How do I become a CopyWriter?Please, any Copywriters out there?

Depends where you are. For instance if you were in London I would recommend that you get an issue of the advertising industry trade magazines and then get yourself off to an appointment with the head hunters listed there.

Campaign
Marketing Week

Sophia2

Ad schools

Here are a few schools that are known in the ad industry, in no particular order:

New York: School of Visual Arts
Georgia: Portfolio Center
Florida: Miami Ad School
Texas: U of T at Austin
California: Art Center College of Design

Hope this helps.

-Diane
www.dianestilwell.com

Have you been to the Freelance Forum? THere's info there.

Dichucks has a great list. I'd add The Creative Circus (Atlanta) and School of Visual Concepts (Seattle). Both are portfolio schools, like Portfolio Center and the Miami Ad School.

Look at Communication Arts magazine, Archive, Adweek, also.

Advertising concepts/campaigns are a different animal than technical writing, journalism, or even fiction. You really need a portfolio of ad stuff, if you want to get ad work. Also, by portfolio, I mean layouts. Do you know anyone in the biz--designers or art directors that could help you?

( I was the CD of an ad agency for 15 years. )

MisterEThoughts,
getting a job at an agency would help a lot. it's hard to freelance for ad agencies if you don't have experience. overall, it's very competitive. but if you show that you're creative and can offer fresh ideas you might have a chance. you just need to understand how the ad world works. do some info interviews of copywriters before attempting to get work.

That's a good start. The problem is that marketing degrees train you to be an account exec, not a creative. If a portfolio isn't required for you to graduate, you're not in a creative program, you're in an account management program.

Start at the beginning.....

Join your local writers/marketing/public relations society group. Most cities have them. If not start your own at your local bookstore/coffee shop. Start networking, go to the lunches, get involved on a committee..meet some people doing the job you want. Ask questions. Don't be a pest though, see if you can help them in any way.

Start small. Volunteer for a nonprofit. Get involved in a local arts group/animal rights/Habitat etc. They will love you. Write anything you can....newsletters, sales letters, profiles, press releases. Keep copies. Use that to build your porfolio. Guess what. Folks who work in marketing and pr hire freelance copywriters all the time and many of them started in nonprofits.

Introduce yourself to freelance or small graphics firms. Some of my work comes from designers who get projects that need writers. Natural fit as I need designers!

Pick a field you want to work in..say healthcare. Send an intro letter to all the pr/marketing folks in your city. Hit the hospitals and dieticians. Contact the big doctors groups. The MRI centers; etc etc.

Say yes to everything you get offered and figure out how to do it...once you've networked and met the people I suggested above, you can always call one of them and say, hey, I got this project and have never done it before...how did you do it. I did that years ago with success both as a newbie and later as a pro helping others.. The pros often don't mind helping!

Good luck, I've been at this fulltime freelancing both as a copywriter, pr,and feature writer for 20 years. People I met in professional organizations 20 years ago still hire me for projects. It's a great field and our skills can cross into virtually any area in which you choose to work!

Hit your library and grab some books by Ogilvy. He's pretty much the founder of what we consider copywriting to be today.

Bob Bly is also excellent, he's got a website (bly.com) and his writers section offers a fair amount of free content and advice. If you can find a copy of his Make $100,000 a Year Writing Copy book, even if it's used, buy it. Peter Bowerman also writes on this topic, although I must admit he focuses a bit much on cold-calling as a marketing technique. He's also easily found online and you can purchase most of his books electronically.

Hang out on boards like http://www.copywritersboard.com/

Media Bistro has a couple of copywriting courses listed.

Talk to local ad agencies and ask what they require and recommend their jr. copywriters to have. Some only look for real-world experience, which you can get by volunteering for a non-profit or social entrepreneur.

Contrary to popular opinion, you don't need a degree in marketing to work as a copywriter. I've done it for over a decade now without one. It definitely takes skill and a huge learning curve, and it's not meant for everyone.

Start by forgetting anything you've learned in school. Study some real marketers like Gary Halbert. Go buy Eugene Schwart's book - Breakthrough Advertising, and memorize it.

Getting a few cheap jobs at a bid site might help you learn how to deal with clients and how to deliver. Then just start promoting yourself.

