For this edition, we turned to one of my personal writing heroes, Peter Bowerman, award-winning author of The Well-Fed Writer and The Well-Fed Writer: Back for Seconds. These two groundbreaking books set the bar for how-to “standards” in the lucrative field of commercial freelance writing.

Peter has published more than 250 articles and editorials, leads seminars on writing and is a professional coach on both freelance writing and self-publishing.

In 2006, he will release The Well-Fed Self-Publisher: How to Turn One Book into a Full-Time Living. This eagerly anticipated how-to guide to making your book a commercial success - minus the big publisher or hefty marketing budget - chronicles his own successful self-publishing path, where he indeed made a full-time living for the better part of four years.

During our interview, Peter shared his insight on his video dating sales past, why bigger isn’t always better, building a turnkey team and his secrets to staying well-fed. Near the end of this article, WhitePaperSource Newsletter is providing a special offer on Peter’s books, plus readers will have a chance to win some free books.

WhitePaperSource: Tell us about your background and your unique path as a writer.

Bowerman: I’ve had a very different path than a lot of writers. I wanted to be a writer, but did I start out writing articles or poetry? No, I started writing marketing copy making $50 an hour. Did I go to a publisher to do my book? No, I did it my own way.

It really underscores that there is no right way to go about it. I was in sales and marketing for about 15 years, selling everything you could imagine-computers, timeshares, real estate, finance, ad specialty… The last sales job I had was as a video dating sales representative. I was always pretty good at sales but it never really made me happy. I always wanted to be a writer, but I wasn’t willing to do it and starve. I came across Bob Bly’s book Secrets of a Freelance Writer and read it in the early 90s and a light bulb went on. So that got me started on the path and I was paying all my bills in less than 4 months after I started the business. That’s the inspiration for the subtitle of my book.

WhitePaperSource: How do you get out there to market yourself as a writer?

Bowerman: This is a sales and marketing venture. That’s the bad news. But in my second book, I really delve into the whole sales and marketing aspect and give a good definition to demystify it. You say “marketing” to people and they conjure up images of Wharton MBA and really complex stuff and that doesn’t apply to what we’re doing.

It’s really nothing more than letting the world know you’re out there in a variety of ways, on a consistent basis with a message that people can hear through the clutter. I built my business cold-calling. It’s effective, and it’s an important part of the process. I try to get people to focus on taking the action of making the calls as opposed to focusing on the results of those calls. If you start your day with a goal of making 30 or 40 calls, you’ll get the business. Saying, “I want to have two writing jobs at the end of the day” causes anxiety because you don’t have any control over whether prospects are going to need what you’re offering. Eighty percent of the people you call won’t. All you have control over is the actions you take, but that’s enough. You are in control of more than enough to ensure your success.

WhitePaperSource: That’s a great point. There’s tons of writing work out there, to view it as a place of scarcity is self-limiting.

Bowerman: Yes, because there is work out there. Anyone can go to my website (http://www.wellfedwriter.com) and poke through the success stories of archived newsletters and there are tons of stories about people who are making it in all different ways and backgrounds. And there really is a ton of work out there.

WhitePaperSource: So do you have to be a salesperson for your own work?

Bowerman: Well, in my second book I have this whole chapter on what sales really means. You can be a successful writer, but that success isn’t about being good at sales. I want people to get away from the idea they have to be high-pressure or to push people. They need to mesh their skill set with a client’s needs and be valuable to that client. Do a good job, solve a problem. That’s sales. Writers need to get away from seeing themselves as purveyors of services and think of themselves more as problem solvers. Benefits are what’s important to the client-solving their problem. Be reliable, affordable and be a quick study. Form the alliances with graphic artists, etc., so you can be a turnkey solution. Your job is making that client’s life easier and if you can do that they’re going to keep hiring you.

Clients don’t want to hunt around forever to find a vendor. They don’t want to spend time interviewing writers; they want to believe that you can get the job done and solve their problem. They want a writer who’s good, reliable and prepared. Someone who doesn’t bug them ten times a day with questions that should have been asked in the original meeting. And they want to know that you’ll turn in copy on time and it’s going to be on target. And after a while, that writer will know how the company works, the vernacular, the corporate culture, etc., and will become very valuable to them. So why would the client go anywhere else? There’s a lot of advantage to finding someone good and sticking with them.

WhitePaperSource: Can you talk about the craft of writing itself, and what you feel is important about how people should write; in particular, your suggestion to “write like you talk”?

Bowerman: Yes, that’s the most important point in that chapter (of my second book: The Well-Fed Writer: Back for Seconds). Otherwise articulate people somehow adopt this awkward tone when they write. It’s almost like they feel they have to write a certain way and it ends up not working. I say when people read anything on a site or on paper, there is actually a voice in their head that’s narrating to them. That’s why I think it’s so important when you write something to read it aloud and ask yourself “Does this sound conversational?” If it doesn’t, keep working on it.

Clients want to come across as that knowledgeable, friendly, accessible, engaging voice. If you can write that way, then it resonates with people.

