Found via the always-interesting Daily Obsessional blog: George Orwell’s Rules for Writers:
Posts tagged: Writing
Wishing Everyone a Prosperous (and Well Written) 2009
To all the writers who struggle daily for the right words – whether they’re written in the service of a client, novel or poem – I wish you a very happy, very literate 2009.
Keep writing, Tom Chandler.
The Coming Writer's Bailout (or, Too Many Words to Fail)
A New York Times Book Review essay latches onto Bailoutmania with a humor piece focused on a mythical writer’s bailout, and like most humor, brushes up against a few bruised areas along the way. Still, it’s a humor piece, so we’ll start with writer Paul Greenberg’s lead joke:
A little while back my daughter told me the following depressing joke:
Woman: What do you do?
Man: Me? Oh, I write books.
Woman: How interesting! Have you sold anything recently?
Man: Why, yes. My couch, my car and my flat-screen television.
A snarkier writer-father might have added, “and I sold those things to pay for your private school tuition!” But instead it got me thinking that there was a real problem here. Not just a small problem involving issues of respect between one writer and one teenager, but rather a national problem of respect where being a writer has become so widely associated with being a loser that we have become the stuff of common jokes.
The rest of the wittily written piece similarly amuses, though like most humor, the knife cuts close to home, including in this graph about “overcapacity” in the writing universe – a real (if little talked about) issue, even in copywriting:
Overcapacity has been something generally acknowledged across the writing industry for at least 10 years. In a 2002 essay in The New York Times, the onetime best-selling novelist and story writer Ann Beattie mourned the situation of the modern writer, living in a world where people are more interested in “being a writer” than in writing itself. “There are too many of us, and M.F.A. programs graduate more every year, causing publishers to suffer snow-blindness, which has resulted in everyone getting lost,” she lamented. That Ann Beattie must now compete on Amazon with a self-published author named Ann Rothrock Beattie is proof of how enormous the blizzard has become.
It’s not true that everyone who can type claims writerhood, but a quick survey of the many writer’s forums, sites and blogs suggests significant growth in the writer population, and not always among those capable of adding to the craft.
In many ways, the copywriter’s recession began years ago if downward trends in fees paid for lower-end projects are any indication.
While Greenburg’s essay is generally hilarious – his farm-billish plan to subsidize half the working writers to not write is golden – he taps into a larger populist resentment about the financial and car company bailouts, where greed and failure are simultaneously reviled and rewarded by the same congress.
We’re at the tail end of a period where no corporate subsidy seemed too big or too outrageous – and find ourselves in the midst of a financial meltdown where “too big to fail” leaves individual workers clutching an empty bag and a large debt about to come due. Populist resentment isn’t just to be expected, it’s probably demanded (at least that’s my understanding of democracy).
Still, this is humor, and Greenburg finishes on a properly literate note, wrapping his words around a Graham Greene quote (an Underground fav):
The economy slips deeper and deeper into its trench, and yet the workspace for writers seems to get more crowded by the day as refugees from other professions take cover behind what they hope will be the respectability of the writing life. The other day, as I looked down on the field of cubicles from the “resting area” on the balcony, I felt an urge to read aloud from a Graham Greene story I had disregarded in my 20s: “Are you prepared for the years of effort, ‘the long defeat of doing nothing well’? As the years pass writing will not become any easier, the daily effort will grow harder to endure, those ‘powers of observation’ will become enfeebled; you will be judged, when you reach your 40s, by performance and not by promise.” Harsh stuff. But don’t take Greene’s word for it, or mine. I’m a writer. Maybe I’m just trying to clear a little more room for myself at the workspace.
Keep writing, Tom Chandler.
The Leaner Copywriter Underground, and One Writer's (Satirical) Approach to Recession
Only a minute or two for a little stream-of-consciousness here dear readers, but I wanted to welcome you to the new, pared-down theme surrounding the Copywriter Underground’s content.
Call it an overdue change of hairstyle – a new, minimalist look & feel reflecting my somewhat slimmed-down approach to work.
And yes, I’m suggesting it’s a trend.
After all, the words I generate these days spill out onto the screen of a simple text editor. I’m carefully managing my online time to waste less of it. And looking hard at a significant shift in my target markets.
It’s also a reflection of my admiration for the minimalist approach to copy (a result of “growing up” – at least in the advertising sense – during the Fallon/McElligot era of direct-but-smart print ads).
