Here, I will offer tips on writing copy like a FLCW should…Well Fed Writer style.

The ‘APPETIZER’ Series: The original version of this piece first appeared as an Appetizer course in The Well-Fed E-PUB in June 2016, and was one I wanted to run as a blog post (with minor alterations) in order to get input from many voices.

Got this note from a successful commercial writer recently:

Another new client asked if I have any wiggle room on my price for 10 emails (at $100 each). This will probably take me a few hours total, so I dropped it to $750, which will still be plenty profitable. Lesson learned: Start high so you can come down if you have to.


He said he works with another writer who charges $50 an hour (ugh!) but would rather work with me. Lesson #2: Do great work so your clients love you and will gladly pay your higher fees for the quality!

Now, if that isn’t the very picture of the ideal copywriting client we all need to be pursuing, I don’t know what is: one who’ll pay more—and sometimes far more—than they’ll pay another copywriter, just to have it done right and done well.

Someone for whom the predictable superior outcome is the goal. The outcome trumps money (within reason) every time.

Think about that: Good clients can and DO perceive the difference between a great commercial writer and an average one. Sounds obvious, but to some writers trying to get traction, they look around at countless other writers asking for $5-10 per article, and ask, “How in the world can I compete with that?”

Of course, the answer is: You’re not competing with that, and if you try to, you’re either going to lose, or go broke winning.

You don’t compete. You distinguish yourself in some way: by having a niche or specialty, by simply being a better writer, but first and foremost, by looking in different places for work.

Yes, you have to be a decent writer to make money as a commercial freelancer, but I’d wager good money there are plenty of writers out there with modest writing skills—skills little better than those struggling on the online job sites or writing for the content mills—but they’re making a decent living (i.e., making at least $50+ an hour or more).

How? Simply because they stopped hanging out in those low-rent writing ghettos, and stopped bidding on projects with a zillion other writers (a surefire strategy for driving rates down to nothing) and started proactively hunting for writing clients.

Could giving yourself a raise be that easy? Absolutely.

Now, those modest skills are unlikely to propel you into $90-$100-$125/hour+ territory, and far higher than that, like our friend above, but improve them, redirect them into narrower directions, and deliver that predictable superior outcome, and watch what clients will be willing to pay.

Have you experienced the kind of client I describe above—for whom the superior, predictable outcome is something they’ll pay handsomely for?

Have you had clients tell you they prefer working with you, even though you charge more than other writers? If so, what is it they like about you?

Have you spent time in the low-pay writing world, while knowing you were a better writer than most you were competing with?

Have you been able to boost your income just by looking for work in different—and more proactive—ways, and in different places?

Speaking of improving your skills… If you’re interested in giving your commercial-writing skills a serious upgrade, and in the process, give yourself the confidence to take on ANY high-paying commercial writing project, I invite you to check out Well-Fed Craft, my new self-paced course on how to actually write the most common copywriting projects. For full details, go here.

Want to be a guest blogger on TWFW Blog? I welcome your contribution to the Well-Fed writing community! Check out the guidelines here.

Apologies for the long hiatus from the blog. As many of you know, I went on an adventure for the first three months of this year (see the photo albums linked from the Appetizer course in the March issue of The Well-Fed E-PUB), and slowly getting back into the swing of things. Thanks for coming back!

**************************

So, I’m in the home stretch (the good news) of a dental implant procedure (the bad news). Thankfully, I feel like I’m in incredibly good hands with my dentist. She is so competent and knowledgeable, and does such a great job of explaining what she’s doing, making me comfortable during the process, and following up by phone after every step.

It’s a roughly 4+-month process, that began with an extraction of a tooth followed by the insertion of a titanium post screwed into the jawline. Actual powdered bone material is packed into the opening, and over the next four months, it assimilates into the jawbone, and further anchors the post. Finally, a prosthetic tooth attached to another screw, similarly, is screwed into the post.

(NOTE: As grisly and wince-inducing as the above description no doubt sounds, the whole process is basically a lot of sound and water, but no pain—except, of course, when it comes time to pay).

Consider the skill and expertise required to do the job at all, much less the masterful job she does. She is so good at what she does, and this process demands such a high level of expertise, that I’ve shelled out her non-trivial fee unhesitatingly, never considering for a second trying to get it done on the cheap. Just not worth it.