WhitePaperSource: The other point you make that is really strong is “don’t overwrite.” I think that applies to almost every type of writing.

Bowerman: In a way, it goes back to “write how you talk.” If something is overwritten, it’s not going to sound good. Maybe it’s how some pompous professor of philosophy would wax on eloquently about some topic, but it’s not really how normal people talk.

Obviously something unscripted is better, it’s more real. As a commercial writer, it’s your job to take jargon and “corporate speak” and turn it into something that’s understandable to anyone. Corporate-speak is fine if it’s an internal communication, but even in those cases people are becoming more open to dropping the jargon and just talking. Everyone knows about all the crazy lingo that exists in corporate America and how it just doesn’t translate to the outside world.

WhitePaperSource: Do you have tips that you always tell writers, whether it’s about boosting their careers or how to make changes in their writing?

Bowerman: First thing I say is “Buy my book.” (Laughs.) I’ve written a total of 600 pages on this subject. But one of the biggest pieces of advice that I give people is don’t put these companies on a pedestal. As an independent, don’t assume that you don’t have what it takes to make a difference for them. You may not work for the big ones right out of the gate, but for every UPS, Coca Cola, etc., that’s out there, there are 20 companies that are only $100 to $200 million and they’ve got plenty of needs also. Plus it’s easier to get in the door.

I just finished a $5000 brochure project for a medical products company that only last year hit $1 million in sales. Just because the company is small doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a good budget. If they think it’s important, they’ll spend the money.

WhitePaperSource: So don’t base your career solely on working for the big guys?

Bowerman: Exactly. For me, it’s been cyclical. I started out writing for small companies, got on with big companies eventually, and then I ended up going back to the smaller ones. As clients get bigger, you have more layers of approval, more hoops to jump through. And the smaller firms are often more satisfying to work with - they treat you as more of a partner than just “the help.”

WhitePaperSource: With the largest companies sometimes you find that there are many more people you have to go through to get the final OK on a project?

Bowerman: Right, and you realize it can be easier to work with the smaller companies. They may not be really all that small budget-wise, just maybe less hassle. I remember one of the lines in my first book from a colleague who said about the big firms and all their politics: “Everybody’s got to pee on it.”

And getting back to your question about advice, another big success strategy for me has been to forge alliances with graphic designers. I’ve got a graphic designer I’ve worked with for 12 years. We connected and so we keep working together. Over time, I’ve become her #1 copywriter. Why? Because I do good work, I’m reliable, we work together well and I make her look good. Bottom line, she’s put more money in my pocket than any other client I’ve worked for by far and she’s a one-person shop. Of course, if I have a project calling for graphic design, I bring her in.

WhitePaperSource: So it’s about networking outside your own craft as well?

Bowerman: Absolutely. It goes back to being a solution, a whole solution in the service you provide. It’s being able to meet the client’s entire need in one turn.

I’ll do these seminars and have samples and people will ask me “do you do the design” and I say, “No, I have someone to do that.” You don’t have to be savvy at design and write too. I tell writers to find people who love design and don’t compete with them. Build on your strengths and don’t feel like you have to be an expert at doing all of it. Build that network.

WhitePaperSource: What is your most sage bit of advice?

Bowerman: I would go back to “don’t put companies on a pedestal.” When I first started out, I didn’t think I had what it took to write for the big boys, but that was my own lack of confidence, not anything based in truth or evidence.

There is a tendency to bestow this mystique upon a Fortune 500 company, but if you’re a good writer (not incredible maybe, but solid), you’ll likely find that you are good enough to work for anyone.

People may find this hard to believe, but every single project I work on, I have that insecurity even after 12 years! It’s still there, despite having all this evidence in my stuffed portfolio that it works out well. But then you let it go, you do a good job, and you move on.

And perhaps it’s inherent in writers that we want to get it really perfect. You’re always striving to make it better. And you’re staring at that blank page at the beginning. That first step can be intimidating, daunting and then it starts flowing from there.

Writers as a group tend to really undervalue their skills. Just go visit elance.com or guru.com if you have any doubt about that and see what they’re willing to give their talents away for. Most writers ARE starving because they don’t think they deserve to be well-compensated.

WhitePaperSource: So really be confident and know your service is important?

Bowerman: Yes. I never cut my teeth on 5 cents a word. I started out at $50 an hour 12 years ago and have risen from there. In the commercial arena, clients have money. They have more money than publications do and they can afford to pay more. And frankly, while you need to be a good, capable writer, you don’t have to be brilliant and I don’t believe it’s beyond the ability of any intelligent person with fundamental writing ability. You don’t have to be a marketing expert or have an MBA. You just need to grasp some fundamental concepts like “audience,” speaking to that audience about the things that matter to them and figuring out what the company does better than anyone else. And one thing I seem to have accomplished in my books is to demystify this “sales and marketing” process for creative types. And that’s what I hear from people a lot. They read my books and say: “I can do this.”

WhitePaperSource: I can do this! Thanks, Peter!

You can save $4 on any of Peter’s books by visiting http://www.wellfedwriter.com/4bucksoff.shtml.

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