During the darkest of days in the global financial crisis there was work for writers, at least those of us who didn't position/package ourselves as "pure." We let the world know we could not only provide objective journalism but also ghostwrite, copywrite, scriptwrite, blogwrite, tweet, whitepaper-write, and edit/proofread.
Even then, the nut to crack was the pricing. Everyone wanted us to work for slave labor. Those of us who didn't tended to not have enough work. There were also the brain-pickers. They contacted us so in-earnest, only to derive free information without putting in an order. Eventually, we could smell them a mile away, couldn't we.
Most of that is over now. The challenge is to take advantage of a market that has heated up very quickly and with quality assignments. To max this opportunity, I recommend:
- Be all business. Post-downturn, clients want the service, not any relationship. There is no allegiance, no loyalty. It's get in, and get out.
- Provide samples and proposals, even before asked. Those demonstrate that even in the worst of times we have been toiling on clients's behalf.
- Be assertive. The era of being mere order-takers is over. Tell clients that, from our experience, their strategies and tactics are not going to work.
- Bill fairly but no more steep discounts. There seems to be plenty of pent-up demand.
- Write a book to create a distinct brand identity in this market. Here are the Preface and Introduction to my new one Download Over-50&Working.
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