Robyn Roste | How To Become A Freelance Writer

Hello, this is Joel Mark Harris, and you are listening to the Publishing for Profit Podcast. Today we interview Robyn Roste, a freelance writer and journalist. we talk about one of my favourite things, which is obviously journalism and writing. she gives us some great tips if you’re just starting out as a writer and also as a business if you want to market yourself.

So hopefully you enjoy this episode. Hello Robin, and welcome to the publishing for profit podcast. How are you today?

Robyn Roste: Good job. Thanks for having me.

Joel Harris: You’re welcome. So Robyn is an accomplished freelance writer. She has a new book coming out, which I’m excited to talk about. but first off, I just want to talk about copywriting because copywriting is something that is near and dear to both of our hearts.

But why should a business hire a copywriter?

Robyn Roste: Yeah. Not loaded at all. If, if you aren’t a copywriter, it’s hard to kind of wrap your head around why, why you’d hire someone to talk about you. But when you actually start trying to write about your business or yourself, you find it very hard. And also it takes a long time to come up with just that perfect, perfect statement that you are trying to say.

But you can’t just. Quite get it out in a copywriter really can get into the deep down like what you’re trying to say about your business to yourself and bring it out, and that’s their expertise. And they can say it in a way that motivates your customer or your client to take action. So that’s essentially why it’s so important to hire a copywriter or work with the copywriter on these.

especially brand-name projects, but even anything, right? Like anything that you want to, to put in front of your customers, you should, you should have a copywriter take another look.

Joel Harris: I always explain copywriting as a sort of the middle person between your business and your clients. And sometimes that message doesn’t get through to your ideal client.

And so the copywriter is able to parse that out and to really, figure out what you’re meaning. Say it in a way that does not involve jargon, does not involve any technical words that in a way that. A potential client will understand, right? Because especially for a lot of technical companies, they’re in it 24 seven right?

And so they, they don’t necessarily are able to lift their, their head from their sand and see, okay, what am I saying? And does it actually make sense? I know it makes sense to me, but does it make sense to my audience

Robyn Roste: right? Yeah, I find a lot of the time we assume when we know we know a subject very well, we assume our customer knows as much as we do, and so we skip a lot of information that they actually need.

So yeah, that’s the genius of copywriter. They can come in and bridge that gap.

Joel Harris: So how did you. Yeah. How did you get into copywriting and working with businesses?

Robyn Roste: That’s a, it was an accident because when I got in to it, I didn’t know that that’s what I was doing. So I don’t know if that’s everyone’s staring, but I, I really, I started on the journalism side, so I was service-based and covering the news.

After a while, I started working with businesses, you know, I’d maybe interviewed them for a story I’d written and then they say, Hey, we did actually some help with this or that. Can you come in and talk with us? And I’d start working with them on their messaging and actually doing copywriting, but not recognizing that.

So what I was doing, and I found I had a real knack for it, and I had a real passion for helping businesses really connect with their clients. So that’s how I got into it. It’s kind of stumbling, but a happy accident.

Joel Harris: Nice. Did you want it to be right? Have you always enjoyed writing?

Robyn Roste: I’ve always loved writing. I’ve always enjoyed it. It’s always been a big part of my life, but I never expected to be a writer, I guess, because I didn’t really know that you could have a job as a writer except for maybe an author. So I really, that’s the only thing I really connected was, you know, a writer right. Novels and I don’t really have a creative like fiction side of me.

So I thought, well, that’s just not for me. So yeah, I always loved writing. I never really expected to become a writer. So imagine my surprise when I realized how big this world really is for Ivers.

Joel Harris: And so you initially went to school for journalism. Why, why pursued that path? Initially,

Robyn Roste: my, my idea of journalism was I wasn’t sure if I had kind of the nose for news, because I’m quiet, I’m pretty shy.

and I, you know, journalism of Bob’s meeting a lot of people and asking hard questions, so I wasn’t sure. If that was for me, but I knew there was something to it. So I was interested in truth. I was interested in storytelling. And those, aspects of, of the, of the industry really appealed to me. And I also liked how quickly.

