Business Name:
Thompson Writing & Editing, Inc.
Website URL:
http://www.thompsonwriting.
Year Founded:
2003
Business Partners:
Just me; I?m a solopreneur! But I work with a virtual team of various other creative professionals and virtual assistants as needed for specific projects.
Number of Employees:
1
What does your company do?
I help my clients tell their stories through marketing and communications copywriting, book ghostwriting, and book manuscript editing. Good marketing boils down to good storytelling.
I?ve studied a lot of literature, so I know what makes a book more sound from a literary standpoint. My solid background in marketing allows me to help my clients who are writing books to also make those books more marketable?which is exactly the types of books publishers are seeking! I work with my authors to help them develop a marketing plan for their books and determine which type of publisher they should seek. And if they?re using those books to market their businesses or some other product, my marketing skills are essential for them.
These skills are also quite useful when it comes to developing copy for my marketing clients. I help them define their target markets and write copy custom tailored to appeal to their prospects. This takes a lot of time and effort, but the results are worth it. That?s why quality copywriting is not cheap!
Was there a specific turning point when you realized your business was moving to the next level?
After having spoken at a few writers? conferences and working with several authors on their books, I started to develop a good reputation as an outstanding ghostwriter and book editor. Word of mouth and the posts I?d put up online started to drive business my way. I no longer had to go out and seek it! That was when I knew I might be onto something here.
What processes or procedures have you implemented that have helped grow your company?
I have broken my editing down into three levels, each clearly defined. While other editors offer different types of editing as well, my three-tiered system combines some of those in each edit to give the client a little more for the money. Part of the reason I do this is that I can?t stop myself from noting minor errors when I?m editing for larger ones, but it also gives the clients an opportunity to learn from their mistakes during the first edit, and hopefully yields a cleaner manuscript for the second draft.
And after my first ghostwriting client stiffed me for the final payment, I implemented a policy of not delivering a manuscript until I?m paid for the work!
What is most rewarding about running your business?
It?s always great when I see a client?s book in print and know that I?ve had a hand in helping them get there! I help them promote their work through all my social networking and blogging efforts. And it?s nice when an author tells me that I?ve helped them improve their book?especially when I work with authors who have been published before. They know the difference, whereas sometimes a first-time author doesn?t. So their feedback means a lot to me.
What challenges have you faced and how have you overcome them?
The writing and editing business is feast-or-famine when it comes to revenues. Because it?s project work, you?ve always got to be filling the sales funnel to keep more work coming to you, timing it right so that you can finish one project before the next one is ready for you. And the projects always seem to come in clumps. I?ve had to turn down business before, or put off clients because I simply didn?t have time to edit or ghostwrite their manuscripts. Then there have been other times when I?d go months without revenues because no new projects were coming my way. So timing your work properly to keep a consistent flow is an ongoing challenge.
The best way I?ve found to do it is to make sure that you keep a good flow of inquiries coming in, and have a good backup network of folks to whom you can sub-contract some of the work if you get overloaded. That?s tricky because this business depends greatly on your specific skills. If you?re good, sometimes it?s hard to find people who have the same skill set and level of skills as yours. So finding those people is like finding gold!
If you were starting over today, what would you do differently?
I would wish that I?d had a guideline like my own e-book series, ?A Professional Writer?s Ladder to Success? ? it walks you through planning for, launching, and running a successful writing business. I?ve released 8 books in the series so far, each fairly short and with worksheets that help readers construct their own ?Ladder to Success Action Plan.? Each builds on the ones before it. Eventually, there will be 40 books in the series, each focusing specifically on one aspect of the business and examining it through the lens of my experience and the opinions of experts in that field. Several more of them are partially written and just waiting to be finished?but I?ve had too much other work lately to get back to them! Someday?
What advice do you have for other business owners?
Plan carefully. Understand that revenues always are lower and take longer to come than you thought they would, and that expenses are always higher and come more quickly than you thought they would. So when you?re planning, underestimate revenues and overestimate expenses. Pay attention to your financials, even when it?s painful to do so.
Understand your strengths and weaknesses. Pick an area of strength on which to focus your skills, and don?t let other types of work distract you, even if you have the capability to do those types of work. At first, you?ll need to take any kind of work that comes your way. But as your business grows, you?ll find that you?re more inclined to seek out a certain type of work, either because it pays better or you enjoy it more. Don?t resist that tendency; it?s the niche on which you need to focus to grow your business. There are lots of ways for writers to make a living, so let your natural tendencies be your guide.
And keep your skills up to date, as things are always changing. If you remain stagnant and are relying on outdated skills, you?ll quickly be overtaken by your competitors as your industry changes. Try to attend some type of training or a speech at least once each quarter to keep an aspect of your skills fresh and evolving.
Please list any favorite books, tools or resources (software, website, etc.) you would recommend for others:
Writer?s Market is essential for any writer, along with other resources like the AP Stylebook, the Chicago Manual of Style, and a few basic grammar and style reference books. Many of these are now available online, so the information is always updated.
Writer?s Digest magazine also has a lot of good information in it, along with workshops and reference books that are good to have on hand. They have e-newsletters, as well. MediaPost also has a number of e-newsletters on various types of news, marketing, PR, and online writing if you?re working in those areas.
Most good writers are avid readers already and tend to have lots of books. You?ll refer to a lot of those books from time to time in your business, so it pays to have a good library of both printed and e-books so you know what?s selling and how to properly format your work for clients.
What is something that people might be surprised to learn about you?
I rarely ever read fiction any more! Although I edit a fair amount of it, it?s just not something that appeals to me to read. I prefer biographies or history, and actually rarely have time to read any books these days. Most of my reading is confined to articles in magazines or online. If I?m not being paid to read a book, chances are it?s not on my radar screen.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Everybody has a Hollywood image of what it?s like to be a professional writer. And while that?s not impossible to achieve, it?s certainly not the norm for most of us, nor does it come overnight. This can be a very rewarding career if you?re a natural writer. Just make sure you plan well and be prepared to invest a lot of hours of hard work into building your skills and your business?and eventually you?ll get there.
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