The Copywriter Underground

In an instance of blogging imitating life, I just read the Irreverent Freelancer’s post about getting to “no.”
Interestingly, I invested a significant chunk of my morning writing a “Dear John” e-mail to a prospective client.

As freelancers, we’re most interested in moving our prospects to “yes.” Getting work is our focus. But when should we focus [...]

Before PCs, writers used typewriters, and before that, they used pen and paper.
Naturally, being a largely superstitious, wholly contentious lot, battles erupted over what pen worked best, and why. Later, the word processor wars broke out, and back when there was actually a difference between products, writers in text-based online bulletin boards fought over them [...]

Outside of the fact that I don’t even use business cards these days, I found this idea irresistible: a card that grows alfalfa when you get it wet.
From the always interesting Notebookism blog:

Be a great idea for environmental firms too.
Technorati Tags: business card, notebookism

Reading the words of a good writer is almost as satisfying as writing something decent myself.
A recurring favorite is Garrison Keillor. I like his writing style and observational bent, and his most recent Salon.com essay lands squarely on the bullseye. He’s finishing a book project on a deadline, and experiencing all the doubts, questions, and [...]

I remember when E-mail was going to become the marketer’s new best friend. It was far, far cheaper than print, and — as we were told by the pundits of the time — people were going to beg us to send them e-mail.
Then came spam.
In a few years, e-mail went from fab to forgotten (Spam [...]

Thanks to the Copywriter’s Crucible for alerting us to this one — a short video created by Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions (of all people).
It satirizes the master/slave relationship many advertisers still wish existed — and is a pointed (if symbolic) reminder of the changing role of the copywriter.
Plus it’s fun. Time to engage, baby. Coupons [...]

I just got off the phone with a high-energy client. Interesting products, and a willingness to look at online selling in a new way (perhaps “evolving” way resonates better).
I got the initial job, though at one point, it wasn’t looking great. He didn’t know if I was the “right” person for his company. He asked [...]

I’m not interested in pushing any panic buttons on the copywriting front, but it’s interesting to see offshoring creeping its way up the writing-for-hire food chain.
At first, technical work went overseas. Then SEO and article-writing gigs. Now we’re seeing reporting jobs moved offshore:

The world may be flat, as New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has [...]

It’s never a bad day when somebody fires up a contest.
Brian Clark of Copyblogger unveiled the copywriting competition he’s been threatening to run for months.
Still, the white paper/case study/ad specialists shouldn’t get too overheated; it’s a landing page contest, and the $5K first prize comes in the form of SquidOffer Advertising — a Squidoo-based ad [...]

Copywriters have never been immune from market pricing pressures. To avoid competitive pressure on fees, I preach the gospel of the “value-added copywriter,” believing that adding value insulates us from the worst of them.
Recently, I spent a little time poking around Craigslist, job listing boards and even the bid boards (where copywriters underbid each other [...]