We hear from potential writers on a fairly regular basis. Most are looking for a virtual home or at least a bit of work on the side. We all have friends who are writers, too. If you’re thinking about a copywriting career, here are a few things you may want to consider.
Stories and Poetry Are A Long Way From Commercial Text
There are millions of people who enjoy penning a good short story. There are thousands of unpublished novels waiting to happen. Some people get up and start every day by composing a beautiful poem. All of these things make writing a hobby, not a profession. Most professional writers (those who don’t have contracts with big name publishing companies, and some that do) spend their days carefully crafting text to a client’s exact specifications. The difference between a story about a boy and his dog and a landing page for a new umbrella that can achieve high conversion rates is massive. If you’re not willing to take on a textual challenge, commercial writing probably isn’t the right avenue for you.
Making Money Isn’t Easy
Writing is hard work. What’s more, though, is that the world of commercial copywriting is one of the single most competitive industries. There are thousands of copywriters in the US alone. Add in the competition from overseas countries and literal text factories in countries like India, and you have a contest that is often hard to win. Running a text company, even if it’s just you, is as difficult as running any other small business. There’s marketing to be done, overhead to pay, and there is always something else to write. The danger of running out of time, energy, and money is a real one every single day.
Writing is Subjective
When you order a sweater online, you know exactly what you’re going to get. When someone orders a text, there are a million different ways you could go with it. For example, perhaps someone wants a blog post on “Wedding Gown Styles.” There are hundreds of different styles, not to mention custom choices out there. You select what you think might be best, but your client might not think that’s what you should have covered.
In addition to the fact that you may have a clash about the information to cover, you can also clash about writing styles. If you’re particularly casual and your client is looking for something a little more formal, you may have a stylistic difference you just can’t escape.
For some, writing is always a pleasure, and the challenges that accompany the world of professional copywriting are exciting. For others, though, it’s a nightmarish world full of deadlines and sentence construction that sounds more interesting than it actually is.