The Well-Fed Writer: Back For Seconds (Fanove, October 2004)

In 2000, Atlanta-based freelance commercial writer Peter Bowerman released "The Well-Fed Writer: Financial Self-Sufficiency As a Freelance Writer in Six Months or Less," a detailed how-to for starting, building and managing a lucrative commercial freelancing business: writing for corporations and creative entities and for $50-125+ an hour. The book became an award-winning, triple-book-club selection (Book-of-the-Month, Quality Paperback Book, Writers Digest).

As Corporate America has downsized, it has outsourced much of their creative needs, making this particular writing direction more viable and profitable than ever before. Here’s a writing direction with plenty of work, strong demand for good writers, hourly rates of $50-125+ ($60-80 average) and where ALL time is billed. No flat fees with vast, open-ended commitments of time. Translation? Less time working to pay bills and more time pursuing your writing passions.

Perhaps you’re a writer – seasoned or aspiring. Or maybe a home-based business-seeker or at-home Mom – looking to leverage past business experience into a lucrative, flexible income. Regardless, if you’re looking to turn your love of writing into your living – a GOOD living – this might be the direction for you.

With 95% new content, "TWFW: Back For Seconds" is a companion volume (the other 5% is a 12-page encapsulation of the TWFW) that builds on TWFW with dramatically expanded sections on sales and marketing – demystifying subjects that often terrify creative types. Marketing by phone, fax, e-mail, direct mail, Web sites and networking are all covered.

Drawing from the author’s own experiences and dozens of firsthand accounts from commercial writers around the world, the book discusses building the business in small towns or rural areas, on a part-time basis, in unusual niches, along with effective networking strategies and much more.

What’s "commercial writing"? Marketing brochures, ad copy, newsletters, direct mail campaigns, speeches, sales sheets, proposals, web content, video/CD-ROM scripting, annual reports, case studies, and so much more.

Why do corporations hire freelancers? For good solid economic and creative reasons. With a freelancer, corporations don’t have to pay salary, benefits, and vacation time. But they will pay a freelancer $60-80 (average) for their time. In addition, they pay only what they need when they need it. And with a network of freelancers, they get a broad spectrum of fresh talent (hard to get with in-house staff writers used to writing about the same topics day after day) which they can "form-fit" to their specific writing needs.

Veteran commercial freelancer Bob Bly, known as the freelance writing "guru" for his 50+ writing titles (including the classic, "Secrets of a Freelance Writer" and "The Copywriter's Handbook") says of commercial freelancing: "I know of no other arena of writing so lucrative yet so easy to get started in."

His take on the "The Well-Fed Writer": "This book is the best information on how to make more money with corporate clients I have ever read. It answers everything you want to know. Highly recommended."

His feedback on "Back For Seconds": "When I wrote 'Secrets of a Freelance Writer,' it was the first and only book on making six figures as a commercial freelancer. Of the dozen-plus books written on the subject since then, this book is by far the most comprehensive, useful and valuable."