It might even reflect the difficult times, where those with the resources to engage in conspicuous consumption are finding themselves reticent to do so.
Satirizing the Recession
While I was forming this post in my head, I stumbled across a wonderful Garrison Keillor essay, and admit to having a soft spot for essayists in general.
Essayists and poets might tread the ground closest to copywriters in a purely stylistic sense (an assertion sure to generate disagreement among poets and essayists), but in this case, Keillor launches his work with a satirical poke at corporate bean counting, illuminating the wide gap between what companies do in recessions and what writers do:
I have bad news. In the midst of the worldwide economic meltdown we are experiencing these days, I have taken a hard look at revenue from this column and find that I am earning but a tiny fraction of the $6.5 million I had projected for 2008, which leaves me no choice but to impose aggressive cost reductions, including a 75 percent reduction in writing time and the elimination of editing. I apologize for the inconvenience. And I thank you for your patience.
Enjoy your day (remembering to slice away those parts of it that simply don’t serve you). I’ll be back soon with more from the slimmer, trimmer Underground.
Keep writing, Tom Chandler.
Happy Thanksgiving, and… You're Fired (More on a Tough Economy)
Two days before Thanksgiving I received The Email; one of my retainer projects wasn’t going to be funded in 2009 – a victim, the client said, of the economic upheaval.
No, the timing wasn’t great, but I wasn’t surprised. This was a speculative project – one living far from the organization’s revenue stream. And in tough economic times, being “far from the revenue stream” is more an epitaph than a harbinger of survival.
The point isn’t whether this will happen to you (it will). The real point is this: How will you react?
Walk Away? Or Try Again?
I’m satisfied I did a good job, and the good results reflect that. Still, it was a luxury project, and while I can walk away with my head held high, why would I walk away at all?
The client was happy with my non-revenue producing work – so why not pitch them a revenue-positive project?
I’m working on the pitch now, and approaching the client this week. The concept? They have a gaping hole in their marketing process where they should have a revenue stream.
I’m offering to create that revenue stream, and do so quickly.
To do it, I’m putting together a pitch that’s both persuasive (hopefully) and topical (it draws on recent, well-known fundraising successes to prove my point).
And to help it fly with the spreadsheet zombies, I’m willing to back-load my fees (accept the bulk of payment toward the end of the project so expenses show up after revenues are flowing).
Will it work?
Hard to say. Tough times make for bunker mentalities at a lot of organizations, and new projects – even those with revenue-positive projections – are often relegated without a thought.
Still, why walk away?
The freelance copywriting life includes plenty of rejection and down economies; both can be painful, but both also represent opportunities, especially if you’re looking for them – instead of seeing only doom and gloom.
Keep writing, Tom Chandler.
My Short, Sweet Thanksgiving Message to the Undergrounders
It’s easy to fire up a whole list of things we should be thankful for – our lives are easier by almost any measure than those who came before us – but this is a writing blog, so I’ll stay on topic.
The simple truth is I’m thankful I get to write for a living, and do so from a beautiful place on the side of a mountain – the kind of remote place you couldn’t really make a living from prior to the Internet.
Writing is not the glamorous existence that the media make it out to be, but neither is it digging ditches in 100 degree heat.
I’m lucky to enjoy the support of my wonderful, beautiful wife, who knows I could make more money writing projects that appeal a lot less to me, and wants me to write the good stuff anyway.
To all my readers, commentors and everyone who makes up the online writer’s community, enjoy your Thanksgiving, and revel in what you have.
Keep writing, Tom Chandler.
The Modern Online Copywriter: Why a Programmer's Editor Might Be In Your Future
Sometimes the world shifts imperceptibly underneath you, and though you notice something has changed, the difficult part is figuring out what to do about it.
For years, almost every commercial project I wrote was typed into in a heavy-duty word processor. But today finds me writing more blogs, landing pages, emails, and other “live” Web content.
And all the formatting applied in those word processors – and the sizable overhead needed for all the features I don’t need – get in the way of a good workflow.
And yes, after my switch from Vista to the more streamlined Linux OS (Ubuntu), I took a hard look at my workflow.
In the past, I typically wrote a few large projects simultaneously. Today, I’m more likely to juggle a lot of small projects.
