About two months ago, I found out about an exciting copywriting gig:
An online publication was looking for content writers. The pay was $250 per article of about 750 words. Articles could come in a thematic series of 4.
I came up with an idea for a 4-part series, wrote up a nice little proposal, and sent it off to the editor of the publication.
And then, as nothing seemed to be happening, I forgot all about it.
Fast forward to two weeks ago:
The editor wrote back to me to say my idea sounds wonderful. And if I can get her the first drafts by December 16, my articles could be published as soon as January. And once my articles are published, inshallah, I will get paid $1k!
There once was a time, not even so many years ago, when I would have gladly taken on this kind of work without any ulterior motive.
But today, it takes a little something extra to get me excited.
So here’s the something extra:
This online publication is The Professional Writers’ Alliance. From what I understand, PWA is a paid community of freelance copywriters, somewhere under the umbrella of AWAI.
Are you getting a glimpse of my devious scheme?
I write some interesting and valuable content for PWA, and include a byline and a link to my site…
Some freelance copywriter out there reads my content and decides to get on my email list to read more…
I send him a few more well meaning emails and then—
BAM! I sell him one of my offers that might be interesting to freelance copywriters.
All right, writing guest content as a means of self-promotion is probably not new to you. What might be new to you is the following suggestion:
Look for ways to get paid for your self-promotion.
Of course, it’s not always possible, but it is more possible than you might at first think.
For example, did you know it’s possible to get paid to send out your sales letters to your audience, either online or by mail?
In other words, rather than having to pay either the USPS to deliver your stuffed-and-enveloped sales letter… or having to pay Facebook to get eyeballs that will look at your sales page… you can actually get paid each time a high-quality prospect reads your sales pitch?
It’s true, and it’s actually what I will be writing about for the PWA in January.
If you’ve been reading my emails for a while, you probably know this get-paid-to-advertise trick. And if not, I might write more about it in the coming weeks.
To get on my email list so you can read that (beware, I might try to sell you something), click here and fill out the form that appears.