visit his website, but . . . so what? These are not the kind of people who’ll turn into paying clients. And advertisers don’t want to be associated with scammy websites. So . . . what was the point? Other than to be a jackass?
One of the most essential things your content does, or should do, is attract the right kind of potential clients to your website (and your social media, etc.). What it shouldn’t do is attract the wrong kind of potential clients.
What does this mean in practice?
- If you’re hoping to land clients who want a gentle, understanding editor to help them improve their work, sarcastic zingers aimed at mistakes newbie authors make are a disconnect that will draw the wrong potential clients to you.
- If you aim to attract clients who can pay big bucks for an edit, don’t write posts about hiring an editor on a budget.
- If you’re trying to attract genre novelists, don’t spend all your time reviewing self-help books.
Make sure your content aligns with your vision for your ideal client. Write for that client.
Tips for Editors & Writers
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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…
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How Character Motivations Create Meaning
In my teaching, I focus a lot on helping editors understand how character, plot, and setting work together. These are the tools with which authors build stories. But there’s another we shouldn’t overlook: theme. Readers read stories not merely to find out what happens but to understand what it means. Causes Create Meaning I often…
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Editor Insight: Miranda Darrow
I’ve been talking with newer and more established freelance editors about how they find clients and deal with ups and downs in freelancing. This week’s editor is Miranda Darrow, who has been editing part-time for a little over ten years. Here’s our Q&A: Tell me a little about your background and the kind of editing…