Then there’s my list of blog article ideas for the multiple blogs I write. How do I keep track of those?
Simple. Steal From Programmers.
The simple text editor is a thing of wonder; little comes between you and your words, and the software pops up almost eagerly.
Still, after playing with several editors, I realized I needed more than a text editor – and turned a programmer’s editor into my online copy word processor.
My Trout Underground blog project – the tabs at the bottom represent four of the 14+ files in the project.
“A programmer’s tool,” you say? It’s perfect (almost).
Programmer’s editors are fast and streamlined. They’re simple text editors on steroids – my two candidates also offer word count, spell checkers, very advanced search, and HTML cheat sheets – though many of the programmer’s features simply don’t apply to your average copywriter.
The key feature? It’s the – the “project” or “session” function.
Save Time With Projects
Different editors call it different things, but a “project” function allows you to save multiple files in a single project, so opening that project opens all those files.
For the blog/article/engagement marketing part of my business, that’s a godsend.
I created separate projects in my editor for each of my blog/engagement marketing projects (one for the Trout Underground, one for the Copywriter Underground, one for… you get the picture).
I start each day by opening each project in its own tabbed window (each file is a tab). When a new article idea rears its head, I simply open a new tab, type the headline, add any thoughts or links, and then “save” the project.
Next time I open the project, all my article ideas for that project pop up.
Throughout the day, all my projects windows are open, so I can steal a few minutes and work on an article – with little time lost to overhead.
Of course, that’s a blessing and a curse; I’m also confronted by my half-finished articles, unstarted articles, and the articles-with-promise-but-require-too-much-research. The universe, it seems, is yin and yang.
I Name Names
In the Linux world, I’ve settled on the Bluefish editor (actually a Web development editor). Gedit is the Gnome editor that does largely the same thing once you add a couple plugins (it’s a little slower adding HTML code, but a little better actually writing).
In truth, a lot of programming editors will do the job.
On Windows, I believe Notepad++ is free, fast, and does everything needed. I’m less familiar with Mac editors, but BBedit and TextMate are likely characters.
I can’t say I’ve fully entered Valhalla – Bluefish would be better if it offered inline spell checking and a running word/character count instead of modal versions of the same thing – but fewer ideas are being lost to a busy workday, and I’m managing a lot of small projects far better.
What’s Next for Writers?
The trend towards online copy is obviously not going away, but few tools have developed in response to that change.
Blog editors help make blogging easier, and a programmer’s editor makes simply online writing easier, but we have yet to see a single “online writer’s editor” that offers everything today’s largely online copywriter needs.
That includes things like speed, toggled HTML markup, file and project management, running word/character counts, the ability to post to blogs (including all the category/keyword/SEO stuff) — and all with enough formatting to send prettified documents to clients (including sample landing/Web pages with graphics represented).
Some word processors do act as virtual databases for the files, notes and links related to a single project, though they seem better suited to longer works (like novels or white papers) than short online articles.
Of course, no writer thinks their word processor/editor/pen is ever exactly right, which is part of the fun of this whole odd career.
The “online word worker” is a relatively new category, and I expect we’ll see the tools we like tailored to the job.
Keep writing (in whatever software suits you), Tom Chandler.
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Underground Essay Finds New Life in Book, And One Good Reason Why You Should Buy It Anyway
Proving again the world’s gone completely mad, the editors of the New Writer’s Handbook – a collection of essays by writers for writers – asked to include a Copywriter Underground blog piece in their latest collection (Volume 2).
The piece spoke to the power of the parenthetical statement. English teachers largely hate it. Bad writers use it as a crutch. But – used properly – it creates a sense of intimacy with the reader.
In fact, it’s become a favorite tool – not in my “formal” copywriting efforts, but in my engagement marketing projects (which consume more of my time every day).
From my article:
In skilled hands, a parenthetical statement will help bridge the gap between writer and reader, puncturing the invisible barrier between the two. (See what I mean?)
They give you the ability to step out of the copy and into the reader’s space. You can even share what feels like a private joke (just don’t tell anyone else!), transforming your reader from skeptic to confidant.
I also described my five favorite uses of parentheses:
- The Reinforcer
- The Action Picture
- The Humorous Aside
- Personal Call to Action
- Emphasis
To read more about them, you’ll have to read the post itself.
Or buy the book.
Well, Should You Buy the Book?
