How to tell if you’d like to be a copywriter

Part 1: A lesson in copywriting
Part 2: Quiz/assignment

The other day I had a fun job which I really enjoyed working on. So I decided to use it as an example, and also as a lesson, in copywriting.

The job was to help finish up an invitation that one of my clients had created for a party they were throwing for their clients, colleagues, friends, etc. (They’re a design studio.) So I got the email below along with the invite as it stood – the front and back of a postcard (above, minus their name/address which I deleted for privacy.) Note: the photo was taken by my client's dad years ago and they'd used it in some other pieces.

Here’s the email/assignment I received:

Hello Keasha;

I am so hoping that you may have a little time this week? My goal is to get the graphic artist to work on this over the weekend. So, sorry for the last minute...Help? I understand if you do not have time, then maybe Monday? Let me know. (thanks so much)

The attachment is a PDF of our first draft on our party invite. We have definite changes to make, especially on the black and white side, the side with the words. Below are new words from Clare. My goal and our thought of pulling you in, is to try and bridge the images of the front of the card with the "Waste Challenge" display. On the back of the card, instead of the mandala pattern that surrounds the Z logo, we are going to put a photograph of one of the Waste Challenge art pieces that is circular in character, "Chandelier by Rod Klingelhofer".

WORDS (as they stand right now...until you get done with them:-)

Please join us for a festive evening of music, food, refreshments
and a special exhibit inspired by Convergence 2006
"The Waste Challenge"
Fiber creations made from textile mill waste
by Michigan artists

Wednesday, June 28, 2006
6 p.m. to midnight

Music arranged by Jauad Lughod

(Their name/address was here)

The QUIZ & the ASSIGNMENT

Now, here’s a quiz/assignment you can take/do to help you determine if you want to be a copywriter.

Quiz:

What exactly is the assignment here?

Where do you start?

What is absolutely necessary to include?

What’s is your message? What do you want your audience to do?

What impression do you want to make?


If you think this looks fun/challenging, you might like to be a copywriter – because writing ads is very similar. And often the time frame is just about as short.

Assignment:

Play around with this for an hour or so and see what you come up with.

If you think that was fun, you should definitely consider being a copywriter.


Coming soon:

Part 3: What I came up with
Part 4: The hours/invoice

I received the following comment re: my last posting and a line I had written:

"I believe Ivan himself was an absolut genius...." (the line in my post)

There's that proofreading issue again. (the commenter's comment--which was a reference to a previous post)

I just have to tell the commenter, it wasn't a typo--it was a play on the line above re: the Absolut vodka ads! Just had to defend myself on that one...

Why I Like Interviewing People

One of the reasons I love interviewing people is that I learn so much from them. For example, last week I talked with a research scientist who specializes in skin care, and her whole spiel was about how much damage the sun does to us and why it’s so important to cover up – skin cancer, wrinkles, etc. etc. It actually made me increase my use of SPF-15. Who knows, maybe that interview even saved my life!

Because I’ve interviewed so many designers over the years (mostly for furniture clients), I’m much more aware of design’s impact on normal everyday items. Like our coffee bean grinder. It is the most poorly designed item in our entire home. Every time I use it, I say, “What the hell was the designer thinking of when he/she did this?” as I watch coffee grounds fly all over the kitchen counter.

But I think the interviews that have moved me the most are the ones I’ve done for Goodwill Industries of Grand Rapids. I wrote their newsletter for five years, and in that time, I met with deaf and blind people (or, the seeing and hearing challenged), former convicts and drug addicts, people with mental illnesses, poor people, a guy with autism/Asperger’s Syndrome, and on and on.

It was all fascinating because in almost every case, it opened a door to a life I knew nothing about. It made me appreciate what I have and where I come from, and to admire all the people out there who are trying so hard to better themselves in this cold, cruel world – not to mention the folks at Goodwill who are dedicated to helping them do it.

One of the most interesting people I ever interviewed for Goodwill was a guy named Ivan Jenson. Ivan’s story was amazing. In fact, here was my opening paragraph:

“Ivan Jenson created his first award-winning sculpture at age 9, wrote a novel at 14, started a band at 16, drew caricatures of Malcomb Forbes’ friends aboard the billionaire’s yacht in the ‘80s, rubbed shoulders with Andy Warhol, and contributed an “Absolut Jenson” painting for the internationally known Absolut Vodka ad campaign.…”

I believe Ivan himself was an Absolut genius. (Check out his website at http://www.ivanjenson.com/ for more.) I remember being so frustrated at the time because I couldn’t tell his whole story; I only had so much space in the newsletter, and it had to focus on how Goodwill helped him. My biggest question was how the hell did this guy who grew up in California and worked as an artist in NYC for 20 years, ever end up at Goodwill in the first place??

