Hi Community, If you were kicking the dirt tomorrow and had one piece of advice to leave about copywriting that would eventually become known as your "famous last words" what would you say?
Learn when to say, "No, thank you for considering me but that's just not a project that I want to write about, know enough about or have the time for."
That is a good one Senobia. I hear an underlying message of self confidence, and trust in yourself and your abilities.
Do you think as more and more people feel the financial crunch of the economy that writers are starting to venture outside their normal topics and taking on whatever? If so, how does this impact the community of writing? Does it help or hurt in the end for writers in general to take on projects outside their primary market? Love to hear your thoughts.
A good writer should be able to sell just about anything. But, being a good writer alone doesn't make one qualified to write on all topics. There's a big difference between writing an essay about air conditioners, selling air conditioners or promoting an air conditioning repair service and writing a white paper on the technical design of an industrial cooling system. Without access to the appropriate SME's and a background in technical writing, most writer's shouldn't even attempt technical white papers in subjects they're unfamiliar with. It's unfair to the client and could end up providing dangerous or harmful information to the readers. I have told a few clients that I was unqualified to write their materials. The latest one was someone looking for video game reviews. I laughingly told him that anything much more complicated than Collapse or Super Mario Brothers was beyond my comprehension and abilities to even play much less write about with authority. Sure, I could have found other people's reviews and just "borrowed" from them but that's not how I've built my business. Most thanked me for my honesty and a few even hired me for other projects. Providing services is all about building trust. Break that trust one too many times and your business is done.
Your previous white paper/technical authoring example was a great point. But for other things, like this video game one, you just need to bite the bullet and have a go sometimes, or you don't learn and you don't build up confidence. I would never have thought I could write about GPUs and other hardware components not knowing anything about hardware, but I have done and been successful.
I like that. Often we look around for validation and confirmation. We look back when we regret our mistakes, but its only when we look Inward do we see the true answer has always been inside of us. Write from your heart. Tell stories as if sitting around a camp fire with an old friend catching up. Be genuine and always be honest. That's what I would say as my last words.