On the continuum of professional services—with those services you might consider “cheaping out” on, or even doing yourself, on one end; and those you’d never consider getting done by anyone but the best practitioner one can find, on the other—her services are obviously ensconced in the latter category.

Then, there are services that companies and individuals routinely put in the former category (i.e., those you might consider doing yourself), but don’t belong there in any way shape or form. And of course, professional copywriting services are one of them.

It’s Easy to Write, Right?
No mystery why this happens. After all, to the untrained eye, what’s so difficult about writing? It’s just stringing words together to form sentences that convey a certain message, right? Any educated, reasonably literate person can do it, yes? What’s so hard about it? Oh my, let us count the ways…

And because of the pervasiveness of this tragically misguided perception about the craft of marketing writing, it has the strange effect of actually convincing many writers of its veracity.

How else to explain why so many exceptionally good copywriters are insecure about their skills (not getting how so few can do what they do well), and lack the confidence to insist upon a professional wage—equivalent to the fees earned by other “professionals”?

Bad Writing Helps No One
Of course, that widely held misconception (i.e., of how “easy” writing is) doesn’t lose much power when so many mediocre writers flock to the field and keep cranking out pretty convincing evidence—for crappy wages—that writing actually is pretty easy.

After all, say the clients who pay those crappy wages, it must be easy, given how little we had to pay for it. I could have done just as good a job, but I don’t have the time. And that makes it tougher for the truly talented commercial writers (a.k.a. marketing writers) to convince many clients to pay those professional wages.

(NOTE: I’m not talking here about simple article-writing skills. If that’s all a client needs, then any number of thousands of writers out there have the basic skills to do an adequate job, and for pretty cheaply. I’m referring here to the more challenging marketing-copywriting skills held by far fewer people.)

They Don’t Know What They Don’t Know
At the heart of that challenge is the fact that those same clients have no idea what really good marketing writing looks like. What they see from the bargain-basement writers becomes their baseline perception, not only of what “good writing” should cost, but more importantly, what “good writing” is.

Hence, it becomes our job to educate them as to the difference it can make. No, if we have access to enough prospects who already understand the value of good marketing writing, and are willing to pay well for it, we don’t need to waste our time educating the unconvinced. But if those “enlightened” clients are in short supply in our prospecting pool, then educating may be in order (or, expanding one’s pool…).

Fact is, solid marketing copywriting takes a LOT of skill and expertise. It’s not easy, and by no stretch of the imagination can just anyone do it (tell you something you don’t know, right?). And if you are one of The Good Ones, I daresay it’s not a stretch to compare the caliber of your skills, in their own way, to those of a good dentist.

**************************

Have you wrestled with that typical writer insecurity that plagues so many of us?

Was there a moment (perhaps, a particular client/job) that had you realize you were delivering far more value to your client than just a “freelance writer” would?

Have you had clients contrast their experience working with you, with one working with a freelancer with little marketing background?

OR, have you had a client been hesitant to hire you, thanks to a past “bad-writer” experience?

Any other comments or observations?

Screen Shot 2017-05-05 at 12.56.37 PM
Speaking of good writing, I’ll be re-launching Well-Fed Craft—my popular program on how to actually write the most common commercial writing projects—on June 26. For all the details, go here.

Want to be a guest blogger on TWFW Blog? I welcome your contribution to the Well-Fed writing community! Check out the guidelines here.

Got this email from a reader in Canada a few weeks back:

Writers in my market are noticing a trend towards clients hiring low-cost writers, mostly journalism students from the local college. Journalism has been pretty much wiped out here so there’s been a huge increase in these writers. We’ve also noticed several big clients are now offering minimum wage for copywriting positions. So there’s pressure.

A few of us “senior” writers have been talking about collaborating on some sort of marketing strategy based on selling a higher-quality writing service. The general idea is not to compete directly against the will-write-for-food crowd, but to become the go-to writers for clients by offering a consistent, professional and accountable service.

I’ve partnered with another writer to offer this service to a client whose reputation may have suffered some by hiring cheap writers. What we’re seeing with these cases are things like websites with glaring typos, businesses with poor Google results, etc. Are the clients noticing this? Maybe. Is it damaging their reputation in the marketplace? Probably.