The short-short story is that his sister, herself a former child prodigy violinist (the family was full of geniuses!) married the head of the G. R. Symphony, and Ivan’s mother had moved here to be with her. Ivan had a bit of a soul-searching meltdown in NYC, and came to his mom’s to get back on track. As he humbly said about going to Goodwill, “I was in the same boat as a lot people who come to Goodwill; I hand never had a ‘real’ job in my life.”

Anyway, Goodwill did help him get back in a good groove, and the last I heard he was talking with a new agent in Florida, so I think all turned out well with Ivan…

I guess the point of this is that interviewing people has become one of the most rewarding parts of my job. Writers, I think, by and large, are curious people. And this definitely satisfies some inner need I have to learn about stuff. It keeps life interesting, and, perhaps best of all, gives me lots of things to talk about over a glasso’ wine with my friends.

A very bad day.

Well, I’ve done it again. Another typo. I swear they’re gonna be my downfall. It’s amazing how much damage a little thing like that can do. This one was really bad: the brand name in the headline of a story that was posted online. Can you imagine our client’s reaction to that one? Not to mention my editor’s. Here’s what he had to say in an email to me, which I received first thing in the a.m. (names blocked out for obvious reasons):

“Keasha,
Thank you again for posting the story on R&D last night. It is very well researched and, likewise, written...
...save one TINY little detail: "XXX” was misspelled as "XXIX" in the headline.
Ouch.
Granted, it's just as much my fault for not closely examining the headline, so as your editor I am more so to blame than you. In the future, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE be more careful. I have complete trust in you to manage this process, so I don't feel the need to floss your posts as much as some of your colleagues.
Needless to say, this typo caught some attention as you can imagine.Otherwise, you are a valued member of this team, and I look forward to yournext submissions….
Regards,”

He also copied me on the email he wrote our client:

“Please accept my sincerest apology for allowing that typo to occur in the first place. A brand name typo in a headline is absolutely inexcusable.

While I have addressed this with Keasha, as her editor I must accept full responsibility for the error. Though I still retain complete faith in her abilities, I will more closely monitor all posts made by the writers directly into XX from now on. Henceforth, if this or another mistake of this stature rears its ugly head again, I will recommend changes to our internal process, if and when this becomes necessary.That said, Keasha has proven herself time and time again as a valued contribution to our team. Of course, she is wholeheartedly sorry. I chalk this up as rare, steak tartar rare. Please know that I have nothing but absolute faith in her work and our XXX would not be the same without her.Please let me know if you wish to discuss this any further at your convenience. Once again, I myself am nothing but sorry for this, and I pray this has not caused your department any undue pressure…”

Needless to say, I’ve been in a bit of a funk the last two days. I just don’t know what’s going on with me lately. Well, actually, I do know some things that probably enter in to it, but really, there is no excuse for making a mistake like that at this stage of my game. I just need to slow down and be more careful. It all boils down to that.

So hard.

Last week when I had a brief slow period, I decided to send a query in to a new national magazine called Cottage Living. I really love it and I figure I’ve lived in cottages all my life, so it’s perfect match.

But it’s always a pain to pitch national mags because it’s so time-consuming: I have to 1) think about and write up the proposed ideas (3), 2) go through all my samples to figure out which ones are best for this particular query, 3) drive into town to get color copies made, 4) get everything together, and 5) go to the post office and mail it all in. (It’s also expensive – color copies and mail came to almost $20. As soon as I recover from paying my taxes, I’m going to purchase a scanner, which will eliminate a lot of this.)

And to what end? Most likely a rejection letter. But you never know, and that’s why I every once in awhile I try, especially when I run across a pub, like this one, that really appeals to me.

I have had some luck with national magazines – I once sold a 2-part article to Writer’s Digest on how to be a copywriter, and I also sold a piece to Woman’s Day on how to be a good houseguest over the holidays – recycled from an article I’d written years ago for Metropolitan Parent. (Although I got paid $250 for that one, they never actually ran it; knowing what I do about magazines, it probably got stuck in a “filler” file somewhere and that was the end of it.)

There were a couple of other close sales, but I was too inexperienced and naïve to know that with a little push I might have broken through, so I let them go…

Breaking into the national market is really hard. It takes time and perseverance, neither of which I have. But in June, I’m taking a week off and, in fact, am going out to our family cottage in Grand Haven to zero in on all the ideas I’ve had in the last year and just send out a bunch of queries to see what happens. Who knows, maybe I’ll get lucky. I really want to kick my writing up a notch, and it will never happen unless I make it a goal and take the steps necessary to get there.

So, we’ll see.