Thank you all for the incredible feedback on THE PROCESS. It’s a system I’m putting together to transform how you sell (and ultimately, create) your writing — whether it’s an essay, an op-ed, or a book — for massive impact and compensation. Anyone can use use it and I’ve found it usually works no matter what you are writing.
Many of you noted that your biggest writing challenge is selling into an insanely competitive and oversaturated market. I hear you. How do you get your essay picked up? Your book bid on at a 6-figure level? How do you get The New York Times to want your op-ed?
I struggled with this and see many other writers do the same. The problem? Writers typically think about marketing their work as the last step, rather than the first. Flip this and it will transform your success. How? You need a UDF (Unique Differentiating Factor). But I’m getting ahead of myself. . .
Most writers focus on the writing and then try to find an audience. This “spray and pray” method works for the 2% who can write a NYT bestseller in their sleep.
The rest of us need to look at each piece of writing like a new cutting-edge product we’ve developed. We need to view our book concept like a new company we’re launching. We need to think much harder about what we should write about, long before we open Google Docs to pen the first word.
You can create the greatest writing or product in the world and still bomb with depressing sales. (See Segway fail, the innovation that was supposed to change the world — except no one wanted it.) Before you figure out what to write, you need to back up even further. What writing “product” do you have the credentials and the experience to create? (Unless you plan to fake it until you (precariously?) make it a la Elizabeth Holmes, Dropout-style . . . )
Before you even type one letter, you need to figure out your UDF. Unique (something novel you have to say). Differentiating (no one else has already said it). Factor (element that is new and not yet said before). You can have several UDFs, by the way, but more on that later!
As a literary agent, I can tell you: I read piles of submissions on topics that are unique to the individual writer but not to the broader world: death, cancer, divorce, abuse, transformation, success, a new habit we all need, a way to make money, a skillset or area of expertise that will change the world — I pass on 95% of them. The ones that do get my attention have one thing in common: a very clear UDF.
(Pro tip: What feels unique to you is often common and mundane to the world. Editor translation: No UDF — Boring, pass.)
Here’s how I found a UDF and used it to sell an essay for $6k and how you can, too.
Next up, I’ll share what to do after you’ve identified your UDF as finding it is just the first step in this process.
Jackie
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