While this idea of ours looks positive, the question is this: Do you know of anyone else who has tried this strategy, and have you seen what works and what doesn’t?

At first blush, a little disturbing, but I’m not at all sure we’re comparing apples to apples. Here’s my thinking on this…

I haven’t been seeing this trend personally, but I’m sure it’s happening. The key question: What sorts of copywriting projects are these writers being asked to do?

I ask this because a journalism student from a local college will, in no way shape or form, know their way around good, effective marketing copywriting.

And hiring cheap writers will reliably yield the unreliability he mentions. I can certainly see cheaper freelancers being able to write passable-looking “content” like white papers, case studies, blog posts, etc.—given their more “article” nature.

Commercial Writers Do It Better
Needless to say, a copywriting pro would render those content projects far better, while their versions of ads, direct mail, brochures, landing pages, etc., will be infinitely better, more effective, and far more likely to pay for themselves many times over, than anything a cheaper writer might deliver.

It’d be interesting to get into the heads of these writing buyers. Maybe they know they’ll be trading off some quality for the lower wages paid. But they’d only do that if they truly believed that what these bargain-basement scribes deliver is all they really need.

Don’t Know Good Writing (or Writers)
After all, these clients have already proven they don’t understand the value professional writers bring, so they’re just as unlikely to be able to recognize good writing when they see it, and be happier with inferior stuff.

In the long run, I suspect those same clients, if they start seeing that they’re losing out to companies who are investing more money in writers better equipped to deliver effective content—and general marketing copywriting—may end up doing the same themselves.

In answer to his specific question, I wrote:

If you feel you and your compadres ARE stronger marketing copywriters, that’s probably your best pitch. Yes, I’d also play the reliability, accountability and detailed-oriented (i.e., clean, error-free copy) cards, but I wouldn’t lead with those: Even though they’re exceptionally important, they sound a bit thin, compared to the effective marketing-copy angle.

That should have them thinking that they’re potentially losing far more money in sales, than they’re saving by hiring cheaper writers. And heck, why not make that part of your pitch?

Back to School?
Bottom line, If your prospecting hasn’t turned up enough “good” clients (i.e., those who understand the value people like us bring, and are willing to pay well for it)—and they’re certainly out there—you might need to do more educating of those clients who think, “Anyone can write.”

In many cases, clients don’t even realize there are writers like us (i.e., marketing copywriters). They just need a writer, and if they don’t have success with lower-budget ones, they’ll find a “better writer”—i.e., a more experienced journalist-type writer.

Let ‘Em Know Our Kind Exists
So, the marketing we do for our practices not only lets the world know that we—in particular—are out there, but just as importantly, that marketing copywriters like us, very different from the typical “freelance writer”—are out there.

************************

Have you noticed this trend in your market?

In your experience, do clients realize there are marketing copywriters out there, not just journalist-style “freelance writers”?

In your experience, do the prospects and clients you cross paths with know the difference a good marketing copywriter, and know what quality marketing writing looks like?

Ever had a client who just didn’t get what a good writer could offer, and your amazing copy rocked their world, and gave them a new appreciation for folks like us?

************************
How are your marketing-writing chops? Not sure? If you’re ready to BE sure, and truly separate yourself from the writing masses, check out my (rapidly-filling) Well-Fed Group Coaching series focused on “craft” and starting October 18. Full details and testimonials HERE.

************************
Want to be a guest blogger on TWFW Blog? I welcome your contribution to the Well-Fed writing community! Check out the guidelines here.

I got an email from a reader recently, spurred by one of my newsletter pieces (the “Appetizer” course of THIS issue). It’s a subject a bit different from the usual commercial freelancing fare on the blog, but thought it was worth running, given that it’s something any reasonably experienced commercial writer has no doubt encountered—whether a scenario like hers or one like mine.

She wrote:

Several years ago, a writing conference director sent an email inviting all to view the new conference website and let him know what we thought. I followed the link, and immediately saw a word had been left out of the first sentence. A few sentences below, the wrong verb tense had been used.

I emailed and suggested he might want to correct the mistakes. His reply? A glib comment about being in a hurry and no one else would catch the mistakes. Really? I had served on faculty for this conference a number of years so it wasn’t like I was unknown to the director. The next year, I was not asked back to teach at the conference and the director no longer speaks to me.

