Does this happen to you? You are trying to build up your portfolio and you are getting lots of jobs writing and editing websites but after you finish writing the piece and did your rewrites and got paid -- THEN, a few weeks or months later the client decides to "just make a few changes" to the copy and edits the heck out of it, adds stuff to it and basically ruins a good piece of copy... Then you have to take the website off of your portfolio because you no longer want your name behind the website because it's full of grammar and punctuation errors and the marketing strategy of the piece is worse than foul. Once the site is posted live, the clients don't seem to want to take any new changes back to the copywriter before they submit it to the designer. Probably because it takes time and costs extra. But they are really harming themselves in the process because their sites look really unprofessional... This just happened to me again - I spent 6 weeks editing a site and teaching the business owner basic marketing skills and everything was done and he was happy and wrote me a glowing testimonial even. Now the designer calls me up and said "You're not going to like this but he put back a lot of the stuff you took out and made changes to lots of the copy." At the beginning of the job, the designer and I had both tried to talk him out of some of the copy he'd written because he was trying to be cute and funny (when it was just boring and confusing) and he was writing to please his staff members (and not his target audience.) I had managed to convince him to take the bad stuff out... only to find out that a few weeks later he went to the designer behind my back (lol) and snuck it all back in! The result is awful and I had to take the website off of my portfolio.... and my portfolio is ever shrinking... LOL Questions: 1. How do I get clients to run any copy changes by me first before they bring it to the designer? Is that an unrealistic wish? I'm at the point of saying, "Look - I won't charge you for editing any additions you make to the copy - just please let me see it first before you give it to the designer to post!" This could force me into years of free labor (LOL) but at least I would have pieces staying in my portfolio. And 2. What do you do for your portfolio when you've only written a portion of a website? I don't want to post a link to a website when I only wrote 3 out of 5 pages there (the rest were mangled by the owner...) Many thanks.
1. Yes, it's an unrealistic wish unfortunately. Once they've paid for it, that copy is theirs. They can changes it as they like. Sometimes they just have a set idea in their head, and they don't respect your years of experience in the matters (but that's why you should be delighted when you get the clients who do!). Yes, it sucks that you have to remove it from your portfolio or risk it giving you a bad name, but that's just the nature of the job. 2. If you're happy with those three pages, go ahead and link to them. Make it clear you only were responsible for the end result of those pages and nothing else on the site. That's if you really need the portfolio piece. If you didn't, well, just move on and find a better one. And I understand the type of client you're talking about with the "cutesy" style rather than basic marketing sense. Some colleagues had to deal with a client like this recently (who was quite nasty to them). You can read her email to them on my blog (the style of that email very much reflects the style of the site when she wrote it herself - yuck!). I'm sure plenty of writers feel your pain.
I've noticed that a lot. I changed an entire Real Estate site into perfect English. If I go there now, their "editor" put it back into Engrish for some reason. I can see my article underneath, they just added 100 commas and messed with a few words....I don't know why.
Thanks for your empathy, folks. JHmattern: from your blog: "There’s a difference between edgy / fresh and flat out ridiculous." Sooooo true!
There is always going to be a problem if your work is ghostwritten or if you give away the rights and still keep your name to it. I am trying to write a bit more for myself to build up my portfolio. I think it's great practice and a good idea since you firstly aren't dictated by the demands of the client, and secondly can always rely on it as a sample of your work!
If you can, make a screenshot with your copy in there. There are many clients who basically suck the personality out of the copy and worse. That's just the way it is. But there is an "director's cut" of movies for a reason. Because the director thought the end product sucked and he wanted his version out there to prove it.
Hi Mspennylane - yes, writing for ourselves is good way to go - freedom! At last! But it's hard to find the time to do it, eh? Hi webgal - yes I just looked up how to do a screenshot - might find a way to use that in the future! Thanks.
I definitely understand the problem of not making enough time to write for ourselves! I'm actually trying to schedule it in regularly during the working day Screenshots are a great idea though, so long as you have the permission to use them.
I just want to second webgal. My portfolio is nothing but screenshots of what I designed/edited/wrote and a link to the site as it exists. If the site is unchanged, it reinforces my work. If it has been manipulated (as it is most of the time) my clients often see the value in my writing almost immediately. I've gotten a few "why did they change it?!" responses.
Honestly, I don't worry about them editing my work after I've been paid for it. I know that I provide damn good quality, and if they think they can do better, let them have at it. Once they've ruined it enough, they'll come back asking you to fix it again...