By Christi McGuire
You’ve helped polish your client’s manuscript, and she’s sent it off to an agent in hopes of getting representation and a publishing deal. Now what? Don’t say goodbye to your client once your editing of her manuscript is complete. Offer services that will continue to benefit the writer while she is waiting for feedback from her submissions. She can focus on building her platform and social media presence. Here are some ideas to help your client in this way:
- Help your client brainstorm a blog series based on the topic of the book.
- Offer to edit blog posts (or write them for the client).
- Offer to help search for copyright-free images to go with blog posts.
- Read up on how to build blog traffic and advise your client on how to do it.
- Help your client develop a newsletter (and edit it for her).
- Create a list of social media posts for the client to put on her social media networks: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc.
- Create a flyer for your client to promote her speaking services.
- Read through the client’s manuscript and pull out parts that could be used for blog posts or short social media posts.
- Create a list of 140-character tweets about the book for the author to use once it is published.
- Set up an online party for the author to draw interest and then offer to “host” it.
- Send the client resources to read and learn from while waiting for feedback. Always encourage authors to continue studying the craft of writing.
- Help the author publish elsewhere, such as magazines or online blogs, in order to grow her publishing credentials.
- Encourage your client to network with other authors to see how they have found success and what creative marketing ideas they may have.
You can also encourage your client to dig into her next project. Maybe her first project isn’t the one that will sell, but another idea of hers will be the one to get published. Perhaps an agent says no to the first submission but is interested in the writer enough to ask what other projects she might have. Encourage the author to think long term about future projects and begin outlining them or researching them.
The goal is to offer more services than editing in order to service the client long term. You don’t want to say goodbye once the editing is finished; instead, become that author’s publishing consultant and assist her through the entire process.
After all, a happy client is a long-term client!
Christi McGuire is a freelance editor, writer, and consultant. She is also the co-owner of the Christian Editor Network, director of The PEN Institute, and director of the Christian Editor Connection. Her first book, When’s It MY Turn? A Collection of Short Stories and Temper Tantrums was released in January and is available on Amazon.