Peddling your wares...Interesting approach...
Marketing and promotion are critical to any content writer's success. You cannot get clients to pay you unless you attract them in the first place! I find it interesting to see how people are marketing and positioning themselves.
I stumbled upon a writer working with a pretty unique system. Prospective clients request the content they need. Candice Pardue writes it and offers them a "preview" of the material. They can then decide whether or not they want to purchase the article at the predetermined price. From what I can tell, the author will sell those articles that are passed over. She does this through her site on an ala carte basis, with different prices for different rights packages.
I don't necessarily know if this the best possible strategy when all is said and done, but it is unique. It also emphasizes her belief in the writing in a way that even most writers' "guarantees" do not.