Oh yeah...dittoes on www.thecopywritersboard.com

Check out my book "The Writer's Answer Book" here http://www.writersanswerbook.com/

Also, check out Peter's site and books here http://www.wellfedwriter.com

Have Fun,
Jeff

Found this in the newbie forum

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1670618&postcount=1

I'm a ex Chief Creative Officer of a marketing agency, taking a break to write a book on Marketing. I began my career as an apprentice copywriter in Chicago. I went to a liberal arts college, and never took a writing or advertising or marketing class. I put 4 spec promotional ideas in a portfolio, and knocked on doors until I was hired. In your case, you could also add work that you've published. You'll need to decide if you want to be a marketing copywriter or an advertising copywriter, as they are totally different arenas. You will find good books on both topics in most book stores. Good luck!

Are you good at marketing and sales? Are you customer-service focused? What styles of writing do you know? I would definitely think about the business aspect, too. It's NOT just writing!

Have you checked out www.freelanceswitch.com and www.bly.com? They may have some helpful hints!

Try to get an internship at an ad agency. Take a copywriting class online or at a community college. Build a portfolio. See if you can get an "informational interview" with a copywriter at an ad agency (call or email them, ask for 20 minutes of their time, if you can meet in person offer to buy coffee, and just ask them how they got into their job, what they would recommend for someone interested in the field to break in, what you need to know about the profession; do NOT ask for a job). If you have any special areas of expertise (sports, music, medicine, charity work) try to contact agencies that deal with content in that area.

Some resources (books):

How To Start You Own Copywriting Business - Steve Slaunwhite
Words That Sell - Richard Bayan
Influence - Dr. Robert Cialdini

Take a look at your 'junk' mail more closely. See what appeals to you and why. Start to dissect what seems to work and why.

Enjoy the ride.

Get started in a distance learning course like the one here: http://www.inst.org/copy/become.htm among others, there are a lot of good sites all over the internet! Or you can check out some books at the library. I agree with most everyone here, apprenticing at a good company is the most effective way to get your feet into the business! Good luck on your venture, wishing the best for you!

Real Life Copywriting

I would like to shed a little light on freelance copywriting. I have been doing freelance copywriting for a couple of years as a side activity. I am not a creative by training, my degree is EE and I have been a freelance software developer for 15+ years.

Here's what I do: http://www.donwallacewriting.com

First of all, and this comes indirectly from Peter Bowerman in a private consultation with me a few months ago, don't even WORRY or BOTHER about ad agencies. They won't even be interested in anyone who doesn't come from the "correct" creative background. And forget courses and lengthy "apprenticeships".

The reason I don't like the idea of courses and I don't like the idea of working through ad agencies is because both ideas assume that you are not ready to deliver a billable product to customers, who are ultimately the companies who need copy written for their marketing and internal needs. In other words, saying "you need a course" is implying "you have nothing to sell currently". I would bet that you probably DO have skills that you can sell right now via written deliverables, and then, it becomes a marketing challenge, not a readiness issue.

If you are a decent writer, *and* you are willing to learn your client's marketing and sales objectives, you can write well enough already to satisfy many customers' needs. I will explain below.

The reason Bowerman and a few others emphasize cold calling is that you basically have few ways to get your foot in the door. Either have someone else vet you or work "through" someone - an agency - or, bat for yourself and make your own contacts with businesses that need copy written.

My experience in IT is that headhunters and brokers "own" the job market there, so if you have an unconventional or varied background, it's a liability. Similarly, I would expect that an ad agency wants to see a pedigree and exacting experience. And depending on middlemen to put food on your table REALLY stinks. That is a matter of basic survival principle.

Here is what I have found really works well:

Try, as much as possible, to be a niche specialist in a particular type of business. Which business? Figure it out, that's your homework. For instance, the role of copywriting guru for North American podiatrists and food specialists is wide-open currently (probably.) But select a type of business that you either really know well, or which you can learn.

REALLY knowing one line of business - my specialty is small software vendors- helps you do two things: 1) sell yourself to your prospects (they LIKE knowing that I am also a programmer and I "get" what they are doing out of the gate) and 2) that knowledge helps you to produce copy that will really please your clients. Also, being specialized is an integral part of self branding. It's much easier for clients to justify spending money on a specialist than on someone who has done pro bono copy for a dozen different unrelated lines of business.

I think networking could work, but, it's not really my style. I think when you drill down to the level of specializing in a line of business, you will find that you pretty much have to drum up interest yourself and you're not going to be able to trade leads that productively with other writers because you're in different niches. But it's really not that hard to do so. All of the business I have garnered has been "passively" found by lurking message boards. It's actually surprised me how "easy" a sell copywriting is when you establish your value with clients, and how *hard* many other types of freelance work are to find customers. (Example, I have basically given up on marketing myself as a programmer - the bloodsucking pimps AKA recruiters own IT.)

