In my last post I touched on one of the greatest issues I, and many other freelance writers, will face at some point. It’s the issue of creative, published work. Work that demonstrates your style and uncovers your interests—as a writer and an individual.

Most of the work I do is ghost-written, so somebody else’s by-line goes with the published piece. That’s cool. I mean, it’s what I get paid for and it feeds into strategic, PR planning I help to develop myself. I wouldn’t undermine that process in a million years.

Still, there are downsides and they aren’t just the obvious dearth of examples of published work that comes from this. You see, when you write for other folk you have to get in their heads and into the mindset of the publication picking up the story. If this goes on long enough, I find that I start to lose a sense of my own style, voice and presence.

This is why I believe it is so important for us as freelance writers to write outside our monetised zones on occasion. Obsessed with tea? Write about it. Feel strongly about an industry outside your own? Create something you would want to read about in that arena. Play with genres. Play with voice. Play with tone. In the end, it will strengthen your craft, expand the body of work you have out there with your name on it, and hopefully re-introduce you to yourself.

Just sayin’

xS

I’ve been thinking a lot about publishing lately. At first I spent some anguish on it, wondering how I was going to get creative work accepted through an agent, let alone a publisher, when most of the work I write is ghost-written. That means my name is not on much of what I write for a living. And I’m reticent to point out my published, ghost-written content because I take client confidence seriously.

Then a friend of mine did something marvellous. She sent a zine (for anyone who hasn’t come across a zine before, it is usually a self-published work usually put together by ink-stained hands with the use of a photocopier and coloured pencils) to my letterbox. It made me indescribably happy, for two reasons. Firstly, it is awesome and you can read it for yourself, below (my friend has given me permission to publish it, but she would prefer to remain anonymous). Secondly, it reminded me that there are so many ways for us to share content these days and I needn’t be so worried. In fact, self-publishing can be extremely rewarding in today’s digital world. Digital versions are much easier to produce than hard or paperback and therefore much more affordable for the reader—not to mention that the author gets more from the sale than they would through a publisher.

Of course, the work has to be well written, well edited and well proofed for it to sell or appeal to an audience. Perhaps that goes without saying. And you will need to coordinate great cover art. But oh the freedom!

Check out this great summary of reasons to self-publish and enjoy the zine I’ve included below.

xS

However, this might not be such a bad thing. In fact, a more personal touch to social marketing between businesses might be just the ticket. In his Sky Business News interview late last year, Tom Skotidas talked about how when businesses are reaching out to other businesses their focus should be on more defined, more personal marketing, because the target market is so much smaller and personal themselves. For businesses that are bigger than your average ‘boutique’ agency this means actually creating a B2B strategy that invests in the personal profiles of their key people. This is awesome news for wee businesses like mine because it means that I am already naturally placed to do well in the B2B marketing space and should just go for it!

So here I am,  pumped and ready to start with the B2B marketing (which almost feels like going to a party to make new friends, but you don’t know anyone and nobody told you there was a no-jeans policy). I start thinking about whom I’m connected to on LinkedIn and how that might work, wonder about what role Twitter might play and try very hard NOT to think about Facebook because I just don’t like it very much (cue shocked and appalled intakes of breath) and then something seemingly odd happens. The internet is swarmed by articles talking about Pinterest. In one day I read three different articles about Pinterest. The next day there are four. I’ve never even heard of it so I check it out, ask for an invite and voila! I fall in love.

Pinterest is the bees knees. At the moment it is an ‘invitation only’ site that works like a cross between traditional bookmarking and Microsoft OneNote, except it’s social. People ‘pin’ pages or images from the web to their ‘boards’ which can be personalised and targeted. Folks can display their interests, work, inspirations and plans for world domination in a very visual way. Words can be written to enhance the experience of the viewer by providing a little context, but the real point is the visuals.

At first glance I was overwhelmed. It’s a little like a bevy of Facebook walls on acid. But when you get your own boards going it is ridiculously addictive. It’s (almost) foolproof and tremendously fun. I have been going to town on my pins and boards for two days now. As for its potential for B2B marketing, a recent MarketingProfs piece mentioned that Pinterest accounted for 3.6% of referral traffic in January, on par with Twitter. And the numbers are set to increase as traffic balloons. But it doesn’t have brand or company pages, so smaller agencies are perhaps better placed to make the most of it because it’s all about personal branding. The face behind the name, the work, the interests. It helps viewers build a picture of who you are, what qualities you might have, what inspires you and—importantly—what characteristics you might bring to the job. As my kind of work is very creative I hope to bring a sense of my own creativity to the table and share the work that inspires me. Where that goes, I can’t say yet. But it is fun to work on! If you too are a B2B business looking to get more personal in your marketing with a view to generating more business, take a peek at Pinterest. And have a look through all the links I’ve embedded in this post. There’s lots of juicy stuff to learn there.

Read the whole report here.

My client, Solid Ink Communications, and I work in concert to provide businesses like eMarketingConected with top notch PR strategies and sharp, creative copy to match. Visit Solid Ink Communications.

Kamambo (Butterfly) is a drama about a ten year old West Papuan asylum seeker who is haunted by violent memories of her homeland after fleeing to Australia. Kamambo’s childhood innocence and brief moment of triumph is cut short as freedom continues to remain elusive.

I was honoured to be a part of the production process as marketing and public relations adviser.

If you want to know more about the film, check out the Facebook page by clicking on this link.

Take a look at my interview here. I answer questions about services, the future of copywriting and what makes for a good copywriter.

Take a look and let me know what you think!

xS