If your writing s just a hobby you can take a casual approach to getting writing jobs, but if your writing s a business, you need a strategy to get a constant flow of clients.

So here s a strategy, in five simple steps. All of the steps are important. Just follow them to the best of your ability at the moment, and you ll be amazed at their effects.

1. Decide who your target audience is

Your target audience is simply the people who can buy your writing. For example, if you want to write for magazines, that s a target audience, but it s too broad. Narrow your audience as much as possible to parenting magazines , for example.

If you want to write for the Web, you d narrow your target audience to: gaming sites or to businesses in my home town which don t have a Web site.

Although you can have several target audiences, just focus on one at a time.

1. Create a marketing plan to market to that audience

Your next step is to create a marketing plan. This is simply a written document which outlines the strategic actions you ll need to take to achieve your goal.

Your marketing plan should include not just your actions, but also the capital you ll need to invest over a year, and the profits you re likely to make.

1. Get a Web site it s the easiest way to get writing jobs

These days, your Web site is the focus of your marketing plan. A Web site s an amazing tool for your writing career, and unless you re as old as I am, you won t appreciate just how amazing it is.

In the late 1970s, when I started writing, I typed out manuscripts first on an Olympia portable typewriter, and then as I began to make sales, on an IBM Selectric golfball typewriter... I sent out manuscripts by the armload, spending much more on postage than I could afford.

If you don t have a site, get one. If you do have a site, pay attention to it, and learn how to optimize it your site is your 24x7x365 sales person for your writing.

1. Develop a specialty

Specialize in something. Everyone wants a specialist. My specialty is computers and technology; several clients have been with me for 15 years.

You can specialize in any area which appeals to you, but develop a specialty of some kind.

1. Be patient all your marketing takes time to work

You need to think long term for your writing business. Where do you want your writing to be in three or five years? Every word you write today gets you closer to success, so never begrudge your words.

If you re a completely new writer, the above five steps may not make much sense to you right now. Just complete as many as you can. All the writing you do is experiential: you learn by doing. So as you write, the reasons you ll following the five steps will become clear to you.

If you re an established writer, use the five steps to achieve success follow them, and your writing business will thrive beyond your dreams.