If you just wander around these forums and look at signatures, then you'll see a lot of people are selling content.
It depends what type of copywriting you mean. The strictest sense of a copywriter is one that writes copy for marketing and publicity. For example, sales letters, ads and promotional articles. A beginner copywriter out of college can get a j.o.b. that pays about 30k per year. Those with at least 2-3 years of professional experience get bumped up to 40k per year and so on. A professional freelancer can make into the six figures annually. The best measure is hourly pay. $50-$100 per hour is the range of the good professional copywriter. A freelancer's range will vary with skill, marketing ability and luck. Most upper level freelancers work less than 8 hours a day (4-5).
What pisses me off is when a client approaches you asking for 'content' when it suddenly becomes apparent from their brief that they are actually asking for 'copy'. Copy is a different creature entirely, requiring the careful crafting of words to appeal to the mind (and the wallet) of the reader, along with many hours of massaging until it's perfect. Content, on the other hand, really doesn't need to be all that fantastic. It can usually be written in short order with only a quick edit to make sure it flows well. That's not to say it doesn't require skill to write good content, of course, but it just isn't the same as copy. This sort of thing wouldn't be a problem, but the average cost per page of Internet copy for a business site runs to $300 (seems a little high, but them's the stats according to Writer's Market), while the average cost of a reasonable content article is closer to a ten spot. This can lead to an awkward situation when you have to go back and tell them that $10 job will actually cost a hundred or so.
I don't agree at all. Content is not trash. You need to step away from the lower end market for a moment. For instance, I don't think you would say that journalists who write content for the NY Times website are just doing a fluff piece that takes a quick edit. How about an article by a writer for the Economist's website? Those aren't quick and they take hours and hours of writing, researching, interviewing and editing. They also are not $10. Content, like anything, has different quality ranges. Sure, to the guy just looking to feed SE's and not worried about much else, content is worth $5-$15 a page. However to someone that needs to satisfy actual readers, content is worth so much more.
OK, fair point. However, when I refer to content I'm talking strictly about that low end of the market - articles that are usually submitted to article sites in order to generate a themed back link and drive traffic. Speaking as someone who spent 8 hours last night writing 650 words worth of content for the Philadelphia Inquirer, I can testify that most content is worth more than $10
No, that's like fifty words a minute, repeated and repeated until it's of a quality fit for print in a national newspaper Anyway, it pays pretty well so it's worth the effort.
Haha, propably, mine take like an hour but I wouldn't really call mine great articles xP So I see your points (you and Keith ^^;
Different markets call for various quality levels, so it really depends on who you're writing for and how concerned they are with quality content.
Yea, I should point out that newspapers pay like crap, which is one reason why I never took a Journalist job.
Well, it depends what you're looking for. I had an article published last Wednesday at an online journal that paid $250. It took about 8 hours to write so that's a reasonable return on my investment - but not as good as I could get elsewhere. Still, it's always nice to get 'real' writing published, as opposed to sales copy. The money is only half the attraction.
Yea. I meant an actual Journalist job. They pay about $24k out of college (no thanks). Everyone's version of "real" writing is different. Many fiction writers will tell you that their writing is the only "real" version. Copywriters will tell you that being able to generate millions in sales from your writing is real. Academia writers will claim that their writing is the highest standards. It goes on and on. By the way, congrats on the article. I know what you mean about being published. There was a time when I was more concerned about a byline than anything else.
Yeah, staff jobs pay peanuts - especially for small regional newspapers. My local paper recently advertised a full time staff job for £10,000 (a little less than $19,000) - with a degree in journalism a requirement. Everybody has to start at the bottom, but that's just ridiculous. Agreed. While I'll be much prouder of a newspaper article, I wouldn't knock my content articles and copywriting. After all, it puts food on my table - and then some. Thanks. Those things come in handy when I'm trying to explain to my family and friends that what I do is actually a real job. People often think that I just sit around all day watching TV and playing with my computer, so it's useful to be able to point them to a newspaper and say 'Look. That's what I do'.
Luckily, a Journalism degree has more purpose than just getting a staff job. Writing is such a wonderful thing. Combined with photography, it's amazing. For instance, I can go to a Dodgers game in L.A. and turn it into a project that pays me to be there. You could come here to the other side of the pond and write about your travels and potentially pay for the whole thing plus some. It can get out of hand. For instance, telling your wife that you need to go out with those three 18-year-old Filipinas for a piece (writing--keep it clean) you're doing about the Asian girl dating scene might not go over too well.
I knew there was an upside to being single I spent a couple of months in Australia desperately trying to justify the expense with useable material, but in the end I just threw up my hands and decided to enjoy it. One day it may come in handy for an article in an airline magazine or something, but even if it never makes me a penny that was the best £2,000 I ever spent.