Learn to Copywrite

Copywriters seem to make a pretty good income. I work in Sales and love to write so I feel this would be a natural fit for some part time opportunities. On the internet of course there are tons of ads that ask you to pay money to take a class and they guarantee work and opportunities for you. Is this true or some type of scam to take my money? Is it difficult to get started in this type of work?

Most copywriters work freelance. In other words, they are self-employed, which is another way of saying they have no steady income, and are unlikely to find steady income.

You don’t have to take any classes or get any degrees. But you do need to have a flair for the language you are working with.

Getting started is both easy and hard. You start by writing. You build up a portfolio of pieces that showcase what you can do. Then you start looking for people who want things written. Webpages often require a lot of copy (content). One thing you don’t do is quit your regular job, at least not until you have a large stable of clients who use you regularly.

Cannot find this research information anywhere? Any help would be fantastic.

There might not be any official data. But in my experience, three years is a long lifespan in one of these jobs.

I’ve dreamt about this just about every day for 6 years–that’s about 25% of my life already. I want to be the first founder of a performing arts high school in my country. I actually write down details about what the school would look like, what the school’s philosophy would be like, the school’s corporate identity and culture, what kind of teachers will be teaching there, what kind of students will it attract, what alumni and ex students will grow to become, what facilities will be available, side enterprises it will give students and teachers the opportunity to participate in, and other businesses (the media, scholarship bodies, tertiary education institutes, theatre and dance companies, record labels, production houses, NGOs, the government…)

Now, the past 6 years of my life had also been a tough one… unwise choices concerning my study (mostly due to ignorance and lack of guidance), disappointment, studies fell apart, separated from parents by the continent since my mid teens only to return home in my early twenties totally failing my plans, and nervous breakdown. However, since my decision to restart college at 22, my studies have seen success, and so have my emotional health and stability.

I’m now a junior (third year) student of a bachelor’s degree in Performing Arts Communication–not at a Conservatoire but at a Public Relations school. It’s a new program so we get to be the guinea pigs for raw communication management classes copied from its PR and Mass Communication majors, supplemented by singing, acting, directing, and production classes. However, this campus has not adequately taught us the value of the longsuffering, painstaking mentality that’s required of professional performers, nor has it equipped us with the proper theory and techniques. So yes, I can sing a bit, act a bit, direct a bit, and all that, but am by no means qualified to practice performing arts professionally.

The reason why I chose this college was because it was close to home, promised to dig deeper into disciplines I learnt from my previous majors (business, advertising, politics & culture, philosophy) from a performing arts perspective, seemed gave me a second chance to try my potential in a field I had to give up in high school due to circumstances, and was the perfect opportunity to heal myself from the nervous breakdown by proving that I can study something for four years successfully. But obviously my second and third expectations from the list above has been somewhat disappointed.

I didn’t study Education per se, because being the teacher is not my goal. However, now that this dream is maturing, I’m more open to the possibility of going into it. But with so many specialisations in the Education field, which one should I take?

My goal is to raise the capital, design the curriculum, define the corporate identity and culture, devise the business plan, and train qualified performing arts (and other) teachers to educate adolescents in our values. That’s why I studied all the other things before (although they were arguably ill-advised choices that didn’t lead me any closer to this dream).

And of course, once I graduate from here, I plan to practice performing arts (singing and acting) by joining a good quality theatre company (truly professional ones don’t exist in my country as none have been successful in raising profits on their own, so that means I’ll still need a day job in addition to this). I currently work translating mining feasibility studies into English–which I like, do well in, and earn good money from–but that’s because I have bills to pay now… not that I intend to spend all my life making this into my career.

Alright, so that’s my situation. Any advice from people who have been involved in the founding and running of a successful school? If I should study again after getting my bachelor’s degree in "Performing Arts Communication", what should I study, and where? What jobs should I look into, which I might qualify for and will be useful in preparing me to eventually action the establishment of the school? What kind of friends should I have around me, and what kind of mentors should I seek?

(I live in the industrialised capital of a developing Southeast Asian country. In the past I have aimed at TV broadcasting and copywriting for brand development/advertising as fields to start working in.)

Thank you!

If it itches scratch it.

Any suggestions out there? Thanks for taking your time to help me out. Good luck to you!

You can create your online portfolio and bid for freelance writing jobs and projects over websites such as elance.com and odesk.com, just prove that you got the talent in writing and I’m sure a lot of web owners will hire you. but be aware of scammers.

I have always worked in editorial. But have just been given a commission by a UK company to do a number of freelance copycopywriting jobs. However, I have never done freelance work before. Does anyone what I have to do here? Do I have to declare myself self-employed? Set up an umbrella company? Is there a set of standard invoices? What do I do about tax? A lot of questions, I know. But then I’m a real dumbass! Sorry about that…

Sounds like a good opportunity for you to set up your own business. I think there is a demand for good copy writers.

my advice would be to 1st set-up a company how to do that in basic terms is

1. think of a name - somthing you like
2. decide on your legal set-up i.e sole trader or limited company - the link bellow will answer 3 of your questions
3. register with companies house if you need to
4. open a bank account - so you can get paid - there is link attached when you can free templates from for your invoices (check out all the banks because they have good offers for new businesses. I’ve used barclays and they have been ok
5. you will need a brand - logo(to put on your invoice), stationary, website(if you want more work to come through)

the links below are numbered and refer to the points above

i’m also looking for a good copywriter my email address is alam@c8imc.co.uk plus if you need any further advice i’m sure i can point you in the right direction

good look with it all

is there anywhere online that you can put your song lyrics in and pay to have them copy written instead of mailing them out?

You dont even have to pay. There’s a free copyrighting site online..

http://www.myfreecopyright.com

Have an old Bible with no copywriting date (circa 1800’s). Trying to establish age

About 1880

i have no training or experience in this.i have a degree in education with a major in english and business management.

Here are two things you can explore:

1) Apply for copywriter positions. Search www.moster.com and you will find hundreds of open positions. With a business and English degree you are more than qualified.

2) Register with a freelance directory and begin taking on copy writing projects. This will give you the experience you lack as well as generate income.

Best of luck.

I want to be a freelance copywriter. What’s the best way to start? I know you’ll all say join an agency, but with the market and everything it’s not that easy. I believe it may be cheaper to solicit my own services and build a portfolio from there.

Any advice on how to go about this? what I need?

To convince people to hire you independently, you will need to show references from those who have used your services, and examples of professional work completed. Regardless of how easy you think it will be to go this alone, it will be much harder - first you have to find companies that would need the services of a copywriter, and them convince them to hire you without any professional experience, references, or professional submissions. Look on your own if you want to, but in the meantime, join an agency, build up a portfolio, and then strike out on your own.

I need a person with great design skills, ideally an art director. I don’t have a lot of money, so portfolio school is out of the question. I don’t want to take out any more loans, etc. Any idea how to find someone quickly? Is there a forum for copywriters trying to find art directors and vice versa? I also cannot pay them much, so hopefully they need my writing skills too! And it can be a trade of sorts!

you need some job experience. Which means that you’re going to need to work with an employment agency. Online Opportunities is the company that I worked with and had a wonderful experience with. They have all sorts of jobs in your field. Many of their jobs range from 12-20/hr. Most of their jobs have benefits and 401K. You should try them. i know they helped me.