The Copywriter Underground

Vacations are good. Vacations are our friends.

My just-concluded ten-day fly fishing vacation to Tennessee included a four-day backpacking trip into the Great Smoky Mountain National Park backcountry.

It’s gorgeous territory and vibrantly green this time of the year.

It’s also pretty unstable on the weather front, so when it started raining hard one morning — blowing out the river and making fishing impossible — I suddenly had two choices.

I could sit in the rain and try to groove on the concept of the water cycle. Instead, I hid out in my coffin-sized backpacking tent.

And wrote.

Eleven hours in a coffin-sized tent leaves plenty of time for words

It’s something I haven’t done for a while. Just scribble stuff. No product to sell. No blog to populate. No pitch to make. Just words.

I’d love to report finishing the first two chapters of next year’s best seller, but it was just thinking. Lots of words. Lots of ideas.

When is the last time you sat and thought about anything for hours on end?

Some would say the rain that day was annoying. At the time, I’d have agreed. Now I’d say the opposite.

Vacation in your plans? A rainy day?

If not, why not?

Keep writing, Tom Chandler.

[tags]writing, vacation, freelancing[/tags]

Writing’s a relatively simple gig.

Pen and paper will get you going, and a purist could make a cogent case for keeping the exercise exactly that simple.

Naturally, that’s not what happens when you add commerce to the mix — and humanity’s unquenchable desire to complicate life.

I’ve been copywriting long enough that I wrote my first bits on a typewriter, but it wasn’t long before I was using a computer and that most amazing of inventions: the fax.

Today, writers have choices far beyond “manual or electric?”

I love the flexibility. But admit to sometimes wondering if we’ve truly liberated ourselves, or simply created a set of flashier, more-acceptable restraints to creativity.

To that end, I’m always interested in other writers: how they work, what they do to make it work, and any weirdnesses they bring to the table (I once stumbled across a pair of writers arguing about the color of ink they use).

In that vein, I’m offering up the Seven (perhaps little-known) Writing Tools I Can’t Live Without. You might find a gem in here. Feel free to offer something better.

Copywriter

This little-known free text editor (Windows) opens immediately, consumes little memory, and actually displays the current line’s character count. Simple and absolutely free of useless clutter, it’s simply the best tool for writing character-limited work (like Google Ads). Using cut and paste, it’s also a great way to remove embedded formatting from text written in a word processor.

Then there are the days I simply can’t face another toolbar, and this is what I fire up, eventually pasting the finished copy into my copy form (running on a graphically correct word processor).

A Sketchpad

I compose copy on a computer, but when I’m noodling ideas in my head (messaging, ad concepts, etc), nothing mirrors my thinking faster than a sketch pad and a pencils.

It took me years to get past the fact my thumbnail concepts and doodles were atrociously drawn (and I read “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” to help). But there’s something inherently creative about drawing on paper – perhaps the way the act itself links one thought to another, creating a chain of ideas.

Does anyone else still do this?

Sugarless Chewing Gum

I’m a grinder. My teeth, that is. In fact, after a couple hours of really being in the groove, my jaws hurt. Gum helps.

OpenOffice Writer

Sure, MS Word is the Windows (and writer’s) standard, but after Office 2000, I grew tired of the feature bloat and expensive, pointless upgrades. So I downloaded OpenOffice, fired it up, and never looked back. An office suite that largely mimics the functionality of MS Office, it exchanges files with MS Office (pretty seamlessly) and runs nice and fast.

You can extend OpenOffice with plug-ins (I just added one that allows me to blog directly from OpenOffice Writer). Plus it’s available in Windows, Mac, and Linux versions, so if I eventually decide Vista’s not for me, I have choices.

There’s even a blog dedicated to OpenOffice Writer. So let’s summarize: compatible with MS Office but faster, more extensible, and… free (I donated to the cause). Is it better? I can’t say, but I do know it satisfies the populist streak in me far better than Monolithic Software’s Word.

Walking the Dog/Fly Fishing/Backpacking

Had all your best ideas at the keyboard? You need to get out more. There is a world of conflict, beauty and intrigue out there (three elements of a good story – itself an element of good copywriting), and if you let all that just-outside-your-window inspiration die, your writing will be the poorer for it.

I recently wrote a company tagline while walking Wally the Wonderdog. While fly fishing, I got clear about the clients I did (and didn’t) want to work with. Clarity like that isn’t found in conference rooms.

