It beats my old fav:

“Spider, spider, on the wall
Ain’t you got no smarts at all?
Don’t you know that wall is fresh plastered?
Get off that wall you dirty… spider.”

I first heard the spider limerick in a Roy H. Williams workshop. Which brings me to the point of your post: Roy has actually solved the Bob Bly vs Merlin Mann conundrum.

He gives us a formula:
Memory / Branding = Impact * Frequency

So… if you make your writing more impactful – it requires a lower frequency. Lesser writing!

@ Lorraine Hi! Can I just say I LOVE your blog and have printed out your frugal shopping list? I can’t tell you how long I have been looking for something like this! It speaks to me, all of your manifesto!

I do the same thing with staying in touch, sending people articles. It sounds like you’re already on a marketing diet, since you’re not spamming people with daily email blasts and mass mailing everyone. You’re living within your marketing means already, cooking up your marketing from scratch at home, as it were.

Oh, and I actually didn’t mean to make any point about wives bringing meals. Because then I’d have to fully disclose that, sometimes, I do have a certain someone who likes to make me breakfast & bring it to me. But that’s only because I don’t know how to cook. Which, of course, your blog is soon to remedy!

I really think you’ve nailed a balanced approach to writing/life.

I have another perspective on the Bly-Mann breakfast “conversation.” I see it as a spin on the old debate between “commercial” and “creative” writing.

It’s pleasant to think these two scriveners’ threads can intertwine, but I’m not sure—at least for me.

Interestingly, years ago I took one of Bob’s seminars. It was called something like “If You Can Write a Simple Stream-of-Consciousness Poem, You Too Can Make 200K!”)

The seminar targeted “creative writers,” premise being, if you can write ANYTHING at all—poems, plays, novels—you can write copy and make money.

Nice.

I admire Bob’s work ethic and professionalism. I’ve benefited a lot from disciplined work hours, GTD, et al. (Isn’t Merlin Mann’s conversion to Slow Writing a new phenomenon?)

I must confess I am often glued to my laptop for very long hours. I find it’s the best way to make money writing and—as a fulltime freelancer and mother of three—I need to make money from my writing.

Confession: I find it hard–nearly impossible–to write without the prod/carrot of a deadline and paycheck.

And yet…

My favorite writing mentor is William Zinsser. He of the “good writing is rewriting” and “a good sentence is no accident” school.

I’ll take the New Yorker over almost any blog post—present company excluded. I love the idea of slow blogging.

But I digress…so I’ll answer your questions quickly.

1. What would happen if you put your business on a Marketing Diet? I’d be out of work within weeks, homeless–and my eldest son would have to come home in shame from his semester in Berlin.

2. Do you think your business would improve if you sent out FEWER messages, and made each message count? No. I think be out of work within weeks, homeless…The truth: I don’t do mass mailings, just try to stay in touch, stay credible and yes, prove I “provide value.”

3. Have you actually TRIED this, and how did it work? No–and don’t plan to in the current economy. (Yes, I know–Attitude of Scarcity. But I’ve been freelancing through a few economic cycles.)

P. S. One last thing: I love your point about the wife bringing down meals to the single-minded, copy-churning writer. I’ve often wondered how many successful male copywriters acted as primary caregivers in raising their children. I’m not making excuses. I’m just sayin’.

I like to slow down the selling process, and make as sure as I can that the people who buy really want to buy. That translates not only into happier customers and increased word of mouth, but lower admin and customer service costs.

It may be funny talking about customer service costs in the realm of micro-business, but for every return it takes us time and costs us money in transaction fees and lost money on postage. Besides, it would feel gross to have money from people who didn’t really want us to have that money.

So, that’s a slight addition. When you market more, and market well, you can sell more. But, at what cost to your business and your soul?

@Mark Segmenting! Yes, of course! The syrup that holds the whole operation together. I had no idea I was only on one list, being segmented and stuff. Man, you are smooove. (BTW, I am L-O-V-I-N-G “Growing a Business” by Paul Hawken. Just recommended it to someone, in fact. I can’t believe how timely this book is; it reads like it was written at this exact moment in history… so thanks!)

I think one of the keys to being able to do the fried chicken and waffle type of marketing is segmenting. The problem with blogs and RSS is that segmenting is a challenging thing- everyone sees the same thing.

But, with our email list, we can carry on three or four different campaigns simultaneously to different people who are at different stages, without using up too much marketing bandwidth. I like it, because it does keep our frequency down.

If you’re ever in Portland, you’re invited to breakfast.

So much depends upon a hot waffle
Glazed with syrup
Beside the fried chicken