Well, what you need to do is write some good stuff, but as W. Somerset Maugham once said, “There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are”. Thankfully, there are good marketing skills you can master, and not care for those unwritten rules. Now let’s get on with the times.
1. Content
This is not a guide to writing great content. That’s something where you are truly on your own. But there are marketing strategies that make you think differently of the writing itself and can shape the way you think about your content.
Due to drastic digital changes in society, our way of thinking and reading changed as well. This means that cognitive structuring prefers hypertextual, multimedia content. Also, the text becomes a sort of design, visually organized, with concise but compelling sentences, all of which can be shaped by the evolving marketing skills.
2. Readability
This is the most boring, and also the most underestimated tip you just might want to consider. Marketing strategists are going on and on about the importance of SEO. You might think this only affects those who write for commercial purposes – I beg to differ.
Sure, when inspiration hits, writing your first draft can be fun, but you can’t ignore the hard part of it all. Boosting your SEO not only saves your future readers the trouble and pain of going through neverending passages of information, but it also helps you think thoroughly through and handle your content.
Don’t worry, great writers have always struggled with the form, and why shouldn’t you? A new age requires new ways of dealing with the form. We are, after all, evolving and so are our reading and comprehension skills. Get to know them.
3. Audience
Look at it this way. The audience may not be the most reasonable and the most reliable way of establishing your relevance, but it may sometimes be the only way. Whether you like it or not, reader-response is the life of whatever you choose to write.
Before you slip into your own secluded reality, take the time to get to know the world you currently live in. We don’t necessarily have to paint the picture of our society in order to be a good writer, but we do need to know the language of those we communicate with. Don’t even pretend you don’t care whether you’re being read or not.
4. Social Media
To your grievance, you need to dive into that social media. Just as I’ve mentioned above, there’s nothing dirty about being in touch the society you live in.
You can’t be active on all media all of the time, but you can join some media and make a living. Find a platform that suits you (or your target audience), think of some unique hashtags that make your work recognizable, reach out to bloggers and vloggers you like and trust if you don’t want to expose yourself personally.
Social platforms are not just a marketing tool, but an extension of what you’re writing. It is a modern way of exploring the possibilities of writing.
5. Publishing
Publishing work has caused many frustrations among headstrong writers. It requires lots of compromising that interferes with your vision. Luckily, there are now thousands of publishing companies that can make this collaboration easy for you.
Design your own brand, think up the cover that matches your genre or general style. Remember that representation is as important to the public as is the content. And as for the publishers, look for those that have a defined market that fits your genre. Think of your work as a wide social hypertext that you need to link to everything that might broaden its meaning and impact.
So, will you take the blue pill and do it the oldfashioned way or will you take the red pill and wake up to see the possibilities beyond paper and ink?