Like the fast pace of journalism. So you’re, you know, you work on a story, you file it, it’s done, you move on to the next one. It’s very diverse. There’s lots of different things you get exposed to. So that really appealed to me. So that’s why I initially got into it. I thought I’m just going to try it on and see where it goes.

Joel Harris: So I want to talk a little bit, cause I have a journalism background as well, and I’m very passionate about journalism and I believe it’s. Super important, to have great journalists out there. Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening so much these days, but can you tell us a little bit about what you see in the, cause you’re actually more in it than I am.

You’re, you are more on the front lines and I have been for a long time. So what are you seeing in the journalism world? Do you think it’s important? And I guess, you know, second part of the question is, do you think it’s. Important that we still have quality journalism.

Robyn Roste: Okay. Yes, absolutely. I think it’s, journalism is essential to our society.

It is tricky right now in, in a, I guess a post-truth culture where people don’t necessarily believe what you’ve said or, maybe they don’t believe the outlet where you’re saying it. And so it’s a. It’s an interesting era we’re in journalism because journalists pursue the truth. They are truth-tellers.

So how do you reconcile that? They’re telling the truth when the audience isn’t willing to hear it? So I think that’s something maybe not quite solved yet, but what I, yeah, what I’ve experienced, and I mean, I’ve been doing journalism ever since. I finished my degree as a freelancer. So this has been, yeah, I’m, I’m keeping my toe in there, but I’m not full time or anything.

What I’ve noticed is that, where I see the most impact, at least from my experience, is small towns or community newspapers. I think, where else are you going to get that information? Cause you can get the big, the big media stories, but they’re covering, you know, large areas. So you’re gonna if you lose that community aspect of the reporting, I think you lose a big piece of your community.

Joel Harris: Where do you see the future of journalism going and is there, can you see a light at the end of the tunnel where we get away from this, all this fake news that seems to be prevalent in and you know, especially Facebook and all the social media.

Robyn Roste: Yeah.

I think the light at the end of the tunnel is that I believe truth wins in the end, that eventually the truth will find a way through how I, I really can’t say, I guess because I believe that it will, it will exist cause it must, but that’s not really a practical answer. The. Ah, I see. I see it continuing, but I see it maybe changing and how it’s done because the, you know, the daily papers, the weekly papers, they’re all getting smaller and smaller.

And you know the newsrooms are two, three people slogging away trying to really. Really do the work of that should be a much bigger team and they’re going to burn out, and that is sounds sustainable. The 24-hour news cycle means they never get a break. How do you do journalism in this environment?

I’m, I don’t know if I can answer that, but I think it will find a way, and maybe that comes from partism, you know, people very having very niche interests or. Covering their own areas because they want people to know what’s going on. Maybe it comes from some grassroots movements, I don’t know, but I know it will.

It will continue to exist,

Joel Harris:  I, I agree with you. I think the truth will prevail, and that maybe, a bit of a noble statement that, yeah. May not come to fruition. But you know, if you look at like the history of news as I do, cause I’m, I’m a bit of a geek in that way. but you look at like, you know, yellow drill journalism, like in the 1920s.

Right? And then it shifts when people get sick of all this. And, you know, truth. Becomes more important than quality journalism becomes more important. So I, I really see like the cycles and in journalism. and how that kind of plays out. So I think we’re definitely, it’s funny cause now, you know, we’ve got the whole covered 19, we’ve got a bit of yellow journalism.

So we really are living in a world that feels to me, feels like it’s 19, 18 or 19, you know, 20s that have that sort of feel, which is kind of funny. But, I think, I think they’re, hopefully, you know, there’s companies out there that are trying to solve journalism through technology. Right. And I hope there are some way that, you know, technology has not been kind to journalism, unfortunately.

but hopefully we’ll see something, where. A company is able to actually leverage some sort of, you know, social media platform to bring journalism back, I think where it belongs. but yeah, I mean, that’s, that’s my take on it. I don’t know if you, do you feel like technology will. Will prevail and that will actually have some sort of platform that will help journalism instead of hinder it.

Robyn Roste: Yeah, I do because I think. Looking back at history, the biggest innovations have come when there’s a big problem to solve. So here we are with a big problem to solve. and I think the pandemic only heightens that pressure. So yes, I think something will come of this. I can’t guess what, but yes, I’m expecting it.