Blog Editor

Because I write more than one blog, I’ve found a desktop blog editor an invaluable tool. Right now, Windows LiveWriter is my choice, but that’s only by default; I can’t get the much-faster BlogDesk software to work and I’m still testing my way through the alternatives.

I tried to love Performancing FF (now FireScribe—a fast, handy Firefox extension that I use for short posts) but couldn’t. LiveWriter is easy to use and relatively powerful, but exhibits Microsoft’s typical interface clunkiness and sluggish response. My “ultimate” blog editor has yet to be built.

Image Editing with PhotoFiltre

I’m a former photojournalist, so I shoot a lot of images for my fly fishing blog. And while I use a high-end photo editor, it’s overkill for simple photos destined for online use. A great solution is PhotoFiltre; a freeware image editor that opens fast, operates faster, and does what most of us need done. There’s also a more-powerful, 25 euro version that I’ll try shortly.

I often scan concept thumbnails to show clients (along with reference materials, other ads, etc), and PhotoFiltre allows me to quickly make them presentable. It’s an online world, but there is plenty of offline material that can help you succeed. PhotoFiltre helps you – quickly and cheaply.

Also-Rans

Google Notebook makes recording online resources a click-and-save affair. But I could live without it. (Ask me again in a year.)

My 13 year-old IBM keyboard is absolutely the perfect keyboard, and it doesn’t belong in the “also-ran” category. It’s indispensable. I’m just preparing myself for the inevitable.

Then there’s FireFox 2.0, which – and it’s about time – actually checks your spelling for you. (Ranks right up there with the fax.)

What are the tools you couldn’t write without?

[tags]writing, copywriting, writer, copywriter[/tags]

The last couple weeks have flown by. Copy’s been flowing like the Amazon at flood stage. Juggling work, proposals, blogs and a personal life meant a few late nights at the keyboard

Now even my friends say I look like hell.

From all this, one thing is clear; all-nighters aren’t the fun they used to be.

Lots of Vowels. Lots of Consonants.

As a writer, the temptation is to write. A lot.

In addition to my paid projects, there are blog posts, story ideas and essays pinging around, and the inevitable book project squatting somewhere in the “tomorrow” part of my brain.

The temptation is to write all those after the paid writing’s been done, but eventually, entropy wins out and I have to take a break.

Otherwise my head grows thick; solid bone given to glacial thought (if at all), and my copy turns muddy and lifeless.

Which means it’s time to take a break.

I’ll see everyone bright and early Monday morning. Enjoy your restful, boring, relaxing, non-working weekend. I will.

[tags]writing, copywriting[/tags]

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]

From Designers who Blog comes the story of a now-anonymous article repeatedly copied and reposted on Craigslist – one aimed squarely at those who expect creatives work for free.

Though focused primarily on illustrators, it should be a mandatory read for any artist selling their work at rates that won’t buy a fast food dinner (and yes, I think $5 for a 400 word “article” qualifies).

Here’s a small taste:

In this country, there are almost twice as many neurosurgeons as there are professional illustrators. There are eleven times as many certified mechanics. There are SEVENTY times as many people in the IT field.

So, given that they are less rare, and therefore less in demand, would it make sense to ask your mechanic to work on your car for free? Would you look him in the eye, with a straight face, and tell him that his compensation would be the ability to have his work shown to others as you drive down the street?

Would you offer a neurosurgeon the “opportunity” to add your name to his resume as payment for removing that pesky tumor? (Maybe you could offer him “a few bucks” for “materials”. What a deal!)

You’ll want to read the whole thing at Designers who Blog. And then start building a creative practice that offer the potential for a sustained, reasonable living.

I’m working on a few posts to help that process along.

Remember: writing may be a calling, but freelancing’s a business. And no business survives overlong when those running it can’t eat, heat, or pay the bills.

[tags]illustrator, freelance, writer, writing, copywriting, [/tags]

Recently discovered via Carson’s new-paint-and-drapes Content Done Better blog is the provocatively named “Screw You!” – a freelance writer’s blog that’s destined to become a fixture on my RSS feed.

 She dug up a John Irving quote, good for a solid whack upside the head:

If you don’t feel that you are possibly on the edge of humiliating yourself, of losing control of the whole thing, then probably what you are doing isn’t very vital. If you don’t feel like you are writing somewhat over your head, why do it? If you don’t have some doubt of your authority to tell this story, then you are not trying to tell enough. ~ John Irving

You can read the whole post at Freelance Quote of the Day—John Irving, but that, my friends, is a great quote.

