Full-Time Freelancing

by Nick Usborne

Whenever you sit down to write a Web page – whether it’s a home page, a sales page, a subscription page, or an information page – there are seven steps you can take to ensure that your copy is the best it can be.

Define the purpose of the page.

This may sound obvious, but too few online copywriters and marketers sit down and establish a clear, clean purpose for a Web page.

All too often, Web pages are created as “content dumps.” Some boss somewhere decides he or she wants a page on some topic, the under-boss passes along the request plus some background information from an old brochure, and the writer is asked to write the page.

Not a smart way to do it.

Far better to sit down for 10 minutes with others involved in the project and ask the simple question, “What is the primary purpose of this page?” Or, to put it another way, “What is it we want this page to achieve?”

Is its purpose to …

close a sale? secure a subscription or registration? help people find a particular product or service page on your site? invite participation? pre-sell a product or service and then move the reader forward to a sales page? educate the reader and then direct him or her forward to one of your main category pages? Write down the answer, in 10 words or less, and pin it to the wall in front of you.

Now you know what your page needs to do.

Understand your audience

Who will be coming to this page? Kids? Retired people? Who are they? Where do they live? How much money do they have?

And, broadly speaking, what is their interest in coming to your site? Are they there to learn? Or are they looking for a new car? Insurance? Garden furniture?

Based on their even knowing about your site, you can get a pretty good idea about who is coming there and what their general interest is.

So here’s the question: “Who are these guys?”

Write down your answer on that same sheet of paper.

Get clarity on your visitors’ expectations.

Now we are getting more granular. We want to know why these people are coming to this page specifically. What do they want? What are they hoping for? What are their expectations?

There are clues and trails you can follow when trying to identify the specific purpose someone has in mind when coming to a page.

First, ask yourself where they came from. A link from the home page? So what did the link say? What is the exact wording? That link text will give you a very clear idea as to your page visitor’s expectations. In fact, the link text will largely set that person’s expectations.

The same is true of someone arriving via a search engine. To find your page, they typed a few words into the search engine’s search field. What phrase did they use? Again, those words give you a strong clue as to the visitor’s expectations.

Maybe they came via a link in an email. What expectations did the email build up and set? What was the promise?

Follow these trails and do your best to determine the visitor’s expectations.

This is vital.

You will always maximize the effectiveness of a Web page by getting as close as you can to matching the visitor’s expectations.

Remember, those expectations are set immediately before the visitor arrives on the page.

This means your headline and opening text has to be a direct and immediate match with what that person is hoping to find.

Don’t waste time or words. Match your reader’s expectations immediately.

Get to the meat faster.

The Web is not the place to write clever introductory text. It’s not the place to do some grand scene-setting.

Determine your reader’s expectations and get to the “meat” of your message immediately. No meandering. No fluff. Just get out of the way and let them do what they came there to do.

That action might be to read an article. Or sign up for a newsletter. Or compare three different laptop computers. It doesn’t matter. Whatever it is that they want, give it to them immediately.

Write only as much as you need to.

As copywriters, we are often told how much copy to write. We need to fit a certain format, fill a page, or write enough text to fit in an 8-page letter.

The Web isn’t like that. A page can have two lines of text or a thousand lines of text. There is no fixed length.

The tendency online is to write more than is really necessary.

Don’t do that.

Go back to your notes, confirm what it is your visitor wants to do, and write only enough to enable them to meet their goal.

Write enough to get the job done, but not a word more.

Tell people what to do.

Again, this sounds obvious. But there are a zillion pages online that are beautifully written, but then sag and sputter at the end.

If your reader takes no action after reading the page, you have failed. You need them to do something.

Hopefully, if you have done a good writing job, the link they click will correspond exactly to the expectations they had before they arrived at your site.

For instance, before arriving at your page, they might have been thinking, “I need an insurance quote for my new home.”

The best outcome for you is when they click on a link on your page that says, “Get an insurance quote for your home.”

It’s only by securing an action that you can succeed in matching their expectations.

Tell them the next step.

Some expectations are more complex. Maybe someone was thinking, “I want a new digital camera, but I would like to check out my options.”

They then arrive on your page, which includes a digital camera comparison chart.

Good job so far.