Joel Harris: Alright. I’m gonna shift back towards, the copywriting. and so for. I guess, I mean, like, you know, maybe I can broaden this question, but for anyone who you’re, you know, very experienced, a writer, freelance writer, you have, yeah. You’re copywriting. You do journalism for somebody who wants to. Get into freelance writing, is maybe working a full time job or just graduating.

I think now we, you know, we discussed before we went on air that this may be a great time to actually step into that world and step into freelance writing. What advice would you give new writers?

Robyn Roste: Yeah, I have lots, I think. Okay. So I’ve really tried to. Think about this in a way that would serve the person who has no idea, because I’m coming, I guess I’m coming as the person with the who and the technical company who has the jargon, and so I’ve tried to dial it back a bit.

If you, if you’re thinking I want to be a freelancer and I hope that it involves writing, my advice is to actually figure out ahead of time what kind of writing you think you want to do. So we talked a little bit about copywriting and we’ve talked a little bit about journalism. There are many other types of nonfiction writing, so what type of writing do you want to do and get clear on that, and then what type of business or a client.

Would that be serving? So figuring out you’re what you do and who you serve, and then figure out where they are. You’re doing all of this before you’re applying for any kind of jobs or positions or asking anyone. Are you hiring a writer right now? You’re just, you’re kind of figuring out within what you’re about, what you want to write, and then I think then you’re ready to start looking.

For that client or that gig. And so that is a whole other thing. But I think the first thing you should do is really, really think about what, what kind of knowledge and expertise do you already have? What are you interested in doing? What kind of writing are you interested in doing? And then who, who do you want to write for?

Joel Harris: Nice. And then so yeah, so you get that clear. What is the next step? Who do you reach out to? What’s like, do you build a website? Do you like, we’re on social media, do you go.

Robyn Roste: Yeah. Okay, so let’s say you’ve decided and you’re pretty clear on what you wanted to do, but you don’t have a website and you don’t really do anything on social media.

Then I say, no, you don’t need that stuff yet. What you’re going to do is you’re just going to try and introduce yourself to these people. Who are a great fit for what you’re going to offer them. How you do that. There’s a number of ways. I think there’s lots of advice on the internet for how to do this the best way.

I think you’ve got to find a way that’s natural to you, basically. Okay. Let’s pretend we’re in an era where you could go to a networking event and meet someone in person. That’s a wonderful way to meet a potential client. You go to some sort of industry. Specific zoom meeting, maybe you can get an invite through a friend of a friend or go on a website, find these, the email address, ask them if they’re.

If they hire freelancers, tell them a little bit about what you write or what you will write and how that will benefit them. So those are just a couple ideas.

Joel Harris: Cool. Can we talk a little bit about pitching and, I’ve, you know, you, you talk a lot about, You know, pitching clients on your blog. And I’m sure you have some great tips.

So can you share some things, because that’s super important no matter what kind of, what stage you are in your, your writing career. so yeah, so just any, any tips that you can, you can provide would be great.

Robyn Roste: Yeah. I, this is, this is, I think the most important, well it’s half of the most important part of freelance and it’s pitchy and the other half is closing.

Pitching. Yeah. I’ve already said making sure that you are pitching the appropriate people. Cause if you’re just. Emailing, whoever, Hey, I’m a writer. I can write about anything. I will do a great job. You know, that’s not, that’s not going to get the attention of your ideal, the ideal person you want to write for.

But if you’ve crafted your idea in a way that makes a lot of sense and is a perfect match for what they’re doing, all you have to do is put it together in a nice email. And. Showcase through your email writing that your grammar is good, that you have a grasp on of the English language or whatever language you’re pitching in and, and demonstrating that, that you will do a good job through your professionalism.

So yeah, I say, come with, if you’re pitching a company and you’re just inquiring if they. Are you looking for a freelancer. Just leave it at that, Hey, this is who I am. This is what I am about. This help benefits you. Are you looking for freelancers right now? If you’re pitching, let’s say an outlet with a story, you know, come with a couple of ideas.

This is what I’m thinking of writing, I think will be a good fit for your publication because, So those are, those are my, if it’s completely cold, that’s what I would do, but I always recommend trying to actually develop a relationship before you pitch. It’s hard sometimes, especially when you’re like, I need money yesterday.