A quote worth repeating. A blogger’s credo, especially for those of us who might avoid unclear, ambiguous blog topics in favor of the easy, safe stuff (I’m talking about you, Chandler).

Kathy Kehrli clearly isn’t haunted by the same thoughts, which makes her blog a hilarious, cutting read.

p.s. – For lighter subject matter, don’t miss Screw You’s “Strip Tease Word Count” post. Excellent.

[tags]writing, writer, freelance, freelancer, john irving, screw you[/tags]

The Deep Jive Interests blog references an interesting study – one that exposes a certain amount of hypocrisy in the Public Relations industry (yes, we’re shocked too). According to Deep Jive:

Yes, you can file this under “talking a good game”, because the results show that while most PR executives believe in the blogging as an effective tool to share information quickly and broadly (UK 70%, US 80%), and have a role in influencing public opinion and decision making (UK 60, US 70%), the majority do not have a blogging policy (UK 82%, US 88%), and only around a third blog for their own company or clients (UK36%, US 37%).

What’s the problem? And are there opportunities for writers in this?

First, the problems. The original “Bulldog Reporter” article cites “fear” as the #1 reason why the PR industry is lagging in digital marketing, and there’s a ring of truth to that.

Blogs are an unknown, and PR firms are hugely risk averse. Fear is a critical factor. But I wonder if it’s the only one.

Content’s Not Free

From a business standpoint, blogs require content, and I’m not sure how blog content fits into your average PR agency’s pricing structure.

Agencies charge dearly for even simple projects like press releases. If the client can’t commit to content creation – or simply lacks the writing skills – how do four ghostwritten posts per week fit into a bloated agency pricing structure?

Leadership. What’s That Cost?

Pushing that scenario a little further, how does a PR agency find and retain writers capable of ghostwriting a blog into a “thought leadership” position?

It requires knowledge of an industry (and a passion for it) that isn’t easy to find. Nor does it typically come cheap.

Will PR agencies find a way through the thicket? As blogging matures into a critical media channel, they’ll have to – or let a competing vendor wedge themselves into that crack.

PR agencies don’t like cracks.

Is this the perfect opportunity for editorial writers to pump up revenues without wholly enslaving themselves to uninteresting business writing projects?

It’s a reasonable thought.

Writers of any kind could prosper in what looks to be an emerging market. But it seems like a great opportunity for editorial writers.

Blogs place an emphasis on education, entertainment and research – the sweet spot of editorial writing.

PR firms can’t ignore blogging much longer. A firm that serves healthcare clients will need to write healthcare blogs. That’s a great opportunity for healthcare specialist.

A writer looking to cash in on steady commercial work should already have a blogging pitch packet assembled. A little research would pinpoint PR firms working in your fields of specialty.

Contact them. Send them your packet. Pitch them.

They may not need you right away. But in the weeks and months to come, they will.

[tags]blog, blogging, pr, public relations, writer, copywriter, business writing, engagement, engagement marketing[/tags]

Newsweek columnist Anna Quindlen pens a review of the movie “Freedom Writers,” but also touches upon the value and role of writing in today’s society.

Jan. 22, 2007 issue – The new movie “Freedom Writers” isn’t entirely about the themes the trailers suggest. It isn’t only about gang warfare and racial tensions and tolerance. It isn’t only about the difference one good teacher can make in the life of one messed-up kid. “Freedom Writers” is about the power of writing in the lives of ordinary people.

For a time, the written word’s ability to shape our society was diminished, seemingly supplanted by televisions and telephones (presumably). Now – between e-mail, blogs, message boards and other interactive online technology – is writing gaining ground?

Quindlen thinks so.

How is it, at a time when clarity and strength go begging, that we have moved so far from everyday prose? Social critics might trace this back to the demise of letter writing. The details of housekeeping and child rearing, the rigors of war and work, advice to friends and family: none was slated for publication. They were communications that gave shape to life by describing it for others.

The age of technology has both revived the use of writing and provided ever more reasons for its spiritual solace. E-mails are letters, after all, more lasting than phone calls, even if many of them r 2 cursory 4 u. And the physical isolation they and other arms-length cyber-advances create makes talking to yourself more important than ever. That’s also what writing is: not just a legacy, but therapy.

It’s an interesting (and heartwarming) thought. Certainly, few ignore the fact that the blogs in our corner of the blogging universe are marketing tools, though that hardly explains the range of topics covered or the depth of expression.

