WOW!  Bowerman has done it again.  His latest book (a combination and revision of two previous books) The Well-Fed Writer (2010) once again meets the needs of copywriters and freelance writers  hoping to create a business doing what they love.  This excellent resource is honest, practical, and real! 

Bowerman addresses those niggling (or loud) doubts and fears that writers have when contemplating starting a commercial writing business.  Chapter 3, discussing sales and marketing, does everything possible to help calm the loathing about marketing.  And he’s fairly successful with that.  One can’t get over a lifetime of disliking the idea of self-marketing in one reading, but the chapter helps start the process.

He also confirms my own realization that in order to make a good living as a writer these days, you have to serve in ways most others can’t; in other words, you have to be special.  He discusses the online meat market (my term) of online contract writing in which people are being paid peanuts for their work simply because everyone else can do the same thing.  It’s the old law of supply-and-demand.  Too much supply means the price drops like a rock, so those online contract writers can be working for less than minimum wage.  He does offer exceptions, but they are rare.  But Bowerman’s book lays out a plan and helps set aside the doubts and fears for creating a profitable commercial writing business.

Bowerman’s style is informative, relaxed, and often humerous.  He doesn’t overwhelm the reader with every possible detail that might, or might not, be needed when setting up and performing this business.  He gives readers what is needed to get started and become successful.  He hasn’t produced an encyclopedia (thank goodness); he has produced a practical guide to help writers succeed as freelance commercial writers.

I did experience one personal disappointment: Chapter 14 – the types of writing one can do.  This chapter focuses mainly on marketing types, which, admittedly, are a large portion of the types of writing one can be hired to do.  I went through the chapter looking for non-marketing types (since that’s not my forte) and found only a few.  But then, he does discuss the fact that most commercial writers are generalists and thrive on variety in their writing, so the chapter will be useful to many readers.

I also want to thank Peter for the wealth of web links and stories of other freelancers offered in the book. I actually found the model I will use for my website (Ed Gandia’s website).  Thank you, Peter and Ed.

So if you want to learn more about the freelance commercial writing business, to see if it is for you or not, check out Peter Bowerman’s The Well-Fed Writer, available at Amazon.com and in bookstores no.  I highly recommend it.