Then it’s pretty hard. But if you are in a, if you’re in a, a nice, let’s say you’re working your day job, you have some time, I would say. Get your Twitter account going, get your LinkedIn account going, start following, and start interacting with your kind of ideal people you’d like to write for or follow the publications you’d love to see.

Or. Article in and started getting to know people who write for them. The key editors, the key players, the marketing director of the company that you want to write for the communications director. These are the people who, it would be really nice to have some name recognition or have a little bit of rapport with before you approach them with a pitch.

Joel Harris: Yeah. I think social media is such a godsend for pitching, for exactly the reasons you described, because you know, it’s now so easy to get on Twitter and to kind of do a little bit of stocking and figuring out, you know, what the person is about and, and the form a little bit of relationship with that person, right?

Yeah. And do you have any, do you do a lot of, like phone pitching or is your pitching mostly through email?

Robyn Roste: I do mostly email. I know people who pick up the phone and call companies and I, I think it’s very effective, but I can’t speak directly to it.

Joel Harris: All right. so you got the client, you, you, I, yes.

You pitch the client. You talked about closing. What, what sort of tactics can you, give us on, you know, the, you, you put them in with your idea of your story or you know yourself, what can you do to close that client?

Robyn Roste: With a cold pitch, which cold meaning? I guess that’s a jargon term, cold meaning you don’t know them, they don’t know you.

You have no relationship with a cold pitch. It’s a little trickier to close something because a lot of the time you’re not going to hear back, especially if it’s an email or maybe you’ve left a voice message. But what you can do in those situations is just work on a followup system. So you know, whatever makes sense for you.

So you. Pitch, and if you don’t hear back, you email after five days or. Two days or whatever. You work out a system that makes sense, then that feels good to you and not slimy. you work up, but making sure to follow up that is really, really important for any pitch that you actually follow up. If it’s a warm relationship, a warm, pitch, which means you have some sort of.

Rapport with this person, you can just touch base, you know. Oh, just a quick touch base. Hey, did you see that email? When you’re, what you thought? You can be a little more casual if that, the big, yeah. So the big idea is getting a response, even if it’s a no, because that means, okay, now you’re, you’re in a back and forth.

So maybe later you can come at them with a new idea. Down the road. So, so sometimes the closing happens immediately. You pitch, you get a yes, awesome. You work out your rate, you break out your deadline and you’re going, sometimes it’s a longer, a longer trail. So, you get to know, you pitch again later.

You get to know you could you get in later. But over this, over this time, you developed a back and forth and. Eventually, you’ll find something that works. I say, if it’s, if it’s a good fit and you’re coming, you’re coming at it with, then you’re the right kind of, the right kind of writer for what they do.

Cool.

Joel Harris: Do you have any tips, because you said, yeah, follow up is by far for me personally is by far the hardest. Is there any system or tips maybe that you have to ensure that you do follow up and what do you think is a good follow up system? Like should you contact them? You know, like every other day, you know, leave it for a week.

Is there like a rule of thumb that you have?

Robyn Roste: That’s, yeah, that’s a good question. I think with journalism pitches, my system is different than with my copywriting pitches. So when I’m going after a copywriting client, I’m going after a client who I will, I would like to work with for a while. So, on an ongoing basis with the journalism pitch, I’m generally going for an article or two.

I’m not looking for, you know, a 30 article deal cause I don’t know about if those even exist. Usually, I’m going with one idea. and I’m, I’m trying to find a home for it. With copywriting you’re looking for, yeah. You’re looking to join a team essentially. and so that follow up process is a little more aggressive actually, than a journalism pitch for me.

So I would say, yeah, I would, I would work out. First I do all my research and my internet stocking and figure, you know, who do I need to talk to? What, what are they about? Do they have any interests that align with my interests that we can kind of have a rapport over? Is there, are they doing anything interesting on Twitter that I can like or retweet?

d then when I pitch, I’ll email, then I’ll wait a few days, then I follow up, then I wait a week, then I follow up. Then I wait a week and I call, Getting to that call is the scariest part because you probably haven’t heard anything, right? So you’re just like, ah, this is maybe awkward. A lot of the time though, when you do call, they meant to get back to you and forgot, or it was on their to-do list and you know, they’re so sorry.

