Sex Columnist Stardom and Cash a La Carrie Bradshaw: How to Be a Luxurious "shoegal" with Syndication

Wish you could be a superstar sex columnist like Carrie Bradshaw? You can, with similar income and style. Here's how.

The romanticized notion of writers within their ivory towers? So last season[s] when Carrie Bradshaw, the (mostly) fictional sex columnist and popular culture icon you've definitely heard of, hit the scene. Even with Sex and the City finis with the movie tying her world up, the image of writers has been forever changed. Especially sex writers. Sex columnists today are now frequently avid sex worker rights supporters, pro sex feminists, genderqueers and GLBT rights advocates. I know, because with the exception of genderqueer (I am happily married to a man and we all thought I was gay), I am all of these things. I am the sole proprietor of Pro Sex Writer, a magazine journalist freelance writing business for the sex genre. I would like to drop some knowledge on all the Carrie-ites and wannabe sex writers to let you know that your life can be just as utterly fabulous as that of Carrie Bradshaw.

For starters, let's dispel the notion that there is no work involved. You need to constantly improve your writing skills, develop your writer's voice, actively learn about your topic (darn, you have to have sex) and you need to market your personal brand. If we saw nothing else on Sex and the City that appeared in the above to-do list, we saw Carrie's brand. Carrie is a strong personal brand that attracts attention, which attracted readers, publishers and advertisers. If your brand is strong--strongly identified and consistently marketable--you may be in a naked dress on a bus one day, or at least an equivalent thereof. Here's a brief overview of what you need to do to be a sex column star like Carrie Bradshaw, writer extraordinaire.

• Write a business and marketing plan.
• Choose a cause and provide written content.
• Query publications for clips.
• Choose a publication for your sex column and successfully pitch your column.
• Publish several columns and choose syndication methods.
• Consider online models for syndication and pursue what attracts you and fits your business and marketing plan.
• Build your writer's platform for publishing: choose a book publishing method.
• Network your platform and keep writing.

We may not have seen Carrie do all these things, but she had to get her column somehow. With a friend like PR god Samantha Jones, I suspect many of these steps were taken. Let's walk through how each of these steps must be completed for your sex columnist cash and stardom.

1. Write your business and marketing plans. A freelance writing business is not just a career, it is a business. Let me say this again: freelance writing is a business. Take at least a month and research the market and the business of freelance writing, and writing for the sex genre. Also research the best marketing methods for building a wealth of networking contacts. You need to do a who's who search to find out who you need to know your name.
2. Choose a cause and write for it. As aforementioned, sex writers today will often be advocates of sex worker rights or sex positive feminism or GLBT rights. Whether you choose one, all of the above or another issue entirely, get writing for organizations. Some things you could do for these causes could be writing a direct mail campaign for fundraising. You could contribute or entirely compose a newsletter. You can help them with press release. Blog about the issues. Find some way to add credibility to yourself as a sex writer.
3. Query publications for more clips. Armed with your sex genre cause related clips, you can now query publications for sex related articles. Remember to carefully study publications and build your network. You may find a dream destination for that flagship sex column, and you will likely find steady writing work and income. Important for feeding both the shoe fetish and the burgeoning writer's platform.
4. Armed with clips and experience and contacts (oh my!) begin searching for the right start for your column. Research potential publications as you choose them. Finding the place and the subject for your column requires an understanding of what you will write that stands apart from the rest and why it will be read in your target publication. When you have thorough answers to these questions, then write at least three sample columns, a cover letter that proposes your column and a concluding commentary about what columns are to come. Follow up on your proposal to discuss the payment and the rights for your column. Don't expect one column to pay all your bills now, and don't be surprised if the number seems low. Focus, rather, on retaining the rights to your columns because syndication is where the cash and stardom is waiting.
5. When you have published several columns for your publication, either approach a syndicate house or syndicate yourself. If you choose the syndicate house method, find the syndicate house in a directory and study what they already syndicate and, only then, pitch your column to them. Should you decide to syndicate yourself, start with smaller publications and call and query for their interest with a similar proposal to your first. Once you have several small publications on board, you can now pitch to larger publications. The bucks and the celebrity are coming your way now when you reach this level.
6. Syndicate in online methods that appeal to you as well. You may start your own blog and republish your column, running ads or using it as a platform for further syndication, or you may guest post at other blogs. You can also publish on content sites.
7. Now that you are a syndicate star, make sure that you are still building a wealth of networking contacts and querying publications. Consider how you would like to publish your columns: will you self-publish or will you find a traditional publisher?
8. Keep networking, keep writing and keep up building your brand. If you reach this step, your platform needs to be nurtured and it will be nurturing you.

There you have it: major success in real life as sex columnist is possible. If you will work for it, you can have it. Just put your best Manolo forward in all your work and marketing efforts and the [publishing] world is yours for the taking.