The Copywriter Underground

Someone once said screenwriters were “only the first drafts of human beings.” That’s funny, but it underscores the problems faced by Hollywood screenwriters, who aren’t getting their fair share of the emerging digital market.
Still, why should you — a copywriter — even care about the Hollywood writer’s strike?
Simple.
Hollywood’s writers face many of the same issues […]

I’m getting calls from a lot of prospective clients. That’s good.
Less good is this — a growing number seem interested in heavily leveraging my least-profitable service: free advice.
Lately, I’ve heard from a surprising number of prospects expecting me to do all their marketing legwork for them — for nothing more than the price of a few words.
Three in the […]

Selling anything to anyone is an apt description of the modern copywriter’s job — but it won’t happen unless the writer keeps current with the latest digital media channels. Here’s how to do that.

Matthew Stibbe’s “Ten free marketing tactics” post offers invaluable advice to copywriters — the kind of hard-earned, real-world tips and tricks that go way, way beyond the obvious. Always worth a read.

I was asked to write a monthly column for Chief Marketer about blogging and engagement marketing, and my second effort just hit the newsstands (the virtual, online newsstand).
It focuses on The Britannica Blog — a stunning new blog effort from one of the oldest brands in the knowledge business. Until I’m back from vacation (my […]

One benefit of blogging is visibility. In my case, that visibility translated into a client or two, though even clients who find me via my “static” copywriting site mention my copywriting and engagement marketing blogs.
After all, credibility and visibility are critical elements of the sales process. Blogging helps with both.
It’s how Chief Marketer magazine found […]

I remember freelancing prior to the advent of email. You needed something? You called your client. You drove to a meeting. Or sent a fax.

Now we’ve got email. It’s fast. It’s easy. It’s better.
But over the last six months, several of my client emails simply disappeared. Gone without a trace.
Spam filters? My ISP? Mail server? […]

The freelance copywriting market is in a odd state. Fees to copywriters at the low end have never been less tenable, yet demand for copywriters is at an alltime high.
This snippet from the end of Anne Holland’s Chief Marketer article suggests what awaits copywriters who can prove their value, especially in revenue-generating fields (direct response […]

Is the Home Page dead? Are copywriters wasting their time writing them?
That’s the question posed by Matt Ambrose of the Copywriter’s Crucible (to be fair, plenty of others are asking the same thing).
The idea that every page is now potentially a landing page is generating some heavy, Russian-novel-level brooding in the marketing world, and certainly […]

The GetOutdoors blog (a Top 10 blog in the outdoor niche) is looking for a couple bloggers.
The faint of heart need not apply.

They’re looking for good writers with a little attitude, and they’re even willing to pay for it. I’m too busy making millions off my own outdoor blog to single-handedly turn them into a […]