A lot of the time they’re honestly just too busy or went to their junk mail. it’s not really. It often ends up not being too bad if you can get them on the phone. But after that I generally will leave it. So it’s about, yeah, three or four weeks, follow up sequence and that’s if I haven’t heard anything back, if I hear back then it changes everything and you just go with what you go follow their lead from there.

Joel Harris: When you don’t hear back you build this story in your mind, you’re like, Oh, my pitch was bad. They hate my writing. And you’re right. Like it’s more of the, you know, the, that they didn’t, you know, they did, you know, it slipped through the cracks. Right. And it wasn’t that. They hated you or the Heuer bad writers.

Just that. exactly. Yeah. I mean, they’re busy, right?

Robyn Roste: yeah, they’re busy and hiring a freelancer isn’t the, isn’t at the top of their list. So you can have to bump yourself up in a nice, respectful way.

Joel Harris: Yeah. Can you talk a little bit about your writing routine and when do you like to write and what that process looks like?

Cause I’m, I’m always fascinated by that.

Robyn Roste: I, I’ve developed a routine over the last, I guess now three years that has started really working for me. I began, mostly because I felt really stuck. I wasn’t moving. Really anywhere in my career or my writing or my skills, and I just felt all around. I was in a rut, so I started getting up early, about four 30 in the morning, and I carved out a two hour period where all I do is write and I on weekdays, not weekends. So that’s, I do take a break, but I, yeah, every Monday to Friday for the last three years, I’ve gotten up at four 30 and written and I write until about six 30 and then I’m mostly done for the day. I mean, I still, I still do.

Writing during the day, but, the two-hour block is where I’m the most productive. That’s where I get most of my work done.

Joel Harris:  I’m the same, same way. I always find the morning is where all the creativity comes in. Then when you, when the day gets longer and you’re like, you know, you get more tired and there’s other things that kind of seep into your brain, like, you know, did I return that call or what did this, you know, this email.

So, yeah, I, I think that the morning is definitely my peak creative time. so do you. You know, right now we’re living through a very difficult time, with the whole covert 19, virus. you know, a lot of people are not working, you know, people are concerned about loved ones finding that two hours, right, that you, that you use to, you know, to write.

Do you. Have any tips on how you can focus and maybe just block off that time, yeah. To, you know, to make sure that the work gets done.

Robyn Roste: Right? Yeah. And I guess I’ll say that this has been what works for me. I know this isn’t realistic for everyone. That, yeah. Finding a two-hour block of time where nobody had trucks, you, I found that block because my biggest distraction was email and for whatever reason I have a terrible time turning it off.

So I thought, what if I was up before everyone else and no one can email me? And that is what I, so I found a way, even though I couldn’t overcome the distraction, like I didn’t have the self-discipline, I guess I found a way to like move it. Oh way in that sense. So that’s how I, that’s how I focus. I find a way to, yeah, just remove the problem.

So for me, it’s email. Another, I guess, issue I had was, I would, I would maybe have something, some other distraction. And so I set up a desk that faces the wall. I have nothing interesting around me. And that’s where I write. And that’s all I do at this desk. So I have a different computer for everything.

Fun. And then the computer, the little like junk laptop I have for writing, like all it does is open the document and that’s where I, and actually that’s made a big difference because there’s no way I can go online and browse because my computer just can’t take it. So for me, that, that’s been actually a big help.

Joel Harris: I love that idea to having a whole separate computer just for writing.

Robyn Roste: I’m just so weak.

Joel Harris: think we all are.  I don’t think that’s a personal flaw. I think that’s a human fly where, you know, you want to check social media, you want to, yeah. You know you don’t want to actually do the work.

I think now’s a good time to maybe plug your book. And, yeah. So tell us about your book that you’re writing and, and what’s it about and kind of what inspired it. Sure. I mean, at this point, it’s the concept of a book. So I’ve been formulating my proposal for the last little while, and it’s all about marketing tips for freelance writers.

