John Carlton — "the most ripped-off and respected copywriter alive."

I’ve been to my share of writers conferences. They can be good for getting a recharge, gaining inspiration, or for commiserating with my brethren. Rarely, though, do I come away feeling like what I gained will directly repay the cost of attending. And that’s okay. I go for less-measurable reasons.

But I’m planning to attend one on January 29–30 that will be different.

It’s John Carlton’s Action 2010 seminar in San Diego.

John Carlton is one of the country’s most successful copywriters. He and a panel of super-successful copywriters and marketing masters will be sharing tactics and strategies geared to getting us attendees to formulate a workable action plan for success in 2010.

I like the sound of that. Much better than vague resolutions like “query more” or “land more narrative features.”

Here’s a blurb from his sales letter for the event:

“We’re breaking the mold on seminars (yet again)…

… and creating a resource-rich space where you will be literally surrounded by trusted professionals (the best in the biz)…

… all interacting with you and other attendees…

… on the really important stuff behind growth and business success.”

If you’re unclear what copywriting is, it’s essentially writing marketing and/or advertising copy, online or off-line. If you’re a good writer, you should consider it—even if it’s only to better sell yourself.

You know me primarily as a magazine journalist. But notice I never call myself anything but “writer.” I’ve done a fair amount of copywriting over the years, and it’s been a lucrative addition to my writing income.

I readily admit I have much to learn. Why not learn from the best?

Even if you’re not an aspiring copywriter, you should view yourself as an entrepreneur, a businessperson. That’s how you should run your writing life. And that means marketing yourself and marketing your writing.

All too often, freelance writers lean too far to the artsy side of the spectrum and neglect to see and market themselves as businesses. That’s why so many writers are struggling.

I’m going to Action 2010 to help break that mold. I hope some of you will join me. It’s that rarest of all writers conferences—one that I know will repay the cost of admission. Many times over.

One more quote from Carlton:

“I’m going to guarantee that you come away with a list of at least 12 specific Action Plan tactics you’ll be able to implement immediately to increase your bottom line.”

I’d say that’s pretty persuasive copy.

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Click here to learn more about John Carlton’s Action 2010.

Dave Navarro, aka The Launch Coach, spells it all out.

I’ve just created a new website that I think you’ll be interested in. It’s called EBook Secrets Rated: www.ebooksecretsrated.com. In it I’ve reviewed what I think are the three best books on the market about writing and marketing an ebook.

If you haven’t considered writing an ebook, you should. Ebooks can be hugely profitable for writers. As you know from reading Write Where the Money Is, I’m not a big fan of traditional book publishing, at least not for information products. I like the lean, mean, online approach. No hunt for an agent, no genuflecting to publishers. You’re your own agent, editor, and publisher.

But a word of warning: You’re also your own marketing department. And that’s where most ebook writers go awry. You have to learn how to properly launch and market your book.

The three books on my site tell you just how to do that. They are:

How to Launch the **** Out of Your Ebook

Ebook Secrets Exposed

How to Write and Publish Your Own eBook in as Little as 7 Days

Have a look at Ebook Secrets Rated and let me know what you think.

My best editorial client, National Geographic Adventure magazine, folded last month. I was the editor at large and a regular contributor.

When I got the news, I spent time commiserating with the staff. It was a great magazine, loved by 625,000 readers. Beautifully produced. Super high quality editorial. I was proud to be a part of it for its entire 10-year lifespan. Proud to be friends with the very smart people who edited and designed it.

But I couldn’t spend much time wringing my hands or theirs, or even contemplating what it meant for the future of print journalism. Maybe later. It was time to move on. I had work to do. I thought I’d share some of the steps I’ve taken since NGA folded. This will always happen to us as freelance writers. Clients will go away. Magazines will fold, businesses will go belly-up, or staff turnover will bring change of direction. Clients might stop using us, or use us less. Here’s what I’ve been up to:

1. I reminded myself that this is normal. And good, really. When everything remains the same, we can get stagnant, complacent. It’s good to hustle. And to remember that there are lots of markets, millions of opportunities out there. It’s exciting to be reminded of that.

2. I got my homepage, my platform, in order: bobhowells.com. I want editors and ad clients to have easy access to snippets of my portfolio. I’d gotten lazy about this. I had a steady gig. I didn’t have to sell myself much.

I did the site on my own. It cost nothing other than domain registration and hosting. If you don’t have clips available online—a résumé of some sort, do it. It will pay off. You don’t have to be a tech wizard. I’m certainly not. But I’m a journalist whose business it is to dive in and understand stuff. I applied my instincts to this process. You can too. Or just hire some help.