You have helped them compare cameras. But they aren’t ready to buy. So what’s next?

Well, people who compare cameras are at different stages. Some are almost ready to buy, others are still early on in the research process.

So how do you get them to take an action?

You provide options.

For those who are early on in their search, offer a free downloadable guide to choosing digital cameras.

For those who are ready to buy, provide a link to the sales page for each camera.

Be aware of the options your readers might find attractive, and offer them.

The Place Where People DO Things

All of these points are focused on understanding the visitor and getting him or her to do something.

That’s what the Web is. It’s a place where people DO things.

And you need to write accordingly.

Know your visitors. Know what they want. And help them achieve their goals.

[Ed. Note: Thanks to the web, the demand for freelance copywriters has skyrocketed in the last few years. So all this week we’ll focus on finding the best paying jobs, and writing web copy that sells. Nick Usborne, often referred to as THE expert of online copywriting, will be giving you the inside scoop … so stay tuned!]

This article appears courtesy of The Golden Thread, an e-letter from AWAI that delivers original, no-nonsense advice on how to build your freelance copywriting business. For a free subscription, visit http://www.awaionline.com/thegoldenthread

By Jennifer Stevens

I’m sure you’ve heard the Gene Fowler quote: “Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.”

Even now, with nearly 15 years of promotions under my belt, I still find the blank page paralyzing at times. But I’ve developed a series of techniques I rely on to get into a project.

One surefire strategy is to start with a story. And this is a great technique if you’re just starting out as a copywriter.

Because you already know how to tell a story. You’ve been listening to stories since you were a toddler on your mother’s lap. You tell stories all the time in your day-to-day life.

A good story is like comfort food. It brings with it an emotional response – exactly the kind of response you want your reader to have.

A well-told story …

Gives you a practical way to get into your sales letter. Creates a friendly, personable, and conversational tone for your copy. Makes your promise (and your product) “real” to your prospect. Makes your message easier to remember. Here are five places to find stories that can work in your leads …

1. Customer Testimonials Have your clients send you the letters their customers send them. Sometimes the perfect one comes in the mail. Other times you may have to follow up with a person who sent in a testimonial to get the details to fill out the story.

Here’s a great testimonial used in the lead of a promo to sell a book on household hints:

My guests were due to arrive in just 15 minutes!

But the toilet was clogged. And I couldn’t find a plunger (or a plumber)!

I called my sister, who has a copy of your new book,HOUSEHOLD MAGIC.

“Just squirt in some liquid dish detergent,” she told me. “Wait 15 minutes and you and your guests will be good to go.”

Well, it worked just like you said – like magic!

– Plungerless in Seattle

Though that may not have happened to you, the story strikes a chord – because it clearly could happen. It relates to a situation none of us wants to be stuck in. And it shows that this product provides solutions.

2. Biographies and History Books You find so much information on the Internet these days. And so much of it sounds the same. So look beyond that resource to history books, economics books, and biographies for authentic, seldom-told stories that will, by their unique nature, catch your reader’s attention.

Here’s one, for instance, that a copywriter dug up in a book at his local public library …

One hundred and thirty-one feet below the surface of the Baltic Sea – just off the coast of Finland – a treasure trove belonging to Russian Empress Catherine the Great lay undiscovered for almost 230 years.

Tales of the Vrow Maria – a famed “treasure ship” – enticed scores of deep-sea hunters to search for its exquisite paintings, jewels and precious cargo …

In 1999, the wreckage was found.

Four years later, Charles Deveroux traveled to Europe to explore the site of the sunken cargo ship. It was the single greatest moment of his deep-sea diving career …

You can’t help but keep reading. You want to know what happens next. This lead does exactly what it’s meant to do: It draws the reader in.

3. Personal Stories From Gurus, or Product-Creation Stories If you want to make money in the stock market, who better to listen to than someone who’s done it time and again? If you want to travel the world and get paid to do it, who better to follow than someone who has been cashing in on her trips for the past 20 years?

Here’s a “guru” story from Alexandria Brown, the “E-zine Queen” …

I used to be where you are right now!

Seven years ago in New York City, I had a marketing communications business that I started because I wanted to “control my own destiny.” But instead, I worked like a dog, was a slave to my clients, struggled to market myself, and I had no time or freedom. Owning my own business was a chore instead of a joy.

