Today is Day 3 of my blog’s week-long birthday party. You have two more days to get my book in Kindle format for $5 (softcover is also available). It’s been the #1 New Release for Small Business books for the past three days, which is really cool. Also a huge favor, if you have bought the book, please leave a review when you are finished reading. I really appreciate it. 

I spend a lot of time talking to writers because I enjoy helping other writers make more money and I also want to hear other writer’s questions so I can make sure I’m writing blog topics that really answer the questions that you ask yourself. As part of my blog’s 5th Birthday series, today I’m going to talk about the 5 most common questions other writers ask me.

1.  What do you mean when you refer to an agency? Temp agency, advertising agency, public relations firm?

When I talk about agencies in terms of looking for content marketing writing work, I mean content marketing agencies. This also includes PR agencies and advertising agencies because those now typically offer content marketing writing services to their clients. Many people think that direct clients pay better than agencies, but read this post to learn why this isn’t always true. Agencies can be a great source of work because you can often work on multiple projects with the agency and they often handle administrative tasks, such as the schedule, managing revisions and any client issues, which means you often earn a high hourly rate. To find work with agencies, check out this post.

2. Can I put unbylined clips on my website?

As long as you are not prohibited from sharing your work through an NDA, the content is publicly available (such as on the company’s website for free in blog or whitepaper form) and the content is UNBYLINED, then it is totally fine to put on your website. However, if the clip has someone else’s byline other than your own, then you should not put it on your website unless you have express permission from the company.

I have been using unbylined clips for years on my website and not a single potential client has questioned if I wrote the clips. It has been a zero issue. I have been surprised at how many writers ask this question and are uncomfortable with unbylined clips. However, if you think that your client may not want you to post the content you created for them on your website for any reason, then I highly recommend checking with the client first. This is case where its better to ask for permission instead of forgiveness. While we are on the subject of clips, read this post about why I think that writers should organize their clips by niche not by writing type (content marketing vs. journalism).

3. Why haven’t I heard back from my LOIs?

When someone asks me this question, I ask them the following three questions:

• How many LOIs did you send?
• When did you send the LOIs?
• Have you followed up on the LOIs?

I often get responses ranging anywhere from 2 to 15 for the first question. I personally do not consider anything under 50 to be a lot of LOIs. If you are really looking to increase your income, you should be sending out about 25 LOIs a week, or 5 a day. If you are just doing regular marketing, then 25 to 50 a month is probably fine. With cold LOIs, your response rate is often low (although it’s higher if you target a narrow specialized niche) so you have to send out a lot of LOIs. Check out Holly Bowne’s guest post on her massive action marketing plan for inspiration.

As far as the amount of time, it can take a while to get a new content client because you typically get hired when a project starts. So you want to be on their desk before they need you and build a relationship. I have gotten gigs YEARS after I first sent the LOI. And this is exactly why you must follow up, so read this post on 5 ways to follow up. Also, I’ll add a plug for using my Five(ish) sentence LOI because I am hearing from many writers that they are finding a shorter LOI gets better results.

4. How do I find clients? And who do I send my LOI to?

This is the most common question I get from writers, especially those who are transitioning from journalism. With journalism, there is a finite list of publications and newspapers. But with content marketing, every business in the entire universe (yes, I’m being slightly dramatic) needs content. While this is a very good thing, the endless possibilities make it really hard for writers to know where to start. In fact, this question is so common that I created a post just to answer this question. And the answer of how to figure out who to send it to is addressed in step 4 and 5 of that post.

5. What niche should I write in? Or is healthcare (or finance or edible insects) a good niche?

I’ve written a crap ton about niches on this blog (and yes, my goal for my birthday posts this week is to use the word crap ton in every post). But I honestly think it’s the key to making a crap ton (yes, that was a deliberate repetition) of money. You also want to find a niche that you enjoy not just one that you are doing for the money. So here are the two questions to ask yourself when trying to figure out a niche:

• Tell me five subjects you’ve written about in the past few years.
• What are your past jobs and hobbies?

Usually while talking through these two questions, we come up with an answer that is obvious to both of us. It’ll also be a topic the writer is excited about.

Once you’ve got a niche in mind, ask yourself these three questions to see if it is a good niche for you:

• Is this a niche with a lot of other writers?
• Can I make this niche more specialized?
• Do I enjoy writing about this niche?

Hopefully, these three questions will help you answer your own question. Also check out my post on 5 common questions about niches. You want a niche that is specialized, so neurology instead of just health. And you want to go with a niche that is unsexy because that means there are less writers in the field. So construction technology is a better niche than travel, for both of the reasons mentioned above. I also highly recommend adding a B2B angle and a tech angle to your niches – this post tells you why and how.

Bonus Question: Can I ethically write both content marketing and journalism?

This used to be the number one question that I was asked. But as more writers are successfully doing both, I get this question a lot less than I used to. But I wanted to throw it in here in case anyone reading still wondered.. The answer is absolutely yes, but there a few things you must be aware of when doing both. If at all possible, I recommend having separate niches for you journalism and your content marketing. Read this post for my thoughts on doing both.

Do you have a question about content marketing writing that I haven’t answered yet? Leave it in the comments.