3. I contacted clients I’d worked for in the past. You know, just checking in. And by the way, I have this cool idea…. My electrician did the same the other day, and I gave him a job right off. I got a great print assignment almost right away, and put down the groundwork for more.

4. I checked in with other writers and bloggers. The grapevine is buzzing. It always pays off to find out what others are up to. As always, I’m touched by the generosity of my fellow freelancers.

Interestingly, I hear far fewer sour attitudes than in tough times past. We all recognize that the landscape is changing. Change can be painful, but the great thing is, media is becoming so dispersed that we’re more than ever the masters of our own fates.

5. I stepped up activity on Facebook and Twitter. Not to waste time, but to raise my presence and to network.

6. I kept up with my posts here, and jotted down many, many ideas for future posts.

7. I followed my own advice in this post.  Especially the part about focus. In just two highly focused hours, I wrote something I’m extremely proud of.

8. I continued my education in Internet marketing. I will be sharing much more about this in the future. We as writers are in a strong position to succeed in Internet marketing, to parlay our skills as communicators into great success online. I pay keen attention to two mentors in particular, Chris Farrell and James Schramko. (Those are my affiliate links to their sites.) I urge anyone looking for a fresh outlet to try either or both of these guys, at least for a trial period.

9. I read or thumbed through books on entrepreneurism and wealth building. I thought Gary Vaynerchuk’s short Crush It! was superb for its specifics and practicality. (Grammar Ranter wishes he could have edited it, though.) Christopher Howard’s Instant Wealth—Wake Up Rich was more “ya gotta believe,” but full of inspiration—his and that of some of the world’s most successful people. (Yep, those are my Amazon links.)

10. I meditated.

Howells and Schramko, uniting two exciting worlds.

Turn your passions into profit. If you’ve read my book Write Where the Money Is, you know that’s a message I pound like a drumbeat. And I set out a course for exactly how to do it. It’s common ground I share with the brilliant Internet marketer James Schramko, who interviewed me recently for his audience—composed, of course, of Internet marketers. Click here to visit his site and listen to our interview.

As writers, we turn passion into profit by writing about subjects we know and love. If our passion is writing itself, all the better. If you’re dialed in to the ever-emerging universe of Internet marketing, you work your passion online. It all amounts to making a living working at home and doing what you love.

The gist of our interview is this—unite the worlds of print media and online marketing. Make money in both and leverage each to improve the other. In James’s words:

“When you publish work ‘offline’ in traditional media you build your authority. Robert Earle Howells is an EXPERT at this. After reading his e-book you will know exactly how to get a publisher to favor you over other submissions…..Yes, you can make money from your passion. Using (Bob’s) techniques you can add extra income to your existing job or amplify your authority for Internet marketing. Bob has made a living by getting paid to travel around the world! Now he is combining these skills with blogging and information products.”

Smart writers need to be doing this.

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If you’re serious about diving in to learn Internet marketing, check out James Schramko’s memberhip forum, where you can grab a trial membership for just $1.

Pets are high on Chris Farrell's list of hot topics for 2010. After all, who'd turn down a story about this sweet guy?

My friend Chris Farrell has compiled a list of hot arenas for Internet marketers in 2010. We as writers should pay attention. These are topics we should be pitching to magazines and websites this year. You better believe editors are aware of the timeliness of these subjects and will be looking for stories relevant to them. A great way to boost your freelance writing income.

(Chris, by the way, is a great guy who teaches from the ground up exactly how to start your own website and make money on the Internet. Take a little side trip here to check him out. A trial membership is just $4.95. You can download a ton of great information even if you don’t remain a member. But you might want to stick with him. He constantly updates his site and offers excellent webinars free to members. I’m a member and an affiliate myself.)

Anyway, these are the hot topics for 2010, with Chris’s observations and my comments:

Baby Boomers. “Pretty much EVERY business associated with aging is booming.” What are their interests? Music, nostalgia… Concerns? Health, fitness, aging, retirement… If you get yourself into boomer consciousness, you can apply their interests and concerns to almost any subject area, almost any magazine or website you want to pitch.

Going Green. Venture capitalists are pouring money into clean energy, green vehicles, etc.  Virtually every publication, trade journal, or website will be looking for clean, green articles. Think about how environmental consciousness pervades virtually EVERY subject area you could possibly write about. But scratch the surface. Get beyond the obvious.

The Recession. “Who would have thought? The recession is big business.” Chris goes on to point out that nearly 10% of those who gained employment last year did so by starting their own business. People want to know how to start a business, how to work from home. Use the downturn to give yourself an upturn. There is, ahem, a wealth of recession-related topics to mine.