The money was all right most of the time, but my cash flow was UP and DOWN. One month I’d get a bunch of checks and pay down my bills … the next month I was broke once more, clipping coupons, racking up debt again, and considering moving back in with my parents in the Connecticut suburbs.

(Know what I’m talkin’ ’bout?)

I felt like a BIG FAKE! …

You’ll find great credibility in the stories of real-world experts who know how to “do it,” whatever “it” may be.

So if the product you’re writing about has associated with it a “character,” play that up. Tell the story of how he discovered his secrets, developed his product, or built his wealth.

Stories like that make your “guru” real for the reader. They help make him (and his product) believable.

4. News Stories Read newspapers and magazines, listen to the news on the radio, catch the TV news on occasion. Those are great sources for “real world” stories that can also give your copy a certain built-in urgency. Pegging your promotion to something going on in the world right now is a smart way to infuse it with the need for your reader to take action.

Here’s a news story that leads a promotion to sell a report on privacy protection …

Loretta Wiley, an 88-year-old woman, lent her teenage grandnephew – Willard – $18,000 to buy a used Chrysler.

After a night of drinking and partying, Willard drove the car off a railroad bridge, totaling the Chrysler.

His passenger and fellow party-goer, Mark Varjak, lost a leg in the accident and was paralyzed from the chest down.

Despite his reckless behavior, Willard was NOT prosecuted …

Yet three years later, a jury found Ms. Loretta Wiley liable … to the Varjak family to the tune of $950,000 in damages – her entire life savings!

That story is rich with detail … and injustice. You feel outraged when you read it. And you immediately worry that something like that could happen to you, too. You want to protect yourself. And so you read on to find out how …

(An aside: If you use a news story in your copy, document where you got the information and be sure to provide that documentation to your client.)

5. Your Imagination Stories help to paint pictures for your reader. And those pictures help to take him out of his “element” and put him, well, right where you want him.

Use your own imagination to create “story images” that will help transport your reader. Like this …

Imagine lounging on your deck, a book on your lap and a cocktail in your hand. Just steps away, turquoise waters slip gently up onto the talcum-fine sand. Overhead, palms rustle and pelicans squawk.

As the sun slips behind the red horizon, your cook lights a lantern on the table and brings you the dinner she’s prepared – fresh-grilled fish with mango chutney, a salad, a bottle of wine …

You look up at the clear night sky and wonder, for a moment, if it isn’t all a dream … After all, it’s just the kind of extravagance the rich and famous enjoy …

But you don’t have to be a celebrity to live like one.

Now, keep in mind that it’s best to create positive images. Putting your reader in a “bad” place will just serve to annoy him. He won’t want to be there. And he won’t stay to read your letter.

Paint an enticing picture, on the other hand, and you’ll immediately charm your reader into your copy.

This article appears courtesy of The Golden Thread, an e-letter from AWAI that delivers original, no-nonsense advice on how to build your freelance copywriting business. For a free subscription, visit http://www.awaionline.com/thegoldenthread

by Kelly Robbins, healthcare copywriter

The first step to take before writing your next direct-mail piece or article – even before you do any research or interviews – is to set your goals and objectives.

You usually have multiple objectives when you’re writing. They could be to increase sales, generate revenue, educate consumers on a new product, increase name recognition, strengthen a relationship with vendors, or any combination of these. So clearly defining your copy’s purpose before you start can make the difference between average copy and phenomenal copy.

Most copywriters don’t take the time to write down their goals and objectives. If you don’t take the time to write them down before beginning, you can easily focus too much effort on one objective (which may not be the most important one), or unconsciously bounce back and forth between objectives, thereby confusing your reader.

Here’s an example of objectives a hospital may have for a direct mailing: The marketing director wants to increase sales. The COO wants to increase name recognition and build relationships with vendors and suppliers. Stockholders want to generate revenue immediately. And physicians wish to educate consumers on what they do and what they have to offer.