Lastly, in copywriting some humility is called for. You'll probably never get a byline. You write to serve your customer's needs, about some subject which you may not care about personally, and not to make yourself feel fulfilled. Some people think those things are just "terrible." The rates and fees that you can charge in copywriting makes up completely for those factors. I'd rather be an unknown billing good rates "ghost writing" my client's marketing materials than feeling like a bug splattering on a windshield chasing the creative opportunities that everyone else covets. But that's me.

I *need* to cold call sometime, but that's probably when my present (programming) contract is done.

Here is a mailing list that was created just for freelance commercial copywriters: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wellfed_writers/

Thank you for a refreshingly frank and pragmatic response to this central concern. You clearly know what you're doing and how to do it. Thanks for such valuable input.

donw9876 said:

I would like to shed a little light on freelance copywriting. I have been doing freelance copywriting for a couple of years as a side activity. I am not a creative by training, my degree is EE and I have been a freelance software developer for 15+ years.

Here's what I do: http://www.donwallacewriting.com

First of all, and this comes indirectly from Peter Bowerman in a private consultation with me a few months ago, don't even WORRY or BOTHER about ad agencies. They won't even be interested in anyone who doesn't come from the "correct" creative background. And forget courses and lengthy "apprenticeships".

The reason I don't like the idea of courses and I don't like the idea of working through ad agencies is because both ideas assume that you are not ready to deliver a billable product to customers, who are ultimately the companies who need copy written for their marketing and internal needs. In other words, saying "you need a course" is implying "you have nothing to sell currently". I would bet that you probably DO have skills that you can sell right now via written deliverables, and then, it becomes a marketing challenge, not a readiness issue.

If you are a decent writer, *and* you are willing to learn your client's marketing and sales objectives, you can write well enough already to satisfy many customers' needs. I will explain below.

The reason Bowerman and a few others emphasize cold calling is that you basically have few ways to get your foot in the door. Either have someone else vet you or work "through" someone - an agency - or, bat for yourself and make your own contacts with businesses that need copy written.

My experience in IT is that headhunters and brokers "own" the job market there, so if you have an unconventional or varied background, it's a liability. Similarly, I would expect that an ad agency wants to see a pedigree and exacting experience. And depending on middlemen to put food on your table REALLY stinks. That is a matter of basic survival principle.

Here is what I have found really works well:

Try, as much as possible, to be a niche specialist in a particular type of business. Which business? Figure it out, that's your homework. For instance, the role of copywriting guru for North American podiatrists and food specialists is wide-open currently (probably.) But select a type of business that you either really know well, or which you can learn.

REALLY knowing one line of business - my specialty is small software vendors- helps you do two things: 1) sell yourself to your prospects (they LIKE knowing that I am also a programmer and I "get" what they are doing out of the gate) and 2) that knowledge helps you to produce copy that will really please your clients. Also, being specialized is an integral part of self branding. It's much easier for clients to justify spending money on a specialist than on someone who has done pro bono copy for a dozen different unrelated lines of business.

I think networking could work, but, it's not really my style. I think when you drill down to the level of specializing in a line of business, you will find that you pretty much have to drum up interest yourself and you're not going to be able to trade leads that productively with other writers because you're in different niches. But it's really not that hard to do so. All of the business I have garnered has been "passively" found by lurking message boards. It's actually surprised me how "easy" a sell copywriting is when you establish your value with clients, and how *hard* many other types of freelance work are to find customers. (Example, I have basically given up on marketing myself as a programmer - the bloodsucking pimps AKA recruiters own IT.)

Lastly, in copywriting some humility is called for. You'll probably never get a byline. You write to serve your customer's needs, about some subject which you may not care about personally, and not to make yourself feel fulfilled. Some people think those things are just "terrible." The rates and fees that you can charge in copywriting makes up completely for those factors. I'd rather be an unknown billing good rates "ghost writing" my client's marketing materials than feeling like a bug splattering on a windshield chasing the creative opportunities that everyone else covets. But that's me.

I *need* to cold call sometime, but that's probably when my present (programming) contract is done.

Here is a mailing list that was created just for freelance commercial copywriters: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wellfed_writers/

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