A majority of my 20+ years of a copywriter have been spent outside the auspices of advertising agencies, and while I’m clearly suited to working alone, the ability to trot out my latest thinking for peer consumption (and comment) is clearly an attraction.

Copywriter Therapy? I don’t know. But it begs the question: what is blogging’s place in the writing world?

More permanent than a cell phone, but certainly less intimate than handwritten letter, it’s an odd mix, and Quindlen unfortunately ignores some of the new realities facing writers.

For example, you don’t get to comment in a book in realtime, yet online writers enjoy exactly that kind of feedback. Is blogging (electronic publishing on the Internet might be better) the future of the written word?

And is the act of “writing for your life” enhanced by the interactivity and public nature of blogging, or is it deadened?

If you truly had a choice (without economic considerations), where would you write?

Source: Quindlen: Write for Your Life – Newsweek Anna Quindlen – MSNBC.com

[tags]writing, writer, copywriter, anna quindlen, newsweek, freedom writers, blog[/tags]

I just finished reading an intriguing blog post about article marketing using affiliate links. While I see the logic, it’s a wholly foreign concept to someone who’s written ads, direct mail and Web sites for better than two decades.

Have It Your Way.

If you’ve read the Copywriter Underground for long, you’ll realize I’m hot on the concept of the Value Added Copywriter – the uber-writer who is as much marketing genius as word jockey.

My method of revenue generation is the polar opposite of article marketing.

Yet, at the intersection of these methods lies a common benefit – both are excellent ways for writers to rise above the trap of low-paying work.

And therein lies the beauty of the online community.

Perspective Is Valuable. And Free.

Every time I sort through my writer-related RSS feeds, I’m confronted by the reality that there are a lot of ways to make money as a writer.

It’s a hugely useful break from the business-related tunnel vision that afflicts almost all of us.

Those freelancers with longevity realize that the freelance writing life is as much a journey as a destination. Opening your mind to new ways of accomplishing your personal and business goals is how you make the journey interesting.

Am I going to abandon my current business model in favor of article marketing? Not on your life.

Did I find the seed of an idea in this deceptively simple, well-thought-out method (the page for which has been removed, so no link)  – one that will help push me towards my personal and business writing goals?

Absolutely. It’s likely you could too.

Look Hard. Think Harder.

Take a hard look at your writing business (yes, you’re a businessperson, not simply a writer). Can you honestly say you’re writing dream projects for your dream clients?

If you’re honest, the answer to both questions is no. (The answer for almost everyone is “no.”)

But poke around on Deborah Ng’s site, or Diana Huff’s MarCom Writer blog, or Carson’s Content Done Better blog, or Michael Stelzner’s Writing White Papers blog, or Ann Wayman’s Golden Pencil site, or any of the other useful writer’s blogs, and you’d have to be blind not to hatch an idea or two of your own.

Each blog offers a valuable perspective, but the real value lies in the cross-pollination between them.

I’m tired of “resolutions” posts, but miraculously, that won’t stop me from making two suggestions for the new year.

Focus on writing tighter. And always search out new ideas, new methods and new perspectives.

Turn those perspectives into new horizons for your writing business (or your personal writing).

And make the journey more interesting.

[tags]writing, copywriting, writer, copywriter, freelance, freelance writer, freelance copywriter[/tags]

I spend hours every day in front of a 19″ flatscreen monitor. I play with new text editors and word processors like they’re toys.

And I know I couldn’t make a living from the base of a 14,162′ inactive volcano if it wasn’t for the Internet.

Yet I can’t quite escape the idea that pens and notebooks lie at the heart of what we do.

That’s why the daily visits to the moleskinerie blog.

There, I find inspiration like the notebook pages above (this is only a sample).

At the notebookism blog (same people, different posts), I see sketches like those below – things I couldn’t hope to reproduce, and appreciate all the more for it.

They inspire me to pick up on of the notebooks scattered around my office. And to write something aimed a little higher than my checking account.

If you don’t occasionally attempt to ascend the mountain, then you’re forever stuck in the caves below.

Don’t get stuck. Visit notebookism and moleskinerie for a dose of inspiration.

UPDATE: To see larger scans of the brightly colored sketches at the top of this post, visit the artist’s Flickr site. It’s worth the time.
[tags]writing, notebook, moleskine, moleskinerie, notebookism, sketching[/tags]