Here are specific steps to take to make sure you clearly identify your objectives – and follow through on meeting them:

1. Ask everyone involved with your copy – editor, client, whoever – “What do you hope to gain from this piece?” Write down their answers. Even if you think you know what they’re going to say, DON’T ASSUME ANYTHING.
2. If you’re writing an article and not a sales piece, what are the requirements of the publication? What do its readers want?
3. Analyze the way the identified objectives interrelate. Is it possible to meet everyone’s objectives and still create an effective, polished sales piece? If not, what do you drop or modify?

A good acronym to adopt in setting any objective is SMART: Specific, Measurable, Action-Oriented, Realistic, and Time-Bound. Let’s take a look at how this can be applied to writing copy.

SPECIFIC: A specific objective covers at least one of the five W’s: who, what, where, when, and why.

Who does this target? What do I want them to learn? Where is it going to be published? When will it run? Why am I doing this? A general objective for a DM piece is to increase sales. A specific goal is to increase sales by getting 50 new leads per month.

MEASURABLE: Measurable objectives allow you to be sure they’ve been met.

You can easily measure the specific objective of getting 50 new leads, for example. It’s more difficult to measure an objective like educating your target audience about a new product … but still possible. You may need to use follow-up phone calls or other evaluation methods to see if the objective was met. ACTION-ORIENTED: If your objective is to get 50 new leads a month, what action will you take to meet this objective? What will you do to ensure that you meet the marketing director’s needs with your copy? Who will you interview to make sure you cover all your bases? Where will you do your research?

REALISTIC: Setting realistic objectives means creating objectives you’re willing AND able to work on. If you don’t have enough time or the necessary resources to complete the project, your objective isn’t realistic and you need to revise it.

TIME-BOUND: Set a timeframe to finish the project and to accomplish major steps along the way. For instance, set dates to complete your research, to write the lead, to complete your first draft, to edit and rewrite, and to submit.

Setting objectives before you begin writing is crucial. Whether you’re a seasoned writer or just starting, knowing who you’re writing for and what they need to get from the copy is your key to success.

[Ed. Note: Kelly Robbins is a healthcare copywriter and marketing coach/consultant. She publishes The Healthcare Marketing Connection, a free e-zine on healthcare marketing tips. You can reach her at Kelly@KellyRobbinsLLC.com]

This article appears courtesy of The Golden Thread, an e-letter from AWAI that delivers original, no-nonsense advice on how to build your freelance copywriting business. For a free subscription, visit http://www.awaionline.com/thegoldenthread

by Robert W. Bly

The journey of a thousand manuscript pages (or even 150) begins with a single idea. Here’s how to find one.

Many people who attend my book-publishing semi­nars already have a book idea in mind. Others, however, have a strong desire to write a book, but are stuck on coming up with a suitable topic. If you fall into this category, here are 10 sources of ideas for books you may want to write:

1. Job Experience

An obvious but often overlooked source of book ideas is your job. Thousands of excellent books have been written by authors about a skill, expertise or career experience gained on the job.

This is how I came to write my first book, Technical Writing: Structure, Standards and Style (McGraw-Hill). My first job after graduating college was as a technical writer for Westinghouse Electric Corp. in Baltimore. After several months writing technical materials, I began to feel the need for a writing guide to assist technical writers with matters of style, usage, punctuation and grammar. (For example, does one write 1/4 or 0.25 or one fourth in technical documents?) Being book-minded, I went to the bookstores and found nothing appropriate.

My idea was to compile a style guide for technical writers modeled after the best-selling general writing style guide, The Elements of Style, by Strunk and White. I wrote a content outline and book proposal, and began to pursue agents and publishers. I was extremely lucky: The first agent who saw Technical Writing agreed to represent the book, and within three weeks, he sold it to the first publisher to look at it, McGraw-Hill. The advance was $8,500 – not bad for a first-time author in 1981 for a short (100-page) book.

Not every book I’ve written since has sold so quickly and easily. But subsequently, I have written a number of books based on skills and experiences gained in various careers and jobs.

Do you hold a highly desirable position or work in a glamorous industry? Then you can write a book telling others how to get into your line of work.

Have you developed specific and valuable skills such as computer skills selling, marketing, finance, negotiating or programming – skills that others need to master? There’s a need for abook telling them how to do it.

2. A Course You’ve Taught

There are many opportunities for you to design and teach courses to other people at work, at adult education evening classes at the local high school or college, at community colleges, at association meetings and even on the university level.

