My sister needs to work from home, and i suggested copywriting. Am i correct in thinking you an work from home? also is there good money in it and can you get jobs online? cheers!
It all depends on whether your sister is actually a 'writer'. Just about anybody can pick up a pen but that doesn't make them a writer. Your sister can try though. As for work, there's never enough supply to meet the demand as far as the writing market goes. So, if your sister is really into it and if she's got decent marketability then I think working from home might be a very good option for her. Cheers
There's A LOT of competition in this market so unless she's really good she probably won't get a lot of work.
1. Is she a decent writer? 2. Does she have any expertise that would allow her to specialize? 3. Does she have any marketing ability? If the answers to all three are yes, then with those things, a little luck, and a hell of a lot of hard work, yes there can be good money in it.
I can give you some perspective from someone who has been in the business for a little while. I quit my job about 6 months ago to do internet marketing full time. I never planned on writing content for other people, but a couple of my projects didn't work out as planned, and that's what I do now. I've always enjoyed writing, I'm pretty good at it, so it's a natural fit for me. It can still be frustrating though. When you work for yourself you're in charge of marketing, advertising, doing the work, dealing with clients, collecting money from clients.... the list goes on, and it's a lot of work. No one is going to pay you a decent rate when you start out. I wrote at .01/word for quite a while. Even if you're cranking out 10,000 words a day, which isn't easy, the money still isn't great. Now days I usually work for .03 per word, and it can still burn you out. When you get to that price point people expect a lot out of you (and rightfully so) but you have to constantly be able to deliver thousands of words of great content, and no matter how much you love to write, it can get old when you've been typing for 10 hours strait. You also have to keep gaining new clients at that price point, which is much more difficult then working at .01 per word. I'm very experienced with sales letters, and generally command decent prices when I'm writing sales copy. Those jobs are few and far between though, and you not only have to be good at writing the copy, you have to be good at finding clients willing to pay top dollar for well written copy. You need to be a great writer, self disciplined, and hard working to have any real success being a writer. It's possible, but definitely not for everyone.
Scott is spot on in this regard. The writing itself is one aspect of it, but a lot more goes into online writing than meets the eye. The business side of itis what you have to keep in mind.
I too have been in this business for quite some time, and I can honestly say that the first mistake anyone can make is to start out writing for less than .05 cents per word. Scott is absolutely right in stating that there is simply no money in writing when all you are charging is a penny per word - the number of hours you would have to spend writing in order to make a decent living are absolutely ridiculous. But, if you are a decent writer, and can understand what it is your clients want, you shouldn't have any trouble asking for (and receiving) a higher rate. Now, that said: I would first suggest to your sister that she take a creative writing course of some sort, prior to offering her services to anyone. At least that way she could get a feel for whether or not writing is even something she may be interested in. If she finds that it is quite her cup of tea, then have her sign up with one of the many freelance sites so that she can find a few writing gigs to get her portfolio started. Once she has a few good samples to show prospective clients, she can contact webmasters directly and offer her services. Also, she should set up a blog (can be done for free) where she can write on her favourite subject every day. Have her place a notice in the sidebar that she is available for hire. I know many people who have received good paying writing jobs simply from people who liked the way their blogs were written wanting the same quality content on their own sites. Not only that, but she can monetise her blog with adsense or other affiliate programs, as well.
Hi - Writing is an art, craft, and sometimes a science. There's a reason that journalists go to journalism schools. Can you be self-taught? Sure. Does it take roughly the same amount of time as going to college? Yes. Is there a learning curve between the level of well-schooled newbie, and veteran writer? Yes. Are there different specialties? Uh huh. Journalism, Blogging, Press Release/P.R., SEO savvy copy writing, advertising copy writing, and direct mail copy writing all employ different writing techniques. At the very least, get some books, tapes, and take a good correspondence course. We have an ongoing article series on writing techniques at WebHelperMagazine.com -- and other posters here have great writing resource blogs and website. Read them. Then write. Write more. Edit. Rewrite. And, become a writer. - Scott
So true. I got a journalism degree with the advertising sequence added. It forces you to discipline yourself to follow some set of rules, AP Stylebook in my case. And as far as being freelance, you're the fax smudge fixer, accountant, IT person, account executive etc. On those occasions I work with an ad agency I don't have to be all of those but I still have to be some of them in addition to being the copywriter and idea factory that drives the entire project. I like me as CEO, don't get me wrong. But a lot of people think it's so wonderful to have all that flexibility when in fact you still can't always take a break when you so desire, simply because there will be some slow times.
There is a lot of competition and I don't think it's for everyone. Obviously there is a degree of skill involved and experience counts!
I'd start at the beginning. Here's a freebie report I have available on my website if your sister is interested. It might help point her in the right direction.
It's all pretty good advice. There's a lot that goes into the writing process, so the more she learns, the better.
there's a lot of free online guide and tips on how to start or to be a good writer. you can also try the writing tips. hope this could help you...