And where this came from was. I think because of my natural interest in marketing and then proceeding into copywriting, I recognize there’s a lot of freelance writers who really don’t have the comfort level to market themselves. So while they’re fine copywriting for others. they, they really struggle talking about their business or themselves or even telling people that they are a freelance writer available for hire.

And so it gets them into this kind of insecurity, or, I don’t know what, but there’s a real, There’s a really important need for freelance writers to market themselves. And so that’s what this is addressing. Just some really basic tips for overcoming those objections that freelance writers have for talking about themselves because it feels either like, you know, I have a lot of other writing to do for clients, so talky, you know, working on my own marketing is a huge waste of time and not getting paid for that.

Or they have this. Just genuine fear that someone will call them out and that they’ll be exposed as not the best writer in the world, or you know, something like that, which is a genuine fear. But also if you want to be a freelancer and you want to get paid to write, you’ve got to market yourself. You got to tell people that your freelancer who is available to write for money.

Joel Harris: And so what tips would you give somebody.  What tips do you have, for people who are scared of putting themselves out there?

Robyn Roste: I think the biggest thing is to recognize that what you do is helping people. So when you’re telling people. That you’re a freelancer who writes for money.

This isn’t because you’re greedy. This isn’t because you’re conceited. This isn’t. It has nothing to do with. It’s not, it’s not all that year it used car salesman who’s paying people off, like whatever. That story we tell ourselves is that’s not what this is. You are getting the word out because what you do is very important to the people you serve.

You’re helping people. It’s a service that you’re providing for some, for whatever market that is, you’re helping make connections between a business and their customers and. And it’s a very important service that you’re providing. So you actually owe it to the world to tell people about what you do.

Joel Harris: And what platforms or social media, yes, accounts, platforms.

Would you recommend that writers be freelance writers beyond?

Robyn Roste: Yeah. It depends on where your customers are. So your ideal customers. So if you are looking to get into, let’s say, becoming a writer for like a marketing agency or something like that, you know, where are those agency people hanging out?

where are, where are they most active? You might find them on LinkedIn. That’s probably a good place on many CEOs and business owners are, would be on LinkedIn. a really good platform to get involved in. if you’re looking to maybe have software developers or you wanna serve other writers, or you wanna serve authors, then you’ll probably go to Twitter.

If you’re looking for small business owners. You’ll be on Facebook, or if you’re looking for bloggers that you want to maybe be a virtual assistant for, help them with their marketing, then you would go maybe on Pinterest, like you do need to really narrow in on who you’re serving and where they’re the most active, and then.

If you can swallow that social media platform, then you can go there too. If it’s not a good fit for you and you really hate it, like it’s not gonna work, so then yeah, you got to find another way, but that’s what I’d recommend. Like doing some research and figuring out where they’re hanging out and then showing up there in an authentic way.

Yeah,

Joel Harris: that’s really good advice. I think that’s always something I tell people. If you hate the platform, you’re, you’re not going to sustain it for, like, for example, I just, I really dislike Instagram and I know that. It’s probably the most popular social media platform right now, and people love Instagram.

I just, but I just can’t force myself to do anything on Instagram. so I mean, that’s just my personal, I guess, beef.

Robyn Roste: yeah,

Joel Harris: yeah, exactly. Right. And you can’t sustain that over the longterm because social media is definitely, it’s a longterm play. It’s not going to be like. You know, you know, put one post out there and you’re going to have, you know, a thousand clients banging at your door, offering your, or wanting your services.

Right. but, so having done marketing, you know, copywriting for, you know, for a while. Now what. Kind of for businesses, right? Who, maybe want to try a little bit of marketing themselves. What sort of Avenue would you recommend or something that they can try themselves that, doesn’t seem so scary.

Robyn Roste: Right? Yeah. Cause it can be scary actually talking to your customers, especially if you’re from maybe an old style of business where you broadcast and then they, you know, they do what you say. And so things have changed now people, customers want a relationship with the businesses that they shop at. So yeah, if you’re looking to get into your own marketing, which I would recommend because you’ll learn a lot.

About how you do business and how to do business better. I would start actually by looking at your reviews and looking at your emails and responding to everyone and just developing one to one relationships. If someone has a complaint. Try and fix it. Ask them what happened. Try and understand someone has a praise, you know, talk to them about that.