I had a similar experience with someone who was starting an editing service. He invited comments about his new website. In the first sentence on the site, he used the wrong verb tense. Another error, a wrong/mistaken use of a noun, was in the next paragraph. I emailed him, mentioning the errors.

His response: “Yeah, I asked my wife, and she said it supposed to be that way so I’m going with what she said.” Really? A startup editor is going with grammar errors on his editing site to please the wife? Needless to say, his editing business never got off the ground! He became the owner of a small press instead, which consistently publishes books with grammatical errors. No surprise there. And he ignores me when we happen to be at the same writing conferences.

What I’ve learned: Even when people invite critique, they really don’t want critique. They want validation for what they’ve done, whether correct or not, and view anything else as personal criticism. Folks are interesting!

In response, I shared a story of my own:

Reminds me of a lovely woman for whom I wrote a column many years ago, for her local monthly rag. A few years after I stopped writing for her, but while we still considered each other friends, she asked me to critique a novel she was working on. I said I would be happy to take a look, though quickly realized what a bind I had put myself in.

It wasn’t just bad, it was really, really bad. Incredibly clichéd, poorly written, poor character development, uninteresting, and most of it no better than a seventh grader’s essay. After getting her assurance that she really did want me to be honest, I was. I wasn’t brutal, but I made it clear I thought it needed a lot of work to get it to a viable stage.

She thanked me profusely for being honest, going on and on about how much she appreciated the input and feedback, and…I never heard from her ever again. Remember, we were far better than acquaintances, though perhaps less than good buddies, and we talked pretty regularly. But after that, we never talked again. So I hear you!

Ever been asked for feedback from a writer or friend?

How did you handle it?

If the writing wasn’t very good, and you were honest, how did they receive your feedback?

Any suggestions for dealing with situations like this?

Want to be a guest blogger on TWFW Blog? I welcome your contribution to the Well-Fed writing community! Check out the guidelines here.

Okay, a lighter subject, given that it’s still summer—for a few more weeks anyway—and I’m not feeling so serious today… 🙂

And that’s probably because I just back from vacation not long ago. Escaped to the blessed cool of New England for a few weeks—a nice respite from Atlanta’s “95’s” dog days (i.e., both the average high temps and humidity—yuck).

Anyway, one day, I found myself one day wandering around Vermont’s cool and compact capitol of Montpelier, and for an afternoon pick-me-up, wandered into this funky coffee shop called Capitol Grounds.

I looked up at their chalked menu board of energy-lifting libations, read it, read it again, and smiled big. While obviously, their store name played on their location in the shadow of the capitol building, the wordplay didn’t stop there.

Check out this picture of their menu board, and note the names up top, of their four different sizes of coffees.

WordplayCoffeImage

I LOVE it. And if you’re a true word person, I’m guessing it’ll tickle you, too. When was the last time you saw a quadruple double-entrendre?

I’m sure you’ve got some of your own. Pictures are cool, but not necessary if you don’t have them. So, share your examples of the fruits of clever wordsmiths far and wide. Yes, a lighter post, but stuff like this gets our creative wells primed and pumping. It’s all about ideas.

Seen some cool wordplay like this, or on billboards or signage?

Seen a smart, snappy piece of commercial writing—ad, direct mail piece, web site, etc.?

*************************

Are Your Skills As Good As They Can Be?
Speaking of clever writing, and improving writing skills in general… Solid writing skills—far more than marketing ability—is the strongest predictor of long-term success as a commercial freelancer. With that in mind, the next Well-Fed Group Coaching series (my first in 18 months!) kicks off on September 15.

It’s new and improved, with a shorter format (just 9 days from start to finish), and a new focus on developing stronger commercial-writing chops. Just 4 of 15 available slots remain. If you’re looking to build enduring success into your practice, you want to check this out. Details, testimonials, and registration instructions here.

Want to be a guest blogger on TWFW Blog? I welcome your contribution to the Well-Fed writing community! Check out the guidelines here.

***********************************

Here’s the image that went with Cathy Miller’s comment below. I can’t figure out how to insert an image into a comment, so I’m just going to add it to the end of my post here…

WordplayCMillerimage