The Copywriter Underground

A New York Times Book Review essay latches onto Bailoutmania with a humor piece focused on a mythical writer’s bailout, and like most humor, brushes up against a few bruised areas along the way. Still, it’s a humor piece, so we’ll start with writer Paul Greenberg’s lead joke:

A little while back my daughter told me the following depressing joke:

Woman: What do you do?

Man: Me? Oh, I write books.

Woman: How interesting! Have you sold anything recently?

Man: Why, yes. My couch, my car and my flat-screen television.

A snarkier writer-father might have added, “and I sold those things to pay for your private school tuition!” But instead it got me thinking that there was a real problem here. Not just a small problem involving issues of respect between one writer and one teenager, but rather a national problem of respect where being a writer has become so widely associated with being a loser that we have become the stuff of common jokes.

The rest of the wittily written piece similarly amuses, though like most humor, the knife cuts close to home, including in this graph about “overcapacity” in the writing universe – a real (if little talked about) issue, even in copywriting:

Overcapacity has been something generally acknowledged across the writing industry for at least 10 years. In a 2002 essay in The New York Times, the onetime best-selling novelist and story writer Ann Beattie mourned the situation of the modern writer, living in a world where people are more interested in “being a writer” than in writing itself. “There are too many of us, and M.F.A. programs graduate more every year, causing publishers to suffer snow-blindness, which has resulted in everyone getting lost,” she lamented. That Ann Beattie must now compete on Amazon with a self-published author named Ann Rothrock Beattie is proof of how enormous the blizzard has become.

It’s not true that everyone who can type claims writerhood, but a quick survey of the many writer’s forums, sites and blogs suggests significant growth in the writer population, and not always among those capable of adding to the craft.

In many ways, the copywriter’s recession began years ago if downward trends in fees paid for lower-end projects are any indication.

While Greenburg’s essay is generally hilarious – his farm-billish plan to subsidize half the working writers to not write is golden – he taps into a larger populist resentment about the financial and car company bailouts, where greed and failure are simultaneously reviled and rewarded by the same congress.

We’re at the tail end of a period where no corporate subsidy seemed too big or too outrageous – and find ourselves in the midst of a financial meltdown where “too big to fail” leaves individual workers clutching an empty bag and a large debt about to come due. Populist resentment isn’t just to be expected, it’s probably demanded (at least that’s my understanding of democracy).

Still, this is humor, and Greenburg finishes on a properly literate note, wrapping his words around a Graham Greene quote (an Underground fav):

The economy slips deeper and deeper into its trench, and yet the workspace for writers seems to get more crowded by the day as refugees from other professions take cover behind what they hope will be the respectability of the writing life. The other day, as I looked down on the field of cubicles from the “resting area” on the balcony, I felt an urge to read aloud from a Graham Greene story I had disregarded in my 20s: “Are you prepared for the years of effort, ‘the long defeat of doing nothing well’? As the years pass writing will not become any easier, the daily effort will grow harder to endure, those ‘powers of observation’ will become enfeebled; you will be judged, when you reach your 40s, by performance and not by promise.” Harsh stuff. But don’t take Greene’s word for it, or mine. I’m a writer. Maybe I’m just trying to clear a little more room for myself at the workspace.

Keep writing, Tom Chandler.

If you’re one of the few freelance writers that isn’t already a pathological liar when it comes to deadlines, then consider this handy, non-hosted tool: The “Instant Excuse Ball.”

Modeled on the famous “shake-and-answer” Eight Ball, the Excuse Ball contains 20 different excuses, so if you’re writing a “dog ate my Web copy” email to a client – and you’re a poor liar – this is surely a worthwhile investment.

At the Copywriter Underground, we never stop looking for ways to make your life better.

Keep making excuses writing, Tom Chandler.

I’m a learn-it-yourself kind of guy, which means I learn by doing. As a result, it’s often hard for me to teach; instinctive learners like myself don’t always understand the progressions used by other types of learners.

By contrast, Michel Fortin’s always excelled at breaking things down for his readers, and his current post hits home: finding your own Unique Selling Proposition (or “hook”):

Time and time again, I’ve told many aspiring copywriters and marketers that a USP is what distinguishes you from the pack. It increases perceived value, expertise, and credibility — without needing to state it outright.

But since I hear this question often, particularly from copywriters just entering the field, I sense that it’s because people need a little help in defining their USP.

I’m guilty of forcibly confronting my readers with the concept of the value-added copywriter.

The idea is simple: in this age of cheap (or free) content, word jockeys will end up working for pizza money, and only those who bring more to the table than vowels and consonants will truly prosper.

Fortin’s post touches on that, but it’s really about defining yourself in a way that makes prospects want to call because you do something unique.

I’ve received a whole chunk of email lately from new copywriters looking for tips, and my first two are always “get a Web presence and then figure out why anyone should call you in the first place.”

After all, if you can’t explain to me why someone should hire you, how are you going to explain it to your prospects?

Give Michel’s post a read, and think about your “hook.”

Then read my own rant on the subject.

No one expects you to define your copywriting message any more than you were expected to know your career choice at kindergarten age, but damnit, I am expecting you to think about it.

And to keep writing, Tom Chandler.

Technorati Tags: michel fortin,writing,copywriting,usp,value added copywriter,writer,freelance writer,freelance copywriter

Years ago — when I was a little less diligent about the business side of copywriting — I wrote a healthy chunk of catalog copy for a high-tech company. I loved the gig. I loved it so much that I basically ruined the job.

 
What do you do when your workload goes up, but revenues don’t?

I wasn’t careful about “Project Creep” — that deadly malady where you do more work, yet don’t get paid for it.

At first, the client leaned on me for product research. Then I was asked to submit the copy in a specific database format. Not hard, but it was time consuming.

They were a great client, and I was happy to accommodate them. Yet, three catalog cycles down the road, I noticed my time on the project was up 30% (yes, I used to track my time).

The added workload started to grate a little.

For two more months I waffled. Then the client resolved the issue for me — a larger company bought them and brought the catalog in-house.

Whew! Problem solved, right?

Sadly, you can’t rely on your clients to get acquired when you really need them to.

It might have been better if I had simply faced up to the problem.

What To Do?

Don’t let these things fester. Something as simple as “I enjoy the product research and I’m glad I can streamline your process with the database, but both consume a fair amount of time. Is there any way I can help that’s not as time consuming, or should I just add $XXX to each invoice?”

(Hint: Don’t ever complain; state the problem and offer alternatives that work for you. Remember — you don’t create problems for your client, you solve them.)

The Renegade Writer Gets It

I was getting ready to post this article when I saw the following challenge from the Renegade Writer blog. It made me smile:

Go ahead, I dare you: This week, ask at least one editor for a raise.

If you’ve been working with a magazine for a while, it may be time to ask for more money. I usually say something like, “I’ve written articles for your last six issues, and you and your readers seem to like my work. Can we talk about bumping up my payrate?” In many cases, your editor will go to bat for you with whoever it is that controls the money. The worst that can happen is they say no, but the best that can happen is that you walk away with more money in your pocket!

We’re coming to the end of 2007, and if you’ve been writing a project for more than a few months (or even a few years), maybe it’s time to ask for a raise.

That’s especially true if you’re doing more work. And not getting paid for it.

Keep writing, Tom Chandler.