How To Become a Copywriter: Don't Listen to the Hype

There are a zillion people out there who will try to convince you that learning to write copy is easy. This is true!

However, becoming a professional copywriter is not.

Absolutely anyone can write good copy about their hobbies and passions. However, a professional copywriter does no such thing. A pro writer must write quality, interesting copy about personally uninteresting topics. The subject might bore you to tears, but you still have to write about it.

One of my recent copy analysis jobs involved faux-fur blankets. Do I care about faux-fur blankets? No, I don't. I can't remember if I ever bought a faux-fur blanket in my life.

However, I'm a pro copywriter, so I had to find out enough about faux-fur blankets to be genuinely interested. Real interest is the only way to get readers (aka customers) interested. Pro copywriters have to learn to write about everything. Fortunately, there's a formula of sorts.

Learn the Basics

You have to take a course because you don't know copywriting techniques or core theory. When you're writing about your passion it's easy to write good copy. Clean it up, check for spelling, grammar, and passive voice, and you're pretty much done! However, if you're going to write about things you aren't interested in, you'd better learn everything you can about the nuts and bolts of copy.

You also have to be able to say who taught you. The Internet has made this both easier and less expensive, but you're still looking at between $500 to $1,200 for decent Internet programs.

You also embark on a lifelong quest to analyze copy and the structure of language wherever you may find it. This is a great place to start, but realize that it will be permanent.

Start Making Money

So, you've agreed to give up long hours of underpaid life to get a name and something resembling a portfolio, you've shelled out your money for a course from a reputable copywriting mentor, and you've actually built a tiny portfolio. What now?

You still have to get clients. Your mentor may be able to help you a little bit, but the bulk of the work's on you. Welcome to the insane world of marketing.

You need to:

• Create a business plan .
• Get a dedicated phone line.
• Get your name in the local phone book.
• Publish your own articles.
• Start a blog.
• Put a package together including a brochure and clips of your work.

OR

• Create a spiffy resume.
• Convince a copywriting or marketing department to give you a job.

The first one is easier to start making money with, the second is much more likely to pay the bills within a sane amount of time. Which one you choose is, of course, up to you and the people you're enticing. Clients are much more likely to take a chance on a $100 contract than promise you a $22,000 per year job.

A pro copywriter usually takes ridiculously low pay when starting out in order to build a name. It's called "paying your dues" and supporting a family on such low income is flatly impossible.

When I started I was making ten bucks per 500 words. 500 words of barely decent copy took at least three hours to write, which comes out to a total of $3.33 per hour. Really good copy takes a whole lot longer. Nobody can live on that kind of wage for long, which means most copywriters start out part time.

Keep Learning

No matter if you get a copywriting job with a salary or decide to go freelance, you will be a scholar for the rest of your life. You must study language itself, and you must study people. In order to be a success, you have to be able to get inside other people's heads. That requires a great deal of empathy, compassion, and experience.

Copywriting is never dull, and the standards never drop. If you cannot empathize with your audience, if you can't figure out what they want the most, you will never be able to sell anything.

I highly suggest reading everything. Of course, read ad copy, read any kind of copy you can. Also keep up with popular books, listen to popular music, push yourself to sample other people's preferences instead of living within your own.

Read about anthropology, try and imagine what being like someone else is like. Attend to your own development. The more real and more compassionate you are, the better a copywriter you are.

In Closing

If you're stubborn enough to want to be a pro copywriter, expect to set aside at least one year of your life to do nothing but learn. Be prepared to invest at least $1,000 in books and the time to read them. Make sure to launch into the great adventure of life. Be real. After that, call me, I might have a job for you.

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Do check the standard copywriter rates and contract terms so you can quote exactly what your time and effort are worth.

If you've got a question about becoming a copywriter that I haven't answered yet, just ask!