The Copywriter Underground

A new meme is in the air; this one focused squarely on “Why I blog.”

I was tagged by the redoubtable Michel Fortin, and in only twenty-two words we’ve already stumbled on my first reason for blogging.

Reason #1: Other Bloggers.

When you’re blogging about copywriting, you’re doing so alongside an intriguing group of new, experienced and often successful writers.

It’s not exactly the Algonquin Roundtable, or even a direct substitute for the writer’s group I left behind when moving to the mountains of Northern California, but blogging offers me a little peek into the lives of other writers.

For those brief moments of surprise, recognition, horror and solidarity, I thank all of you.

Reason #2: I Get Smarter.

I read, I learn, I get smarter. Handy trick, that.

In fact, I just finished a conference call (this is not some cheap writer’s trick – it really happened) where I scored massive client points for a conversion tactic I learned only yesterday… while reading another blog.

With hero worship being high on my list of good things, I played it cool – like I invented the technique years ago, and was in fact bored by it all – but still wanted to say “thanks, blogging.”

Some writers simply sell their words, working their whole career without realizing the better practitioners of the craft are packaging ideas instead of vowels and consonants.

And there is no shortage of interesting ideas within the copywriting blogosphere.

Reason #3: Bloggers Write a Lot.

All the “10 Ways to Write Better Than Hemingway in Three Weeks” articles aside, better writers are built two ways.

First, you become a better reader. And second, you write a lot.

Blogging forces me to do both. I’ve been a copywriter for 20+ years, and I’ve never written as much – or across so many different topics – as I have since I started blogging.

Most copywriters will cop to a having business angle to their blog, and though most of my work doesn’t come from online sources, I suppose that’s true for me too. (Naturally, my fly fishing blog has generated more work than my copywriting or engagement marketing blogs).

Reason #4: Teaching the Concept of Value.

Michel Fortin writes that he enjoys the teaching aspect of his blog, and I’d like to cop to that too.

I have few illusions about my place among copywriting’s leading lights, but I have made a living for the last 21 years, making pretty much every conceivable mistake along the way.

A key “aha” moment was when I realized writers are a dime a dozen, and that gaining a client’s loyalty had less to do with the words than it did with the wisdom I brought to the table.

I’m guilty of flogging the “Value Added Copywriter” concept to death, but if there’s one idea that separates those who make a comfortable living from those who struggle, that’s it.

On my blog, I can say exactly that, and while my readers are free to reject “value added” as pure organic bullshit, at least it’s out there.

Of course, you can’t teach something without inevitably learning about it more deeply than you thought possible, so in that sense, my altruism has been exposed as pure self interest. Sorry.

Who’s Next?

I’m going to avoid many of the usual suspects and try some new names: Lisa Gates at Intrinsic Life Design, the Copywriting Maven, Inklings, and (something new) Armand Frasco at Moleskinerie, and book dealer/fly fisher/pipe smoker Richard Lee Merritt.

Kids, why do you blog?

[tags]writing, why do I blog, meme, copywriting, blog, blogger, blogging[/tags]