What’s going on? that’s where I would start. And that is marketing. So like, you don’t have to do any big, like. You know, provincial wide ad buys or you know, you don’t have to make a big move yet. I would start small and just dip your toe into marketing. I remember that anything you do that’s interacting with your customers is marketing.

Cause you are showcasing your brand to people who will give you money.

Joel Harris: I think that’s, yeah, that’s brilliant advice, I think, right. Start small and exactly. Dip your toe. I think that’s, that’s really good. so switching topics a little bit, I wanna, I, I generally ask most of my guests this, but is there a particular book.

That book or person or podcast, but since you’re a writer, I don’t want to say book that has influenced you and sort of the path or the choices you’ve made during your life.

Robyn Roste: Hmm. Yes. I, I can’t think of a better book for a writer to read than Stephen King’s on writing. I’m sure you’ve read that. Yeah. That I.

Reddit, I don’t know, five, six years into my professional writing career and it changed my life and I was already a working writer. It blew my mind and yeah, it changed. It absolutely changed my approach to writing and how I write and what I pay attention to. Just in simple, like basic writing, but also in the big picture stuff.

Just, yeah, he has a lot. A lot of great advice, so it just makes sense. He was a very successful writer, but I, yeah, I highly recommend on writing.

Joel Harris: I think, was that where you decided to get up at some crazy,

Robyn Roste: but yeah, he gets a really, yeah. I think it began in, intriguing me, the thought, but I certainly wasn’t ready at that point, but what it did teach me was that I needed. that there was always something I could do to improve my writing. And I think I had it began to coast. I was, yeah, I think five, six years into my career, I began to coast a little bit.

And so it really snapped me into shape and made me recognize like, this is an ongoing path. Like you need to always be improving. And yeah. So it really, I think it really just kicked things up into gear for me and, and, helped me. Just move forward again.

Joel Harris: So what are some of the things that you do now to keep the pencil sharpens,

Robyn Roste: actually, one of the things that I do, yeah.

To keep sharp is that I keep pitching even when I don’t need work, because I find pitching difficult and hard and scary. And when I, it’s a lot easier not to then too. So yeah. So I, I pet. I, I try to pitch every week. I would say I’m, I’m not always consistent, but yeah, that’s always on my marketing list.

Cause I have a list of things I do to market my business every week. And pitching is on there. So. whether, whether it’s a small, you know, fo follow up with someone I’ve worked within the past, or it’s a cold pitch just to keep in practice. Yeah. That’s what I, regularly do. And actually I’ve learned a lot because sometimes editors or, agency is, we’ll get back to you. And so I found that really, really instructive. Nice.

Joel Harris: What’s, I’m curious to know what else is on that list.

Robyn Roste: What else is on my, how do I stay sharp? Yeah. Well, I’m,

yeah, so I, yeah, I make a marketing list every quarter and I’m like, I kind of mix it up a little bit. And I learned this from ed Gandia who has a business to business copywriter, and he taught me how to do this. And so you. You put down, you put down a list of absolutely everything you could do to market your business, and then you divide it into, different, different levels of priority for ROI.

Basically. It’s a whole, it’s like a whole course he teaches, so I can’t get into it, but essentially I then. Put my list together every quarter, and then I break it down into daily tasks. So a lot of, a lot of what I do from my marketing right now is intentionally building my community on social media and my platform as blogging on my website, pitching regularly.

I haven’t, I nurture lists of these are people that I just want to stay friends with, or I just wanna stay, Friendly, I guess, or supportive of her. So these are people, maybe I’m just supporting their careers or I’m helping share the word about something they’re doing, or I’m just, I’m just trying to get to know them a bit better cause maybe I’ll pitch them later.

So those are the main things that I’m working on these days.

Joel Harris: So thank you so much for being on the podcast. Robyn, you mentioned your blog. I think Twitter. Where else can people find you?

Robyn Roste: My blog robynroste.com and Twitter at @Robynroste. Those are the main places I hang out. I’m also on Instagram.

You can find me there, and I think those are my main places of Christ. If you want to connect on LinkedIn, I have a profile there to Robin, rusty all across the board, and I would love to connect with you.

Joel Harris: Thank you so much, Robyn

Robyn Roste: Yeah, thank you.

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