I admit to some skepticism when first contacted by the book’s editor. After all, who would buy a collection of essays about writing, most of which can already be found on the Intertubes for free?
After reading the finished product, I’d have to say I’m wrong.
In an age of hyper-specialization – where niches are mercilessly targeted and “content producers” are urged to never set foot outside their Google-driven boundaries – an eclectic collection of essays about writing fires the imagination, and provides a respite from what I’ll cavalierly describe as the 140-character rat race.
From the publishers:
With new contributors, ranging from bestselling “queen of medical thrillers” Tess Gerritsen to Newbery Medal winner Lois Lowry, the strength of Volume 2 lies with its eclecticism: articles move from collaborative advice to teaching writing in elementary schools — and even includes physical stretches for those spending too much time sitting in front of a screen.
The content features a preface by Ted Kooser, US Poet Laureate from 2004-06, and appearances by literary bloggers, independent publishers, agents, journalists and a writer who—believe it or not—received nearly 500 rejection notices before finally striking success.
Here’s a quote from the editor:
The perfect Handbook user is the writer who wants to improve his or her writing skills, in small but practical ways. Not all at once, but in little chunks, with short readings, a couple of pages at a time.While most is most useful to emerging writers, I picked pieces I thought would be thought-provoking, practical, and entertaining to experienced pros.As a long-time editor of writing guides, I know that real learning happens in small bits, here and there.
Of course, every book of essays culled from the different sources would necessarily suffer a certain lack of continuity. The Writer’s Handbook is no exception.
And yes – without pointing a finger – I’d say blogging’s tendency to reward speed and quantity over quality sometimes rears its head in the essays found in this book, though most of the essays are excellent.
As someone who believes writing serves a purpose beyond driving SEO traffic, I think the New Writer’s Handbook is excellent nightstand material. Read “Diary of a Novel” by Will Weaver at night, and you’ll wake up the next morning with a stronger appreciation for what novel writers suffer for their craft. (No, I don’t have a financial interest in the book, and I’m not getting paid for this review).
It’s probable that young copywriters have never felt more pressure to produce words than they do today, yet an excessively narrow, nose-to-the-grindstone perspective is not a prescription for long-term survival. Widening our horizons a bit can’t hurt, and reading a book like this is one good way to accomplish that.
Keep writing, Tom Chandler.
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Only You Can Save a Word From Certain Annihilation… But Only By Acting Right Now!
What happens to words that aren’t used any more?
Sadly, these brave soldiers disappear from the dictionary, dropped from the lexicon by heartless editors who frankly seem like the kind of people who would seat elderly folks on ice floes and push them out to sea.
The good news? You, dear reader, have the power to save an archaic or obsolete word from certain oblivion.
“What can I possibly do?” you say. Simple.
The Times Online is running a list of words that are in danger of being dropped from the dictionary (Collins). To save them, all you need do is use them in your copywriting work.
…but Collins has given warning that it is not enough for the words to be used by their champions alone. Endangered words must appear at least six times in Collins’s corpus, a database that records word usage in printed, broadcast and online media.Compilers will discount any references to words if they appear in articles about the campaign to save them.
Surely, my verbose friends, you can find a place in that landing page for “Apodeictic” – which means “unquestionably true by virtue of demonstration.”
No room for that? Then how about spicing up that corporate Web copy with “nitid” – which means “bright or glistening.” (That’ll drive conversions.)
Embrangle? Compossible? Fubsy?
Stick ‘em in a direct response email – or use them in that epic tweet you haven’t quite gotten right.
Only by acting today can we – as copywriters – turn back this threat to our language.
So look deep into your heart, and see if you have it in you to save some poor word from oblivion today. (If not, then perhaps you too are the kind of person who would shove elderly laden ice floes out to sea.)