If you get the opportunity to teach a course, keep in mind that the topic and content outline you develop for the course may have appeal to a publisher as the outline for a potential book on the same subject.

In 1981, a private seminar company offering low-cost public seminars in New York City asked me to do an evening program on marketing and promotion for small business. The pay was lousy, but I accepted. A year or so later, I tool the course title and outline, turned it into a book proposal, and sold my second book, How to Promote Your Own Business, to New American Library.

If you want to write nonfiction books, there are two advantages to teaching a class or seminar. First, in developing and teaching the course, you will simultaneously be doing most of the legwork necessary to produce a book on the subject. Therefore, once you’ve presented the course, transforming it into a book is a relatively quick and easy next step (or at least quicker and easier than doing a book from scratch).

Second, teaching the course positions you as an expert in the subject, making you more attractive to book publishers. They figure that anyone who can lead a course on the topic must have a substantial amount of information and expertise to share. If you taught the course at a prestigious, well-known institution, that further boosts your credibility.

3. A Course You’ve Taken

Taking courses can also give you a fresh infusion of ideas and information that can become the basis for a book.

The same private seminar company I was teaching small business promotion seminars for offered a number of courses in different career areas, which as an instructor, I could take for free. After taking several, I came up with the idea of doing a career book on how to break into some of the more exciting, glamorous industries and professions, such as music, film, advertising, travel and television. The book, Creative Careers: Real Jobs in Glamour Fields, was published by John Wiley & Sons.

Warning: When you take the course, don’t steal or plagiarize the instructor’s seminar, reprinting it word for word as your book. Consider it a starting point and supplement it with additional research from many other sources (book articles, interviews, other seminars, etc.).

If the instructor does have good information you want to reprint (such as lists of contacts and resources), get his permission in writing. You can also ask the instructor if he or she will agree to be interviewed by you for inclusion in the book.

4. Life Experience

“It is in the totality of experience reckoned with, filed and forgotten, that each man is truly different from all others in the world,” writes Ray Bradbury in Zen in the Art of Writing. Every person and every life is unique, and this is why they say that everyone has at least one book inside them. What has happened to you has not happened to other people, and your experiences will make for a book that is either instructive, entertaining, moving or any combination of these.

This applies to everyone. For example, if you have chosen to remain single, you can write Living Alone and Loving It or a similar book on the joys of being single. If you are married with children, you have unique experiences as a parent, and can share your knowledge and experiences with others in an entertaining or informative book. If you are married but have been unable to have children, you have credibility to write a book on infertility. If you and your spouse have not had children by choice, you can write a book on Choosing to Live Child-Free. If you have only one child, you can write Raising the Single Child. If you’re a single parent, you can write Straight Talk and Advice for Single Parents.

In 1982, the New York City engineering firm employing me told me I would have to relocate. My fiancee did not want to leave Manhattan, so I resigned and started a new career as a self-employed industrial writer, producing brochures and data sheets for chemical companies and industrial equipment manufacturers.

The transition from employee to freelancer was an educational experience, one I knew many others would go through (or would hope to, someday). This became the topic of my book, Out on Your Own: From Corporate to Self-Employment, also published by Wiley.

5. A Process Or Task You Know How to Do

Through work, leisure or life experience, we all have done things that many other people have not done, and therefore know a good deal more about these things than they do. The inexperienced would like to learn from your experiences and avoid your mistakes, and a book is the ideal vehicle for this.

For instance, after resigning from the engineering firm and becoming a self-employed industrial writer in 1982, I was forced to learn how to succeed in the commercial writing field on my own; there was no book to guide me. I made many expensive mistakes and learned from experience.

To help other writers speed the learning curve and avoid these mistakes, I wrote Secrets of a Freelance Writer, published by Henry Holt & Co. The book is about the process of running a freelance writing business, covering everything from getting started and finding clients to setting fees and negotiating contracts.

6. A Hobby

Hobbies that fascinate you no doubt fascinate a lot of other people. As a hobbyist, you have much more knowledge than a journalist or other outsider who would have to research the field from scratch. Why not turn your hobby into a profit center by writing a book about it?

