Keen Copywriter? Alternatives to blogging.

HiMyNameIsLauren

Hi all,

This is my first post on MSE, so I thought I'd make it worthwhile... or well, I hope it is! :S Either way, would love the feedback and will help me to understand if it's worth adding more in the future, or just continue to lurk and not try and add value to this site.

Keen Copywriter? Alternatives to blogging...

Setting Expectations
Some people are under the illusion that blogging is easy and that you can make an absolute fortune at it. The reality is somewhat different, so here's some notes to help with your expectations:

- Only a small percentile make the big bucks. Be happy if you make a few hundred pounds a month, you've done a good job getting that far and remember, it may take you a considerable amount of time to do that
- It takes blood, sweat and tears. Don't expect miracles over night, it takes time to develop and establish a community/traffic building blog that makes you money
- There's more to it than just writing, you've got to understand the different revenue making opportunities out there. Basic marketing and tech know-how will certainly help

But hey, don't let me put you off! If you have the free time to spare and you're in it for the long run, this could be the right choice for you.

The alternatives?
So, now I've grounded any wannabe bloggers out there on a sense of realism, let's get back to the case in hand here - upping your income.

Copify
The effect of a near to bankrupt country and companies wanting more for their money, many look to new ways of outsourcing certain jobs - copy-writing being one of these.

'Copify' sells themselves as a 'copywriting agency'. Basically, it's a database of copywriters who are willing to write articles for those whom submit jobs to the site - copify act as the middle-man and hold the payment until job complete.

So, there you have it - there are websites such as copify that you can complete small writing tasks and be paid within 48hrs. Downside? Hmmm well... you don't earn much per job complete (I think it's from 3p to 5p per work). People who will benefit from completing these tasks are those that have spare time, want continuous payments and hey, if you complete x1 300 word article an hour (at the pro rate) then that's £15 per hour. While I'm sure some will think it's outrageous to be paid so little per word, £15 per hour sure beats flipping burgers!

Gazing_On_Sunsets

I agree with you that people are all swept away by some myth of making money blogging. I think people are getting carried away with online stuff, full stop. In September I decided to seriously start to write. I started blogging, of course, and did guest blogs for other places - one of which is now a regular thing. I also pitched non-fiction articles to magazines. And THAT'S where the money is. If you're good enough to write cracking copy for the internet, you should be trying to write for print. They pay far better. Now lots of writers are coy about what they earn, and I will admit I can't live on the writing alone...but I did a 900-word article that's out in March, and I was paid £150. I've working on a 1,800 word thing which will get me £100. I did 250 words for a weekly magazine and got £35. Even the lowest rates of pay here are better than Copify, I'm afraid.

Thing is, people are all jumping into the internet based stuff - but the print market hasn't gone away, and it's hungry for stuff.

DS4215

Whats the best way to approach the print market? - do you approach the magazines individually or is there some other way to do it?

Gazing_On_Sunsets

You need to research the magazine you want to pitch to, and make sure you've read a few copies so you understand their style and so on - do this in the library for free! Also check Writer and Artist's Yearbook to see their submission guidelines. (Although I've got a monthly column, which pays, in a magazine that isn't in the yearbook - very small ones aren't). If you have a niche area of expertise, ie fishkeeping, look for publications in that field.

Then you write a pitch, also called proposal or query. There are loads of proforma on the net, but essentially you'll put word count, intro, summary or outline (ie a paragraph by paragraph summary), notes about images you can provide, and your contact details. Also, anything you'll already had published, online or otherwise. If you have no track record you might consider, at first, writing the whole article on spec so you prove to them that you can do it. Once you have some recent clippings to you name, you won't need to do that.

Go into a large newsagents and look at all the periodicals there - gasping for content! - and yes, they do pay. Go small, go niche.

HiMyNameIsLauren

Thanks for the input GOS and it sounds like a fantastic alternative. My one concern would be the uptake rate of articles. GOS, what do you do with rejected articles? I'm sure some may fear rejection, or find constant rejection is restricting on their income (down to the writers quality of work of course), so I can see where Copify (or similar) has its place for certain people, however, I can see many more pros to the print market, especially as you put it, finding a niche.

Anyone else have any other alternatives?

Gazing_On_Sunsets

HiMyNameIsLauren wrote: »

Thanks for the input GOS and it sounds like a fantastic alternative. My one concern would be the uptake rate of articles. GOS, what do you do with rejected articles? I'm sure some may fear rejection, or find constant rejection is restricting on their income (down to the writers quality of work of course), so I can see where Copify (or similar) has its place for certain people, however, I can see many more pros to the print market, especially as you put it, finding a niche.

Anyone else have any other alternatives?

To be a writer is to be rejected, but it's never personal. Once you're in the stage of writing pitches/queries, you're not writing full articles which may get rejected anyway, which cuts down wasted time. You can write a good pitch quite quickly and get a yes/no on the strength of that. I have also written short stories for women's fiction magazines, and that's not so good for me as you have to write the whole thing, which might - or might not! - get accepted. I don't have so much success with them so I don't concentrate on it.

It's just that I've done both, and the cash comes from print. There are so many people trying to establish an online byline that they work for peanuts or for free, to get their name known, and it means that websites will chose one of them to write for them - not a more able, and more expensive, writer.

On the other hand...I do write for a few websites. None of them are paid. I do it for love AND because one of the websites is in one of my niche areas, it has led onto print articles in the same topic. Also, I have been asked to do product reviews and in many cases I can keep the product.

I am not entirely clear on what "constant rejection is restricting on their income" means. If you do your research and pitch two articles/queries a day, in your lunch hour at work or whatever, and have a 10% strike rate, that's pretty good going and you'll have a reasonable additional income. But you have to be top-notch on spelling and grammar. It's not for everyone but if you have a good enough grasp of English and clear enough self-expression, look to print before online.

Sadly many people won't make the transition from online to print, because online there is far less quality control. People may be getting online work for peanuts but find they cannot break into print because of lack of basic self-editing skills. So I could never say "everyone should do this."