• Job: Commercial writer and author

KARL W. RITZLER/Special (ENLARGE)

Peter Bowerman had a background in marketing and sales, but he said he always was drawn to writing projects. In publishing and promoting his own book, he put all those skills to work.

• What I do: First, he started a freelance writing career from scratch, then he wrote a book about it. Now, two books later, Peter Bowerman is still a well-fed writer as well as a publisher, a speaker, and a writing and publishing coach.

Bowerman, 50, wrote "The Well-Fed Writer," a book about how to make a living as a freelance commercial writer, working on mostly marketing projects, such as brochures, Web sites and direct mailings. "High-end junk mail," he called it.

He followed that book with "The Well-Fed Writer: Back for Seconds," with more tips, strategies and success stories. His third book, "The Well-Fed Self-Publisher: How to Turn One Book Into a Full-Time Living," chronicles how he published, marketed and promoted his first book well enough to earn a living from it.

Now, Bowerman spends about half his time promoting his books and related activities involving self-publishing and the other half doing the commercial writing that got him started.

"I don't glorify this field," he said. "It's not about creative fulfillment." But it does pay the bills, he said.

In fact, he said, writing brochures is better than writing a novel, because the work is steady and big companies are willing to pay well for good writers.

Without any previous writing experience but with a background in sales and marketing, Bowerman took a chance and began offering his services as a writer to big and small companies, including some giants in Atlanta, such as Coca-Cola Co., IBM and UPS.

After a few years in the field, he thought about leading seminars to teach others his techniques. Instead, it turned into his first book.

The self-described control freak decided to self-publish it rather than pitch it to a traditional publisher or pay a publishing house, known as the "vanity press," to print it.

Inexperienced at this as well, Bowerman hired a self-publishing coach, arranged for editing and printing, crafted his own marketing plan and hit the bookstores. He worked with a cover designer, wrote the copy for the back cover and solicited endorsements from other authors. That process is outlined in "The Well-Fed Self-Publisher."

The books, in turn, have boosted his commercial writing. "I can bill a very handsome rate these days," he said.

• What got me interested in this: "I was always good at writing," Bowerman said. "I found myself gravitating toward writing tasks in jobs and school."

Commercial writers, he said, don't need to be as creative as magazine writers. "A lot of people can make a good — not great — living writing for companies, which need good, clear communication."

• Best part of my job: "The lifestyle — the setting in which I get to work," Bowerman said from the deck of his Cobb County condo. "My quality of life is really good. . . . I don't have to ask permission to take a day off or go on a vacation."

• Most challenging part: "Sitting in front of a computer," he said. He described himself as a low-tech person who initially does his writing by hand.

• What people don't know about my job: "It's not as hard as it looks," he said, "but I've been doing it awhile." It takes even a good writer time and hard work to get established, he said. "Once you are established, the work really does come to you," he said.

• What keeps me going: "I get to create my life every day," Bowerman said. "I have a lot of satisfaction where I am today, and I created all of it."

He also said he feels secure financially because "my success is a function of my efforts," because his work and sources of income are diversified, and because "I live simply."

• Preparation needed for this job: Bowerman said he didn't have any training in writing, other than one journalism course in college.

But, he noted: "The quality of writing skills out there [in the business world] is horrific. If you are a decent writer, that bodes well for you. You can learn enough to get good enough to make a living. . . . Success as a commercial freelancer or self-publisher is more about a process than an aptitude."

He suggested writing courses at community colleges as a way to polish skills.

For his own career, "my love of writing drove me to it. My sales background helped."

He has a bachelor's degree in Russian studies from the University of Virginia, and he sold books, technology, time shares, financing and video-dating services until he was about 35.

He began his writing career in January 1994 by making more than 1,000 phone calls to seek commercial writing jobs, "and by May, I was paying all my bills."

- By Karl W. Ritzler, for ajcjobs. Got an interesting job that you love? E-mail your story to jobseditor@ajc.com.