One of my hobbies is collecting comic books. I love Superman, Batman, Wolverine, and the other DC and Marvel superheroes.

When I graduated college in 1979, I burned with the desire to write a book and get it published. I started two book projects. One was a Harlequin romance novel, which I started not because I enjoy Harlequin romance novels – I’ve never even read one – but because I figured it would be easy to do.

I was wrong. I wrote 40 pages of the worst Harlequin romance novel of all time before abandoning the project.

But writing those pages taught me an important lesson: Don’t select a topic or form for your book just because you think it is commercially viable and will make you a lot of money. If you do, your lack of enthusiasm will show through in your writing.

On the other hand, if you are passionate about your topic, your enthusiasm will show through in your writing. The book will be easier and more fun to write, and the final product will be much better in quality.

The second book project I started working on was a trivia book on comic book superheroes, written in quiz form. For example: What are the six types of kryptonite? (Green, red, blue, white, gold, jewel.) What was Spider-Man’s major in college? (Physics.)

I wrote a short manuscript and, having no contacts in publishing, and no knowledge of the publishing business, sent it to editors at various paperback publishers with a cover letter. It was rejected by all. I gave up and put it in a drawer.

Years later, when I was cleaning out some files, I came across the manuscript. I was going to throw it out, but instead mailed it to my literary agent with a note saying, “Do you think you can do anything with this?”

Six weeks later, she called and said she’d sold the book. I was speechless, The book, Comic Book Heroes: 1,101 Trivia Questions About America’s Favorite Superheroes From the Atom to the X-Men, was published by Citadel Press.

The second lesson I learned from this experience was: A book idea that doesn’t sell now might sell later. If you get rejected by publishers, don’t throw away or forget about the book proposal. File it and make a note to take another look at it in six or 12 months. Sometimes you have success on the second or third try because the timing is right. Other times, you see the idea from a fresh perspective, rewrite it, and make the sale with the revised book proposal. When asked to address the graduating class at Oxford, Winston Churchill, a great writer, stood up, and said only, “Never give up,” and sat back down. These three words are good advice for authors who want to sell book proposals to publishers.

Eventually, a third lesson revealed itself: Every book published gives you credibility that can lead to more book contracts in the same field.

I enjoyed writing the comic book trivia book. After it came out, I thought about doing trivia books on other topics in a similar format.

I was always a big Star Trek fan. This resulted in two books with Harper-Collins: The Ultimate Unauthorized Star Trek Quiz Book and Why You Should Never Beam Down in a Red Shirt. As publishers began to see me as a writer of popular culture trivia, I received several more contracts along this line, including What’s Your Frasier I.Q.?, a quiz book on the TV show Frasier.

Books about hobbies can be how-to, money-making, reference, specialized or general information. If you have an interest in tropical fish, for example, you could write How to Keep Tropical Fish (how-to), How to Breed Tropical Fish for Fun and Profit (money-making), An Illustrated Guide to Aquarium Fish (reference), Care and Breeding of Fancy Guppies (specialized) or Your First Fish Tank (general).

Notice that the first six methods on this list involve you, the author, having some special insight, experience or information on the topic of your book. Author and publisher Dan Poynter says, “Write about something in which you are a participant. The world needs more books written by writers who are also experts, not writers who are journalists.”

“Concentrate on the area that interests you, and if you’re not an expert now, you may become one,” writes Tom Peeler in The Writer. “And even if the area of interest still requires consultation with recognized professionals, specialization will allow you to develop regular sources and will give you credibility with them.”

One of Gary Larson’s Far Side cartoons shows an author autographing his book at a book signing. The caption reads, “After being frozen in ice for 10,000 years, Thag promotes his autobiography.” The title of the book: It Was Very Cold and I Couldn’t Move. Obviously, no publisher expects you to have 10,000 years of experience in your subject matter. But writing about something you know, have experienced or have achieved is one route to coming up with a book idea a publisher will buy from you.

7. Tidbits of Scattered Information You’ve Collected Or Compiled

Are you interested in a specific field of knowledge or study? And are you the type who clips articles and collects tidbits of information on your topic? If so, you can convert this passion for information by compiling your collected knowledge into book form.