Pets. “The recession may have demolished the manufacturing and financial services, but the pet industry? Totally fine!” Fifteen years ago I wrote about a collapsible pet bowl you could stuff in a backpack and whip out to water your pooch on a walk or hike. That was novel then, and the company that made it, Ruff Wear, built a business around it. This year I wrote about dogcentric bed-and-breakfasts in Vermont. In other words, the stakes are higher, the obsession greater, and no degree of pet zealotry is too out-there for coverage. Think about travel with pets, health and fitness for pets—even pet health insurance—pet accessories, profiles of notable pets (Buddy the surfdog!). You can’t go wrong.

Trading Down. Chris points out that we are spending less and looking for ways to save in almost every area of expenditure. You can be a guide to readers looking to find ways to save on any and everything.

Life Support. “More people than ever are paying professionals to do domestic chores.” Chris cites examples: childcare, eldercare, sports coaching, tutoring. This is a sharp observation—and a topic that has been little covered in the media as a trend.

Education. “The statistics say that it’s more than likely the job you are doing now you will NOT be doing in five years,” writes Chris Farrell. Meaning there’s a trend afoot: reeducation. You could even call it reinvention. People are starting over. Profiles of how individuals are doing this and resources for people similarly inclined could be a great area to mine editorially.

Health and Wellness. A no-brainer. Virtually evergreen. Which is why you have to get beyond the obvious here (yoga, for example), and think about how health wellness apply to less obvious subject areas. Yoga travel is huge. Preventive and alternative medicine are gaining mainstream acceptance: How? Where? To what benefit? Hint: Tie Health and Wellness in to Trading Down and The Recession and get creative with your pitches.

Booze. “We’re still drinking like fish, only now we are doing it at home with cheaper booze.” Chris is suggesting this as subject for Internet marketers to cash in on—they can offer home-brewing tips and kits and the like—but writers should pay attention to the larger ramifications. Think about the resurgence of fancy cocktails, off-the radar wineries, old drinks gaining new acceptance (absinthe, once banned in the U.S., is an obvious example). Look for convergences: I recently covered an event that combined cross-country skiing with microbrew tasting. And I read about a new, green distillery in Scotland. Search the beverage-industry trade journals for leads.

Local, Local, Local. “Mom and pop stores are enjoying a revival. Farmers markets are HUGE.” I would add: A lot of shoppers are hip to the fact that the long-distance transport of goods adds to their cost and environmental impact. People want to know about alternatives. Local, Local, Local should also apply to your pitching strategy. If you’re only hitting national publications, you’re missing out on local and regional publications that might value your local expertise.

EzineArticles.com is not exactly a forum for fine writing. No one goes to Ezine like they might the New Yorker—for entertainment, enlightenment, a fine read.

Still, article directories serve a purpose, which I discuss in my book Write Where the Money Is. Freelance writers might well end up submitting articles to Ezine or other article directories—if not for pay (there is none on Ezine), then to promote their business or expertise—or (and this would pay) someone else’s business or expertise.

For the time being, let’s forget the underlying raison d’etre of article directories—search-engine optimization, self-promotion, keyword utilization, and all that good stuff—and simply talk about a strategy that will get your articles read and valued.

Headline: Grabby, to the Point

Headlines like: How to… The Six Best Strategies For… Ten Mistakes Not to Make When You… XX Techniques that Work… all work well. They set up exactly what you intend to do, and they intrigue readers. Here’s one I could use for this article: Four Powerful Ways to Write Better Articles.

Lede: Grabby, to the Point

Your lede (journalism lingo: “lede” in lieu of “lead” so as not to confuse the opening of an article with the stuff fishing sinkers are made of) should amplify the headline and set up exactly what is to follow. Your lede should be a laser-beam focused statement of opinion or fact that points directly to what follows. One or two sentences should be enough. Like: “Online articles are effective only when writers pay attention to these four (usually neglected) fundamentals.”

In other words, minimize your setup. Maximize your payoff.

Body Copy: Think Bullets or Numbers

You don’t have to write in bulleted or numbered paragraphs, but THINK in those terms. That’s how clear and organized you want your article to be. In this article, I’ve used subheads for the same purpose. I set up the fact that writers should pay attention to four fundamentals. Then I spelled out what those fundamentals are. Simple.

Kicker

Kickers for article-site articles are different from kickers in magazines, where you might employ a bit of wit while harking back to the lede. In an online article, your goal is to so enthrall and impress the reader that he will be compelled to continue to the resource box and click through to your website, or to the site of your client.

One clever approach is to construct your kicker to read directly through to your resource box, essentially setting up your resource box to be the final paragraph of your article.

Or just write such an effective article that readers won’t be able to help themselves; they’ll be dying to click through. That, of course, is your goal.

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