I hear so many use the terms ‘marketing’ and ‘marketer’ when discussing online writing. For many it seems that selling is not selling if it is marketing. Advertising and promotions are all marketing, too , apparently. I always thought that advertising was one of the tools used when promoting a product or service to the market that had been identified as the target group that would buy the product. The whole process was marketing. Of course I’m wrong once again, it happens regularly in my house which is not surprising given there is only the one male and the other six humans are females.

So what is marketing? Is it the process of selling the product or everything that goes before that? It seems that this is one of those words people feel more comfortable using instead of selling. It’s nicer to be a marketer than a salesperson, more socially acceptable, a bit more posh. Sorry, I disagree. No matter what you call it, selling is selling. Unless somebody sells the product, nothing happens. You can have the greatest product in the world but unless people actually buy it then you have a lot of useless whatever it is.

To get to the point where people will buy requires you to market (sell) the product so that potential buyers know where it is, what it does and why they should buy it as well as who is selling it and how they can get one for themselves. And when, which for online sales is 24/7, ‘yes, even at 3am’ as we all have to include in our pitch it seems.

So the process starts either with a product to sell or the desire to sell to a certain market or niche. The Americans say ‘nitch’, not ‘neesh’ but you can pronounce it as you prefer. I have some experience of both camps as I sell the eBooks and associated products I already have and thus must find the market for them. Additionally I seek to discover what it is the market is after and then create a product for them to buy and a place for them to buy it. Hopefully this covers both ends of the spectrum. It also allows me to be the owner of the product with affiliates multiplying my market penetration many fold and also to be an affiliate myself. I can sell, er… I mean, market, other people’s products by setting up web sites, filling them with relevant content that is jam packed with key words that simply sick the traffic in off the web and just let the money roll in.

As well, I can sell advertising space on both my own product sites and those of affiliate products I se… er I mean market. I’m sorry but I’m pretty old school in many ways and to me there is nothing wrong in selling, it makes the world go around. Everything you have that you didn’t make yourself was bought by someone and that means someone else had to sell it, so why the stigma? Sales is not synonymous with scam in my book. I never con-vince anyone to buy anything and I never try to ‘close’ them. They close themselves if I have done a proper job of identifying their needs and presenting the right solution. If not then they don’t buy.

Where does the eWriter enter into this mercenary world of buying and selling? Well you are selling your words, your ideas. Whether you package them in an eBook or a blog or as web page content, they are a vital part of the selling/marketing process. Every word is worth money, so spend them wisely because online writing is not the same as print media. The pace of reading your words is much faster and the attention span of the reader so much shorter because they know there are five zillion more pages of content on the same search terms just waiting for them to surf off to. If you haven’t sold the reader on your words as being worth taking the time to read by about the second or third paragraph then you can expect a quick flick of the gaze to the bottom of the page and then off to the ‘Back’ button or wherever else they can escape and move on.

Whether you think of yourself as a writer or a marketer, you are selling. Even great novelists must become salespeople at times even if they call them book signings and serve lattes afterwards.

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I was never a fan of Midnight Oil, the band. Perhaps I had some kind of subconscious premonition of things to come but the ad on TV that had Garrett screaming the one line ad nausea turned me off their music. Yet some of their lyrics still have clout today although more and more  I feel ‘irony’ is word one looks for when thinking of their music and their lead singer. But I digress. I meant to write bout burning the midnight oil and when writers write best.

Hemingway used to write in the mornings. He would do several hundred words regardless of what they might say when read one after the other, just to keep up the discipline and habit of writing. Every morning, regardless of the night before, he would go to his writing desk and write. About lunch time he would stop and his day’s work was done so it was off to the bar or the boat.

So many writer’s carry on a bout writer’s block. I agree with Stephen King and say ‘just write’. The more you write the less you will likely suffer such a problem. You can write every morning like Papa Hemingway or wait until the tribe are asleep and then go for it at midnight. I do both.

In the old days of clacking type writer keys I can imagine what a noisy nocturnal nuisance a writer in the house would be. Today we have keyboards that are far quieter. Funny thing is, as I write this I am listening to the noise my keyboard is making and it is not as whisper quiet as I thought. In fact it is quite clacky itself. Perhaps that is what comes from using a Microsoft keyboard with an iMac. My iMac keyboard is pretty well soundless but I prefer the feel of this keyboard and quite frankly the Mac mouse needs to be put down. I prefer one with a scroll wheel and properly defined left and right buttons. Fortunately fur filled track ball compartments are a thing of the past but the red light does attract moths and small children at times.

I like to work from 9am to 1pm, short lunch break then back into it until 4pm. Then I go for a walk with my Dad and the dog, Dong. We finish up watching ‘Eggheads’ on UK TV and Mum makes me an nice espresso coffee. I’m home before 6pm for my self defence class on Tuesdays and Thursdays or dinner on the other weeknights. The evenings I like to keep for the family and relaxation but sometimes, like tonight, I have lots to get through (end of month and end of financial year this week) so I stay clacking away until 2am.

So when do I write my best work? I really don’t know. I know it is either there or it isn’t. Sometimes it just must be written and it gushes out of my fingertips and other times I confess I spend a lot of time doing very little. I keep my weekends for the family nowadays, otherwise working from home there is no line of departure and it is all too easy to ignore your loved ones and work because it is not work but a labour of love afterall.

When do you write? Why then?