For a while, I became fascinated with all the toll-free consumer help lines and hotlines I saw advertised, giving free information on everything from AIDS prevention to gardening tips to stock market quotes. I became an obsessive collector of these numbers, clipping articles and writing down 800-numbers I heard on the radio and saw on TV. Finally, I compiled them into a book, Information Hotline U.S.A., published by New American Library.

Similarly, a friend of mine, Don Hauptman, is obsessed by language in general and word-play in particular. Don is a collector of information, and began collecting acronyms (such as DNA, LSD, scuba, laser). When his collection got large enough, he turned it into a book on acronyms, Acronymania, published by Dell.

8. A Gap You’ve Found in the Reader’s Knowledge You Know You Can Fill

An excellent way of finding marketable ideas is to talk with people and find out what they want and need to know, then write a book to satisfy that information need.

For example, an attorney with good negotiating skills heard many clients telling him that they, too, wished they had good negotiating skills and would like help becoming better negotiators. The attorney became a millionaire by writing and selling books, audio and videotape programs, seminars and training sessions in negotiating skills.

Working as a business consultant, I saw there were dozens of books on sales, but almost nothing on how to generate leads for salespeople. I proposed The Lead Generation Handbook, which sold to Amacom, the publishing division of the American Management Association.

And when we moved out of New York City and bought a home in the suburbs, we knew nothing about plumbing, electricity, gardening, cars, aluminum siding, roofing, or the dozens of other things every homeowner eventually becomes familiar with. I thought, “Why not write a book that will be an instruction manual for first-time homeowners?”

I wrote a proposal for a book titled The Homeowner’s Survival Guide. No one was interested, and I put the proposal away in a file and forgot about it. Several years later, a major publisher – one for whom I’ve now written several books – came out with such a book with the exact same title.

Another lesson learned: Pay attention to your own gut feelings. Had I kept trying with this book, as I advise you to do, it might very well have sold within a year or so. But I gave up on it, and now another author’s name is on the cover.

9. An Existing Topic You Can Target to a Specific Audience

A common situation is the author who wants to write a book on a specific topic but finds the field overcrowded.

This happens to all of us: You get an idea for a book and get excited about it. Then you visit the bookstore and find two shelves’ full of books on the same topic, books that seem very much like yours. You become discouraged by the competition, give up and drop the idea. Don’t! You can still write that book. You just need a fresh slant, angle or hook.

One of the easiest and most successful methods to finding this fresh slant is to target your book toward a specific audience within the market. For example, a seminar leader told me she wanted to write a book on presentation skills, but was afraid to try because so many books already exist. She mentioned at one point that she trained mainly women. I asked her if women making presentations in the business world face a different set of challenges than men do. “Of course,” she replied.

“Then,” I suggested, “the title of your book should be Presentation Skills for Women.”

In the same way, I wanted to write a book on selling, but found the market overcrowded. Since my experience is in selling services vs. products, I offered Holt a book on Selling Your Services.

10. Whatever Interests You

In addition to finding out what interests other people, an excellent source of ideas is what interests you. You are a curious, intelligent, creative human being, constantly thinking and wondering about the world around you. Chances are what interests you will interest many other people, too.

I’m a big Stephen King fan, as are many others. Having written the TV and comic book quiz books, I naturally thought of doing a quiz book on Stephen King. My agent promptly sold it to Kensington Books, a paperback publisher in New York City.

I recommend you keep a notebook, file folder or computer file labeled “book ideas,” and whenever an idea for a book comes to mind, write it down and save it. Don’t worry whether the book will eventually interest a publisher. Creating ideas and analyzing/assessing ideas are two separate activities, and should not overlap. Don’t hold your creativity back; let the ideas flow and quickly get them all down on paper. Later you can decide which won’t work and which merit further effort.

But first, you must have the idea.

[Ed. Note: Robert W. Bly is the author of more than 70 books, including The Copywriter’s Handbook (Henry Holt) and Write More, Sell More (Writer’s Digest Books).

This article is excerpted from Bob Bly’s Getting Your Book Published.]

This article appears courtesy of The Golden Thread, an e-letter from AWAI that delivers original, no-nonsense advice on how to build your freelance copywriting business. For a free subscription, visit http://www.awaionline.com/thegoldenthread