To Pitch Or Release
There are a lot of really talented content creators out there who just happen to not be marketers. They want their content to reach the masses, but don't know how to actually get it there. That's where I come in handy!
You might be thinking, "I can't release my content and then go back and market it later." But you absolutely can! There are many different methods for releasing your work so that you can return afterwards and reap all the benefits of marketing yourself with a successful portfolio. Whether you're one person or part of an entire team, this post will give you some great ideas on how to optimize your online presence while continuing to put out amazing content.
How To Pitch
Pitching your content is the easy part. All you have to do is reach out to folks in your niche and let them know that you have something they'd like to read, watch, or listen to. You can use any of the methods listed in my article on pitching other content creators: How Do You Pitch Your Content On Blogs and Online Video Channels to reach out to their audience and see if they're interested in your work first. Once you've got a friend or two on board, it's time to start pushing the release out. But before you do that, there's one more thing you'll want to consider...
How To Release
Releasing your content is either the easy or the hard part, depending on how much time and effort you're willing to put in. There are a lot of ways to spread the word about your work, and all of them are beneficial in different ways, so it might be a good idea to try a few and see what sticks.
Let's Get Started!
Free PDFs Or Strange Content: For your first release, you might want to do something out of the ordinary. Submit something completely unique to a publisher, maybe you have a project that isn't yet ready to be published but you want to keep people interested. Basically, think of some content that isn't quite ready for public consumption, but can still catch someone's attention and get them to visit your blog or website. You can do this by: A) Giving it away for free. B) Including a link back to your site in the opening post. C) Having it be 1-2 pages long with web coding (using wp-content-single.php ). D) Putting the PDF on Dropbox and including a link in the footer of your blog post. E) Creating an RSS feed to your new release. F) Assigning your post to a friend (this one is best only if you've already got a good number of followers). G) Giving it away for free as part of a contest, giveaway, or freebie bundle for when the actual product is ready for purchase (e.g., launch day). H) Using Amazon affiliate links (taking care to make sure that the people you're linking to know that they can get their content from Amazon and not from your blog). [NOTE: I would definitely avoid using this method on the first release. If you want to do so on later posts, it might be okay if your blog has enough traffic and people already like your work. But remember that it can be seen as a bit spammy to people, and you have to have a lot of subscribers/followers to make it worthwhile.] I) Creating your own free ebook in PDF form and including a link back to your site. J) Including your written work (e.g., blog post, article, etc.) as part of an eBook or collection. K) Posting on forums for free with a link back to your website in the signature. L) Creating an audio version of your written piece then uploading the audio file onto Soundcloud and including a reference to the written piece in the description. M) Setting your work to public in a Creative Commons license and letting others put it to their own use.
Promoting Others' Content: This is a great way to promote other authors' work without charging them anything. If you can get some good content that you know will be interesting to your audience, then you can post it on your own blog and keep the link out there. If people like what they see and connect with what you're doing then they should be more likely to follow you to your blog so that they can read more of your similar content. Many authors are happy to see their work get read, and will happily promote it for you.
Canvass Your Own Community: This is the easiest way to manage your email list and distribute new content for free. You just need to be active in your own niche group or website and know the people who frequent it. For example, I have a large online community of writers in my writing groups on Facebook, so any time I have a new piece of writing that makes them laugh or gets them excited, I can post it there first.
Offer Something In Exchange: As mentioned in this post , there are lots of ways you can make money with your writing by using existing revenue streams (having sponsors give you money). If you want to give away something in exchange for an email address, then you'll definitely want to use a signup form that doesn't tack on any extra codes or ads (like ConvertKit , Mailchimp, GetResponse , AWeber , and MailerLite ).
Include "Share" Buttons: This is another very easy way to share your content with others. There are lots of plugins out there for adding social media buttons to WordPress blogs (like Social Warfare and Sociable ).
You can also include a sharing bar at the bottom or top of your blog posts by using the Jetpack plugin .
Just A Few Ideas: This list is by no means exhaustive, but hopefully it will inspire you to think about the different ways you can promote your work.
The Post You Just Published: Consider creating a short bio for your blog, announcing when and where you'll post next, and include a link to it on your latest post (perhaps right at the end).
Good Content: Your blog has very few chances to impress your audience. After all, they've already come back time and time again to read what you have to say. Meanwhile, other websites offer up new content daily or weekly (or even less often) . Still, if you want your work to be successful, you need to make an effort to promote it. Be sure to include a brief description of what the post is about. Include links in the text to share on social media (or have it as its own separate blog post). Also, don't forget that big companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have their own apps now - so you can easily share the post with those too.
Building Your Email List: Link back to your new piece on your blog and offer a discount code for when people subscribe (which will send them an email with all of the articles they've subscribed to).
Conclusion: As I mentioned earlier in this post, the hardest part is just getting started. But as you see, there are lots of ways to get the ball rolling (especially if you're just starting out). The strategies I told you about here should get you started - but if not, don't be afraid to try something new!
What other ways do you promote your writing? Share them in the comments below!
As always, I'm here for feedback. If there's something that doesn't make sense or I can do better please let me know.
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To Pitch Or Release