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You are receiving Jane Friedman’s self-study class, How to Earn a Living as a Writer. New lessons release every Friday through April 18, 2025. Browse the archive.
Week 10: Instead of ABC, remember AIDA
Once you focus on a specific target readership and how and where you can likely reach them (catch up on last week), that’s half the battle. The other half is delivering stuff your readers enjoy (and that you enjoy creating, let’s hope) and developing a funnel around it.
A funnel?
In the film Glengarry Glen Ross, in a scene made famous by Alec Baldwin’s performance, a group of underperforming salesmen is lectured on how to become “closers.” On the chalkboard—next to the (now) famous phrase “Always Be Closing”—is written the following:
- A— Attention
- I— Interest
- D— Decision (or Desire)
- A— Action
This is a sales funnel. Most writers don’t like to think of themselves as salespeople, yet anytime we’re active on social media, or doing something to market and promote our work, we’re attracting attention or building interest and desire. Taking action (to spend money or time) becomes more likely once people have heard of you. While it sounds obvious, it bears stating: a prior relationship makes a sale more likely. This is one of the reasons social media can be valuable—it’s a relationship builder and develops familiarity and trust.
At the top of the funnel (the widest part) is where you find the largest number of potential customers or leads, people who have been “qualified” in some way, but it’s also where you find the weakest relationships. For writers, this category might describe a large number of your social media followers, or someone who has read one of your articles for free but hasn’t purchased a book or paid for a subscription. As you move down the funnel, the number of people decreases (some lose interest or lack commitment) until there’s just a handful who take action—usually, that action involves making a purchase.
Getting people to act almost always requires a specific “call to action,” which writers sometimes feel uncomfortable issuing because it puts them in the role of salesperson. Sometimes a call to action may be a sales-driven message—“Please support my Kickstarter!”—whereas other times it’s an offer of something for free. As soon as you do that, you’re starting to develop a content strategy (a topic for later).
There are entire professions focused on improving the effectiveness of these funnels, particularly improving conversion rates. Conversion refers to the percentage of people who move from attention to the desired action. Most conversion rates are very low—in the single digits. But improving a conversion rate by even a tiny amount can mean a lot more earnings.
Here’s an example of one of my funnels:
- Attention. A writer searches online for how to get a book published and finds my website and informative articles.
- Interest. The writer reads several articles for free at my site.
- Desire. The writer sees my book referenced, with a starred review from Library Journal, and desires in-depth guidance.
- Action. The writer purchases the book from an online retailer.
In this particular funnel, I use free content (my blog posts) to attract attention through search engine results—to reach people who search online for answers to questions about publishing.
Imagine a funnel if you are a poet with a newly published collection of love poems:
- Attention. A potential reader notices people in the literary community sharing an article you wrote.
- Interest. They click and read your article about the history of love poetry at a literary website; your bio mentions your newsletter focused on the history of poetry.
- Desire. The potential reader checks out your newsletter and sees that it’s read and recommended by other poets they like (because you have their testimonials on your sign-up page). The reader decides to follow you and enjoys what you write.
- Action. The reader subscribes and later becomes a patron when you make your next appeal for support.
Many writers wonder how they can get more people to sign up for their newsletter, or get more patrons, but have spent no time or effort considering how to get people’s attention in the first place. Free content is the number-one way to attract attention, especially online—but it is not the only way to attract attention.
P.S. Congratulations to writer John Branning! He was the first to respond to the giveaway offer last week and won the printed page proofs for the second edition of my book.
Exercise
Most writers haven’t been taught any copywriting skills in school and don’t even know what copywriting is. Copywriting is anything you write to bring attention to something—or to get someone to take action. Pitching is a form of copywriting, as is (at least in some respects) writing your bio. Copywriting isn’t about convincing everyone to do what you ask, but convincing those who are a great match for what you’re offering. Good copywriting skills benefit you at every level of your career, since great copy is needed for your website, filling out grant and fellowship applications, promoting events, and selling your services. Browse the posts available for free from Copyblogger—a site devoted to copywriting skills. What headlines catch your eye? What tips might be helpful to you immediately?
Explore further
Just for fun 🎅🏼
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The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (releasing April 18, 2025)
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