How To Write What You Know and Sell It

by Amy Derby on March 12, 2008

how to write what you know and sell it

“Write what you know.”

Every writer has heard it. Some disagree with it. I think it’s a good place for a new writer to start. It’s how I started, and it’s how I still make my living.

Even if you’re brand new to writing, you can turn what you know into a career, a feature article, a novel, or a really good blog post. It’s up to you.

Step 1: Know what you want to write

In order to write well, you must have a driving passion. To write a great novel, you must care about your characters. To write convincing copy, you must care about making a sale.

I’d make a crappy ad writer. My ads would go “Buy This. Click Here.” I know a lot about cleaning up rabbit turds, but that doesn’t mean I want to write a book about it.

Chances are you have more knowledge than things you want to write about. You could spend hours making lists of things you know. You know a lot of stuff.

If you want to make a list of potential career niches, story ideas or articles to pitch, forget what you know for a minute and write down what you want to write. Write down what you’d be good at writing. Write down what you can picture yourself writing well.

Step 2: Know who would want to buy it

Not every idea is marketable. Some unique ideas don’t have a big enough buyer base or audience. Some ideas have been done to death. Know where your ideas stand, and you’ll save yourself a lot of time (and maybe a few trees).

I have a novel manuscript currently filed under “live and learn.” I had a good idea. I wrote I book I’d want to read. I never thought about what section of the bookstore it would go in. No agent or publisher will touch it.

If your goal is to make money, don’t waste your time writing something that won’t sell. Research the market. Research several markets. Want to write greeting cards? Browse the card aisles. Check the greeting card companies’ websites for guidelines on what they buy. Want to write for trade publications? Buy some. Study their websites.

Then flop your idea around. An article that can’t be sold to a consumer mag might make a good jumping off place for that how-to book you’ve been dying to write. Consider various possibilities before you ditch an idea you love.

Step 3: Know what you know

If you’ve determined your idea is marketable, and you’ve got a good prospective base of people you can sell it to, you’re already over halfway there. And you don’t even know what you know yet!

Here’s the frustrating thing about knowledge. Our brains are on overload. Our memories retain garbage. But that knowledge is there, buried under the grocery lists and old locker combinations.

If you have the passion to write about something, it’s probably because you already have at least some knowledge about it. You’ve just got to tap into it.

Grab a pen, or pull up a new document. Take inventory.

Step 4: Know what you don’t know

No matter how much you know, there will be more that you don’t know.

I’ve read the new bankruptcy law 500 times. I can recite it like the pledge of allegiance. Doesn’t mean I know the answer to every bankruptcy question thrown at me.

For every job I take, even when it’s a topic I know, I have to do my homework. Research done, reading required, questions asked. Everything we learned in junior high still applies. And being able to admit you don’t know everything is still a favorable quality.

Where ever you see a gap, write down what you don’t know.

Step 5: Know who knows what you don’t know

The internet and the library are great places to find fast answers to most uncomplicated questions. But beyond these resources, the world is full of experts.

Get to know other writers who write what you want to write and do it well. Ask them how they achieved their successes. People like to brag about how they got where they got. And some are more than willing to share industry and other contacts.

Get to know any niche expert you can. Not just the competition, but your allies. Freelance writers can benefit from knowing freelance bloggers, designers, consultants. What they do to succeed might be applicable to your own success, even if they don’t do exactly what you do.

Get to know every industry expert. Those who know the latest news and trends. Those who teach. Those who worked in the field for years. Anyone you might be able to interview, quote, or get a unique perspective from will be a great asset to you.

Get to know the agents, the publishers, the editors. Read their websites, their blogs, their interviews, the books they’ve done.

Get to know your readers. Ask what they want and what they don’t, what they love and what they hate. Ask what they’ve already read and what they’re aching to read. What do they wish someone would tell them? How can you tell it to them in a way that will reach them?

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Do You Check Your Ethics at the Door?

by Amy Derby on March 12, 2008

As I touched on in yesterday’s rant, little frustrates me more than a client asking me to do something unethical.

Some of you out there may be thinking this is a bit of a hypocritical statement coming for someone who works for lawyers. Part of why I wanted out of Corporate America, I realized after I broke out, was because I was working for the wrong side of the law. When I began taking on freelance writing work for lawyers, I made a conscious choice to only work for the good guys. It took me a while to learn that even some of the good guys aren’t so good. Enter the ethics issue.

Whether it’s a client asking me to swipe copyrighted images to use in blog posts or to employ questionable SEO tactics, I’ve never had a problem telling a client “I’m not comfortable doing that. Here’s why.” Generally, the client then realizes it’s wrong or at least sees my side of it enough to respect that I’m not doing it. And that’s cool by me. On the rare occasion someone acts like a ratbastard about it, I don’t have a problem dropping that client.

Even when I had very little work coming in or income to speak of, I’d have dropped any client who insisted I do something unethical. I’d rather get a gig cleaning up someone’s dog poop than have to live with the guilt.

But sometimes there are gray areas. Yesterday’s issue was one of those. After my client’s initial nonchalant reaction, then his lack of any reaction on my second turn-down to do what he wanted, I started thinking maybe I was just crazy.

I decided to get a few unbiased opinions. I asked two freelancers and one consultant I know well enough to know they’re trustworthy — but not well enough to feel they’d loyally stand beside me no matter what — if they thought it was wrong and what they’d do about it.

All three agreed what I’d been asked to do was wrong. But one said he’d do it if the price was right (and he wasn’t joking).

Now, this is a guy whose standard billing rate is in the $150-$200/hr range. This is a guy who just bought his third summer home. This isn’t a single dad desperate to put dinner on the table. Not that that should matter, but I digress.

For several hours last night, this bugged me. The thoughts kept spinning, and I kept wondering: is this what we’ve come to?

Isn’t it bad enough that every third person I “meet” on the internet is selling an ebook on how to make money online, how to run a home-based business, how to boost that internet marketing career, when the majority of these people have yet to achieve any of this?

Isn’t it bad enough that at least half of the emails I receive every day are from people who want to work at home and think writing will be an easy way to do it? So much so that the internet is polluted with crap, and we’ve got stellar web writers preaching to newbies that it’s okay to suck just because everyone else does?

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I got into this whole freelance lifestyle because I wanted a better life. I was so fed up with my day job that I couldn’t take it anymore. When I ran out of money and had to work again, I told myself I’d rather be homeless (and I was for a brief time) than go back to being a slave to some asshole who cares more about the million dollar couch in his office than he cares about his employees.

I realize there are a lot of freelancers out there who don’t feel like they have choices. I get at least a dozen new emails each week from women who are desperate to learn to make it as a freelance writer because they’re suffering from illness and can’t work, or they’re raising kids on their own. These emails often begin with some variation of the line, “Please help me learn how to do this, because I’ve tried a lot of other work at home stuff and nothing has worked.”

And I get that. My mother raised me on her own, and she worked her ass off at shitty jobs that barely paid the rent. I was a latch-key kid and ate mac & cheese for dinner almost every night until I was old enough to babysit to help contribute to the household income. So I get it.

Would I justify someone in this situation doing something unethical if faced with an offer of money they felt they couldn’t otherwise get? No, I wouldn’t. But at least I’d understand where they’re coming from a little better.

But the thought that we’re putting ourselves out there to be bought? It’s just so wrong.

I dropped my highest paying client yesterday, because I don’t like to sleep with demons. If a client asked you to do something unethical, what would you do?

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