How you can help to save some cherished words from oblivion – Times Online
Abstergent: Cleansing or scouringAgrestic: Rural; rustic; unpolished; uncouth
Apodeictic: Unquestionably true by virtue of demonstration
Caducity: Perishableness; senility
Caliginosity: Dimness; darkness
Compossible: Possible in coexistence with something else
Embrangle: To confuse or entangle
Exuviate: To shed (a skin or similar outer covering)
Fatidical: Prophetic
Fubsy: Short and stout; squat
Griseous: Streaked or mixed with grey; somewhat grey
Malison: A curse
Mansuetude: Gentleness or mildness
Muliebrity: The condition of being a woman
Niddering: Cowardly
Nitid: Bright; glistening
Olid: Foul-smelling
Oppugnant: Combative, antagonistic or contrary
Periapt: A charm or amulet
Recrement: Waste matter; refuse; dross
Roborant: Tending to fortify or increase strength
Skirr: A whirring or grating sound, as of the wings of birds in flight
Vaticinate: To foretell; prophesy
Vilipend: To treat or regard with contempt
Keep writing, Tom Chandler.
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Email Interruptions Cost You 64 Seconds in Downtime
Need a reason to turn off that “you’ve got mail” tab, ghost box or other notification?
Every time it pops up, it takes an average of 64 seconds to regain your train of thought.
Via the Sydney Morning Herald:
It had been assumed that email doesn’t cause interruptions because the recipient chooses when to check for and respond to email (bit.ly/email3). But Dr Jackson found that people tend to respond to email as it arrives, taking an average of only one minute and 44 seconds to act upon a new email notification; 70% of alerts got a reaction within six seconds. That’s faster than letting the phone ring three times.
I’d add up the consequences of that 64 seconds of downtime by multiplying my daily email interruptions by 30 (days in a month), but frankly, I’d rather not know.
In truth, after years of doing things the same way – mostly because that’s the way I’d been doing them – I’ve been looking hard at alternatives.
Moving from Windows Vista to Linux is one result (I get more done).
Now – as I support a pair of ongoing online engagement marketing projects, and write more online copy than ever – I find I’m using my “main” word processor (OpenOffice) less than half the time, and taking advantage of the project management/html/speed features of a Linux programming editor (Bluefish).
It surprised me too.
I tell my students marketing’s changed more in the last five years than it did in the prior 50; I’m starting to see the same trend in my own work habits.
Is the same true for you?
Keep writing, Tom Chandler.
Building Company Blogs: What Should You Charge?
I’ve pitched blogs to several business clients. And just closed a deal (finally) for an advocacy blog/microsite.
It’s not easy. Businesses don’t necessarily believe a freelance writer can write coherently about their business or their industry.
And then there’s the question of money. Blogging often pays poorly, and businesses have a lot of marketing options.
Still, it’s being done. And today’s copywriter is ideally positioned to handle the whole project (instead of letting some agency rake off all but a pittance).
The Wall Street Journal Independent Street blog outlines a Florida-based company selling blogs to businesses (note their rates & their process):
The company brainstorms “hot topics” to blog about with its clients and then its search-marketing-experts-slash-copywriters write “keyword rich” posts on those topics, says Danielle Leitch, executive vice president. The ghostwriter also embeds relevant links in the posts and lets clients review the posts before they’re published.
MoreVisibility charges clients about $500 a month for one weekly post to about $2,000 a month for daily posts. It also charges a one-time fee starting at $2,000 for setting up the blog. The company manages blogs for about 20 businesses, Ms. Leitch adds.
Want to bet their “search-marketing-experts-slash-copywriters” are working for peanuts?
If you’re already blogging – and you’re good at it – then why not scale your revenues by offering businesses a Blog in a Box? (Because I’m a friend to all copywriters, I’m giving that idea away free.)
Basically, make it as easy as possible – the client’s only decisions should revolve around “how much” and “how do you want to pay me?”
Blogging is hardly the highest-paying gig in copywriting, but there is something to be said for that steady, reliable stream of money – especially if you’re new to the game.
Keep writing, Tom Chandler.
Friday Stress Relief From the Underground: Virtual Bubblewrap
It’s Officially Been a Long Week for everyone at Copywriter Underground World Headquarters.
Which calls for some fun this weekend (I’m hiking into the mountains and going fly fishing). Hopefully, there’s a little recreation in your future too.
Still, we’ve got to survive the mean streets of Friday. And to help, I stumbled upon the virtual version of that most cathartic of stress-relief devices.
Bubblewrap.
(Click graphic, and away you’ll go)
Pop the bubbles one at a time, or turn on “Manic Mode” and indulge yourself in an orgy of loud, obnoxious stress relief.
Unlike the real world (highly overrated by most measures), you’ll never run out of Virtual Bubblewrap. Never.
Turn up the speakers and keep writing, Tom Chandler.
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