Marketing | Words on the Page

4 Hyper Marketing Strategies for Writers

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Fast As You by Dwight Yoakam Oh, snow. We had snow showers overnight — just an inch — and the snow right now is falling so softly. Such a pretty picture. Until tonight. That’s when the big shit comes down. Our area is expected just 7 to 12 inches (“just”). Other…

Marketing Monday: Removing Client Reservations

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Don’t by Ed Sheeran Since I’ve been talking to a good many client prospects lately, I’m realizing that there are some pretty big obstacles we writers have to overcome. Just having a client interested doesn’t guarantee it’s going anywhere, as most of you know. Some writing clients get so close and…

Identifying Your Ideal Writing Client

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Safe by The Airborne Toxic Event It’s been a fruitful week so far. I’ve made good progress on two articles and I hope to have one in to the editor today. The other won’t be far behind. That means Lori gets a much-deserved vacation soon. This week has also been fruitful…

Tactical Tuesday: 6 Step Marketing

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Skinny Love by Birdy I can’t believe it’s Tuesday and I’m just now getting around to telling you about my weekend. That’s a good sign, believe me. Saturday I don’t even remember. I know it was slow and it involved reading. It always involves the farmers market, so I know we…

Writer in Idle

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Wagon Wheel by Old Crow Medicine Show To all veterans everywhere: Thank you. You have made us proud and we won’t forget your sacrifices to keep us safe. Happy Veterans Day. Some weekend, I might actually not have to travel, work, or move things around. Forget next weekend — we’re driving…

4 Ways to Kill Your Writing Business

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Don’t Swallow the Cap by The National I love pay days. Since those days are unpredictable for us writers, it’s always like getting a much-needed gift. Yesterday, I received the third such “gift” and am now set pretty well for the holidays. That doesn’t mean marketing stops; on the contrary, it…

Market Like You Mean It

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Bright Lanterns by The Tallest Man on Earth Don’t you love when a project seems to fall into place? One I’m working on this week is doing just that. It’s a complex topic, but the people I’m interviewing and the huge amount of resources readily available is making it easy to…

Writerly Wednesday

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Radioactive by Imagine Dragons It’s August. I can tell by the silence. Where last year I had a summer of confinement (tons of work at once from May until December, really), this summer I could probably take off entirely and never be missed. Well, except for one large project and a…

How to Be Stupid at Marketing Yourself

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: The Air Near My Fingers by The White Stripes Did you have a nice Easter/nice weekend? Ours was lovely. Saturday was sunny and warm enough to go into the garden. I pulled up as much whitlow grass as I could find, and we cleaned up twigs. Saturday night was church, as…

Idea Thievery

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Ghosts That We Knew by Mumford & Sons (clickable link!) Last chance, people! The 8 Steps to Conference Marketing Success e-course is about to disappear. Register by Monday, April 1st to reserve your spot in this self-study course designed to teach you how to attend a trade show and win new clients….

Devon Ellington

I've had that problem with "students" signing up for a class, then taking the class material, quitting the class, and charging money to teach it on their own sites, even though it clearly states that the material is my intellectual property and the materials are not to be re-distributed.

Cathy Miller

LOL, Lori. 😀 However, as I suffer from occasional bouts of boomer brain, I am sure I steal from myself and don't remember the original post. 😉

That being said, I think you're spot on. I do believe there are times when it is just coincidence, but when you see the same idea over and over from a relatively small network, it gives me pause – at a minimum.

Heck, I've even said, I can't remember where I read this, but I would give credit if I could remember when boomer brain robs me of the memory of where I read something.

Like you said, it's the decent thing to do.

Lori

Devon, we've had that in the 5 Buck Forum too, I'm sure of it. You get someone who signs up for a month, then disappears without a single post or even mentioning who they are (we know because their info is in PayPal). We had one or two who signed up for a DAY and canceled. I can't believe it's all because it wasn't what they expected…

Cathy, there was a coincidence last week. Anne and I wrote about the EXACT SAME THING –she on her blog, me on the forum blog. Same artwork, even. In that case, it was pure coincidence. I saw the artwork in our shared folder and thought "Hey, that would work!" Should have read her blog first. 🙂

I get that sometimes we forget. I've done it, but I try to mention it ("I read somewhere this week, can't remember where….")

Jake P.

It's particularly short-sighted when you consider the benefits of linking out and linking in. (Then again, if you're skanking around and stealing, you're probably not interested in being part of your peer community.) And from an SEO perspective, you benefit from back-linking to your own popular posts, so there's that, too.

A lot of my blog posts are riffs on, expansions of, or contrarian views to things I've read elsewhere. To me, part of the value of blogging is to point people to the source material in the hopes that they'll enjoy and learn from it as much as I did.

Lori

Jake, there's always that. 🙂 And you're right — it is short-sighted. There are a few bloggers I've known over the years who will not link to anyone. How exactly is that a benefit, I wonder? I guess those intent on being the EXPERT on it all don't want to give credit. Hey, even experts don't know everything! I tend to trust less people who won't acknowledge their own limitations. Ah, but here I go, ranting…

You've always been great at linking back, as have most people who read here. That builds a more sustainable community — sharing.

Paula

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one talking to myself! (Sometimes I answer in my dog's voice, leading her to lear at me with an express like, "I would never say something that stupid!") A couple years ago I saw SNL head writer Seth Meyers on a talk show, and he said he's always walking down the street talking to himself…he attributed it to being something a lot of writers do to process their thoughts.

I know of one blogger who has to be an idea thief, because coincidental duplication of other bloggers' posts cannot happen that frequently. Ya know? Plus, that particular blogger has also been known to troll the blogs that originated the ideas, saying, "Wow! What a coincidence! I just covered this on my blog, too!" and including a link to that post. That's temerity.

Lori

Paula, at least your dog listens. This goldfish is totally stoic.

I've seen similar things happen, too. I know there's the mindset that one has to be THE authority on something, but admitting the idea wasn't yours originally isn't a stain on your reputation — rather the opposite, I think. It shows you have a strong moral character, and you're just a damn decent person for showing some humility.