Posts: 12806
Threads: 158
Joined: February 13, 2010
Reputation:
111
RE: Ask a Professional Copywriter and Author
November 22, 2016 at 11:43 am
(This post was last modified: November 22, 2016 at 11:45 am by Shell B.)
I've been pretty lucky about long-term clients finding me. When it comes to short-term clients, I seek them out in writing marketplaces. Once you become established as a reliable writer in them, it's always possible to find work.
Yes, it took a year or more to reach a point where I was sure I would have regular work. I filled my down time reading about freelancing, writing blog posts and creating profiles at virtually every worthwhile writing marketplace online. There was a time when I wasn't sure if these places would accept my applications. Nowadays, it's rare to get turned down, and it's usually because my niche just isn't right or they're looking for people with degrees in non-writing fields (I don't have one in a writing-related topic, either. You seriously do not need one at all to freelance the way I do), so I've definitely developed some job security.
Posts: 23918
Threads: 300
Joined: June 25, 2011
Reputation:
151
RE: Ask a Professional Copywriter and Author
November 22, 2016 at 12:33 pm
Sounds pretty interesting. (Sorry about dissing your beloved genre recently BTW. My tastes may all be in my mouth for all I know.)
Not sure I understand how copywriting happens. There are online meeting places where people needing content written and willing writers go to hook up? What sorts of products come out of copywriting? Could that be like pamphlets and buisness forms? Or maybe it's presenting information about products for online advertising?
Posts: 12806
Threads: 158
Joined: February 13, 2010
Reputation:
111
RE: Ask a Professional Copywriter and Author
November 22, 2016 at 12:57 pm
(November 22, 2016 at 12:33 pm)Whateverist Wrote: Sounds pretty interesting. (Sorry about dissing your beloved genre recently BTW. My tastes may all be in my mouth for all I know.)
Not sure I understand how copywriting happens. There are online meeting places where people needing content written and willing writers go to hook up? What sorts of products come out of copywriting? Could that be like pamphlets and buisness forms? Or maybe it's presenting information about products for online advertising?
Oh, I'm not married to it. Different strokes for different folks. I don't expect people to like all the same things I do. I'm just arguing its merits. 
So, like any other job, you can answer ads for copywriters needed. You can also connect online in places just like you described. Copywriting covers a ton of material. Some people do pamphlets and the like. I don't. You can also write pages for business websites, such as about us pages and product pages. You can write ad copy, product descriptions, best of lists, etc. Some copywriters even specialize in social media posts. They'll be offered a set payment for a batch of facebook posts or tweets on a topic relevant to the client. It can be anything from rug cleaning to movie promotions. I've been asked to do food descriptions for menus. I've done real estate listings. I've done research articles on the benefits of medical marijuana–that project was months long. Eventually, an entire website was populated with medical research content I had done on the benefits and risks of medical marijuana for a huge variety of conditions.
Posts: 69247
Threads: 3759
Joined: August 2, 2009
Reputation:
259
RE: Ask a Professional Copywriter and Author
November 22, 2016 at 1:33 pm
How do you feel about copyrights expiring upon the death of the author?
Posts: 698
Threads: 16
Joined: October 17, 2014
Reputation:
16
RE: Ask a Professional Copywriter and Author
November 22, 2016 at 1:34 pm
(This post was last modified: November 22, 2016 at 1:34 pm by AceBoogie.)
That is so. Fucking. Cool.
I legitimately want to make a living writing but I still don't understand how I'm supposed to get my first gig. If I have no work to refer my clients to as an example of my skills, how am I supposed to convince anyone to pay me to write for them? Should I just keep answer ads online until someone gives me a chance? What sites do you use to answer ads?
edit: No I do not have a college degree.
“Love is the only bow on Life’s dark cloud. It is the morning and the evening star. It shines upon the babe, and sheds its radiance on the quiet tomb. It is the mother of art, inspirer of poet, patriot and philosopher.
It is the air and light of every heart – builder of every home, kindler of every fire on every hearth. It was the first to dream of immortality. It fills the world with melody – for music is the voice of love.
Love is the magician, the enchanter, that changes worthless things to Joy, and makes royal kings and queens of common clay. It is the perfume of that wondrous flower, the heart, and without that sacred passion, that divine swoon, we are less than beasts; but with it, earth is heaven, and we are gods.” - Robert. G. Ingersoll
Posts: 23918
Threads: 300
Joined: June 25, 2011
Reputation:
151
RE: Ask a Professional Copywriter and Author
November 22, 2016 at 1:34 pm
(November 22, 2016 at 1:33 pm)Minimalist Wrote: How do you feel about copyrights expiring upon the death of the author?
Alternatively, how do you feel about your kids having you preserved a la Hitchcock in order to keep those checks coming?
Posts: 67189
Threads: 140
Joined: June 28, 2011
Reputation:
162
RE: Ask a Professional Copywriter and Author
November 22, 2016 at 1:48 pm
(This post was last modified: November 22, 2016 at 1:50 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
Do you still do NanoWriMo, are are you too busy with paying the bills? What compelled you to take the plunge?
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
Posts: 12806
Threads: 158
Joined: February 13, 2010
Reputation:
111
RE: Ask a Professional Copywriter and Author
November 22, 2016 at 2:33 pm
(November 22, 2016 at 1:33 pm)Minimalist Wrote: How do you feel about copyrights expiring upon the death of the author?
I don't like it at all. Tibby and I disagree on this one, but I really think authors ought to be able to decide their own legacy. If mom and dad's bakery can go to little Timmy, why shouldn't I be able to leave my novels to my family? Of course, there has to be an expiration at some point, I guess.
Posts: 7140
Threads: 12
Joined: March 14, 2013
Reputation:
72
RE: Ask a Professional Copywriter and Author
November 22, 2016 at 2:36 pm
(November 22, 2016 at 2:33 pm)Shell B Wrote: I really think authors ought to be able to decide their own legacy. If mom and dad's bakery can go to little Timmy, why shouldn't I be able to leave my novels to my family? Of course, there has to be an expiration at some point, I guess.
Just change your name to Walt Disney. 
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
Posts: 12806
Threads: 158
Joined: February 13, 2010
Reputation:
111
RE: Ask a Professional Copywriter and Author
November 22, 2016 at 2:37 pm
(November 22, 2016 at 1:34 pm)operator Wrote: That is so. Fucking. Cool.
I legitimately want to make a living writing but I still don't understand how I'm supposed to get my first gig. If I have no work to refer my clients to as an example of my skills, how am I supposed to convince anyone to pay me to write for them? Should I just keep answer ads online until someone gives me a chance? What sites do you use to answer ads?
edit: No I do not have a college degree.
Take shit gigs until you have enough shit gigs to convince people you have experience. Yes, keep doing that until someone gives you a chance. Some great beginner ones I think are upwork, Textbroker and WriterAccess. I'm not sure, but WA may have become more stringent about the application process. It's been years since I've actually applied to a marketplace that acted as a go-between.
You don't need a degree, but definitely pick up style guides. There are a few really important ones. I keep them on my shelves, but you can also access some of the details online. You need to know what a client means when they say "use AP style." Google the shit out of freelance writing until you know what you're getting into. This is most important.
|
