Creating Publicity Through Writing For Publication - Part One

Some of you are writers. You can write. If you can write, this is your greatest marketing tool.

Being the editor of a regional magazine, I can tell you that good writers are hard to come by. This is why so many writers receive rejection letters. That is not to say that a rejection letter means you are not a good writer. You get many rejection letters because the person sending the letter has become overwhelmed with submissions from bad writers. Trust me on this.

Good writers are hard to come by.

As an editor of a small magazine, I am ecstatic when I find a good writer. If I find a good writer and print articles by this good writer, the quality and the value of my magazine increases greatly.

I want good writers. Good writers are VERY hard to come by.

Are you getting the point yet?

The point is simply this: If you are a good writer, small publication editors want to talk to you.

A small pub editor will print you if you are a good writer.

How can you use this?

As the editor of a magazine, I want to compete with larger magazines. I want to do this because I can then attract larger advertising clients, which will increase my cash flow, the bottom line in any business. To compete with the big boys, I must have a quality piece and good content.

Only the writers produce that good content for me.

Therefore, you become very important to me.

I am being simplistic here, but for good reason. I want you to understand the opportunity you, the writer, create for small to medium size publications.

The larger publications are not in this situation. They have good writers. They don’t need you. But the smaller, competitive publications certainly do need you.

The Plan

Start by contacting smaller publications and offer to write for them.

The smaller, local magazines will be open to your suggestion. They will, of course, want to see samples of your work. It is wise to use excerpts from your book, if you can, as you have already had this professionally edited and it represents your finest work.

Try to pick an excerpt that might be relevant to local readers. If your work is fiction, this may not be possible. If not possible at all, start by writing a story about a relative or friend. Show the personal connection. You may also try local history. This will work wonders, if you can pull it off.

HOT TIP: Do NOT ask to be paid. That is an immediate turn-off, going in. There are far too many willing contributing writers to compete with. Offer to be a contributor at first. So, you might innocently ask, why write if you are not being paid?

You are being paid. If you write a full-page article for a publication, it is essentially the same as getting a full-page ad. For you. For your book or your business. However, there is a marked difference here.

The article you write is not so much advertising as it is publicity. These lines are somewhat blurred in the minds of some. The differences between advertising and publicity are easy to understand.

Advertising is a message that is completely controlled by the creator of that message. The goal of any advertising message is to either create awareness or to create action. These messages are purchased by the advertiser.

Publicity on the other hand is not controllable. Publicity can be ‘good’ publicity or ‘bad’ publicity. In addition, the goal is to create awareness, not action. However, publicity CAN create action; occasionally even more so than a properly crafted advertising message.

This is because the public has become jaded in regards to marketing messages. Our email inboxes are jammed with spam. Our physical mailboxes are filled with advertising flyers, letters and postcards of every description. We are overwhelmed with these messages while watching television or listening to radio. Please don’t get me started on the Internet versions of advertising banners, popups, etc.

All we wish to do when going to the inbox, the mailbox, our television, radio or any web page is get the information, the CONTENT we came for. The ad we encounter is perceived to be an interruption. It is the content we came for. Therein lies the simple secret to using publicity as a marketing tool.

The content is gladly welcomed, indeed sought by the seeker. Advertisements, as a general rule, are not. Your writing, your article, will be perceived, in this scenario, as content.

This is gold to you as a writer. Large segments of the public will come to appreciate what you can do and what you might know. And guess what?

There, at the bottom of the page, for the whole world to see is a little blurb . . .

‘Mary Jones is the author of ‘Creampuffs Through The Ages : The Ultimate Guide to Creampuffs’. Her book can be purchased at www.creampuff.com”.

Your article or piece can become a full-page ad if crafted properly.

The only thing you should insist on is that the blurb be placed at the end of any article you write for the publication.

Now most publications will have no problem with this at all. It is normal business practice. This article or piece is a decided benefit for the editor, so much so that many small magazine and newspaper editors are also willing to even consider trading AD SPACE for writers who contribute.

I personally use only local writers for my magazine. I give each and every one of them a free ad for their book or business, every month, in exchange for providing a monthly article for my magazine. This is because I, as the owner of the publication, must otherwise PAY writers. If I instead get a contributor to write and simply trade ad space, I do NOT have to pay for writing.

I can fill up an entire magazine (if desired) with quality writing and never have to pay one penny. The ad space I trade costs me very little as compared to paying a writer. I save money. The contributor creates awareness. In nearly every case throughout the years, these contributors have told me that the articles they write for the magazine produce far more in the way of sales than any advertisement.

This theory will most likely work best with small to medium size publications and local or weekly or specifically targeted newspapers. Please don’t try this one with the New York Times. If you try this with the New York Times please do not mention my name.

This, of course, puts your writing into the public arena. This gets you published. This creates credibility. But there is something more here.

This creates relationships. You do remember relationships, don’t you? If you are an author, having a good relationship with an editor can pay off handsomely when it's name-dropping time.

Don't be afraid to approach these local publications. The potential payoffs are huge. Next week, I will show you specifically how to make an approach to a publication that can result in your message being placed in literally hundreds of print publications for free.