Writing for self-promotion: top ten ways you can use your writing to promote your writing

Writers are just like the shoemaker's children: we're barefoot. We write for everyone else, but not for ourselves. Writing for ourselves - to promote our writing - is essential. It gets us writing gigs, and it improves our writing skills because we're writing more.

Here are the top ten ways to use your writing to promote your writing:

1. Ask editors to add a mini-bio to your byline

Bylines are great, but you can get more effect from them if you can convince your editors to add a couple of sentences. Viz. "Kathy Writer's special interests are finance and technology. Visit her Web site at [site URL] to learn more about her upcoming book: "Designer-Wear On A Budget."

2. Develop a Web site

Everyone needs a Web site, and writers need a site more than anyone else. You're selling your WRITING skills - what better way to promote your skills than on your own site?

3. Create an archive of your published work

Never sell all rights to your work. The rights you do sell should always be clearly defined, and if you're selling the rights to a book, the rights should revert to you when sales drop below a nominated level. This means that you can repurpose and revise your work as the years pass - and sell it again.

Create an archive of everything you've written. Copy it to a CD or DVD, and update it regularly.

4. Create a newsletter

If you've been writing for a while, you've got people who know you and your work. However, those people won't remember you just because they published one of your articles or one of your books.

Create a Contacts List, and send out a newsletter to the list every month or two. You can post your newsletters on your Web site too.

5. Write press releases

Press releases are a no-brainer for a writer. Send out press releases consistently, whenever you create a new Web site, publish an article in a magazine, or give a talk.

6. Create an online press area on your Web site

Your press area contains your bio, your portfolio, articles that you've written to generate publicity, and useful information for your site visitors. Your press area is never complete. Aim to add to this section of your site regularly.

7. Write something to promote your writing every day - create a blog

Get a blog. I won't say any more than that - a blog has great effects both on your writing skills and on your online and offline exposure. Blog!

8. Guest-blog on other bloggers' blogs

Do an occasional guest-blogging stint on someone else's blog. This gets you new readers.

9. Add to the online conversation: contribute your knowledge at Web forums and discussion groups

Yes, you can read forums and discussion groups and consider it work - if you contribute to the discussions.

10. Set yourself "promotional writing goals" and write to meet those goals every day

Currently I'm slapping my own primary site around and doing some optimization on it, which means writing more for that site. This is one of my own current promotional goals. I do a few minutes' work on it daily, and although I'm not devoting huge amounts of time to the project, I can see that it's making a difference.

Does the idea of doing all this EXTRA writing make you cringe? You need to write more. Discover how to write more with my great new ebook "Top 70 Writing Tips To Help You To Write More" - you CAN write more, write effortlessly, and enjoy writing.

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