Sell Your Writing Services: Stop Talking About Yourself, You’re Just Annoying People (Editorial)

It’s Monday, so it’s time for our Fab Freelance Writing Ezine Editorial. This week, we’ll continue our theme of getting writing jobs.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been conducting something of a straw poll among editors who hire writers for projects large and small.

I asked: “When you’re hiring writers for a project, what do you most want them to know?”

The answer: “Tell me what you can do with my project!”

All eleven editors said what drove them crazy was the fact that writers focused on themselves and their own skills, rather than addressing the projects for which they’ve been asked to create proposals.

One said: “I don’t care who you are. I don’t care where you went to school. I don’t care who you’ve worked with. I don’t care what you wrote last week, last year, and ten years ago. I care about MY project and what you can do for me. To impress me, talk about MY project and tell me how you’ll help me to get it done.”

Another said: “If you send me 250 words when you’re applying for a writing job, and 225 words tell me how great you are, can you guess how I feel when I get to the one sentence at the end of your proposal which addresses my project?”

Please take this information to heart.

Copywriters know that what counts in copy is the WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) factor. Everyone cares about themselves, first, last and always.

When you’re creating a proposal, or writing a query letter, don’t talk about yourself, please. Talk about the project. Just focus on that.

Let’s take a simple example of how this works. Imagine you’re bidding on a Web content writing gig — the hirer wants a writer who’ll write five pages for a pet accessories site.

What will you include in your proposal?

I advise you to focus ONLY on the project. If the hirer wants to know about you, he’ll ask you, after he considers your ideas for the project itself. He’s not interested in you right now. He will become interested in you, after you display a little interest in the project itself — not before.

If the project description doesn’t give you sufficient information to write a scope or an informative proposal, ask the hirer for more information.

Yes, this means you’ll need to put some thought into your proposal. You won’t be able to copy and paste a cookie cutter summary of your writing career to date into the proposal, and call it done.

But if you just focus on the project, you’ll become a rose among the thorns. You’ll stand out. And you’ll get hired.

Always remember: WIIFM. Stop talking about yourself, and start paying attention to what the buyers of your writing services want.

A tip for newer writers

If you’re new to the writers’ trade, please take this information to heart. Yes, I know, you’re worried about your lack of credentials, but can you understand that no one cares? All buyers of your writing services want to know is what you’ll do with the project. They don’t care if you’re new. Seriously.

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