If I had more time, I'd write shorter,

said Mark Twain, my hero (well, one of them) who UNDERSTANDS what it is to be a writer.

It is a paradox, to be sure, or one of those riddles wrapped up in an endless enigma...

Salvador Dali's The Endless Enigma

 ...that to write short copy is so very much more time consuming than writing longer pieces.

On occasions, I've been sent six A4 pages of densely written background information and a page long brief. When I respectfully enquire how many words are required, I'm told "Oh, only about a hundred or less..." with the implication that this will a) take very little time, and therefore, b) cost very little money.

Hmmmmmm!

(That reminds me. I worked with one designer, who shall be nameless, who, if my copy was too long  for the allotted space, simply cut the last few words or sentences to make it fit!)

Writing short copy? Easy-peasy?  No it isn't.
 
Let me refer you, dear readers, to Thoreau, who said "Not that the story need be long, but it will take a long time to make it short."

Or to F. D. Roosevelt, who asserted that it took him an hour to write a one-hour speech and two hours to write a half-hour version.

It's not easy to fit complex marketing messages and a call to action into very few (compelling) words, but that's part of my job and I love it.

AND it takes time.

Believe me.

Some people have a way with words, and other people...oh, uh, not have way.

Thank you Steve Martin for bringing an extra large smile to my face on this rainy morning. (I say extra large because rain doesn't stop me from smiling at all!)

As an editor of brochures and articles for different companies, I have developed some pet peeves.

(No, surely not, Caroline. You are so linguistically tolerant, as we all know.)

from Sorcha's Haven

When people write, often covering difficult topics very well, the one thing I wish they wouldn't do is use a long word where a short word would do. Not just 'do' but be better and provide more clarity. I can't stand any form of sesquipedalian loquaciousness.

Here is the Number One pet peeve of the moment, guaranteed to make my nimble fingers reach for my editor's machete and slash without mercy.

UTILISE instead of USE.

 

I'm sure it's because people want to add gravitas to their work but utilising utilise (see what I did there?) simply has the effect of making it sound pretentious and over-written.

So when WOULD you use utilise then?

Here's what Grammar Girl says (except I changed the z to s because I'm proud to be British!)

"Utilise does have very specific and valid uses, mostly in the scientific world. The word “utilise” often appears “in contexts in which a strategy is put to practical advantage or a chemical or nutrient is being taken up and used effectively.”  For example, according to the American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style, you might hear “utilise” properly used in a sentence such as “If a diet contains too much phosphorus, calcium is not utilised efficiently.”

Lifelong learning...

What Wikipedia doesn't tell you about a copywriter's default setting.

Actually, I don't think Wikipedia says ANYTHING about a copywriter's default setting, still less mine,  because I made it up.

In the usual feast or famine way of copywriting, I haven't had much work on, in fact, NO work at all for the past couple of weeks.

Then I get three jobs in the space of twenty four hours...

Jubilation? Not immediately because I looked at the briefs and fell straight into my copywriter default setting.

I CAN'T DO IT.

In that way, I'm very much like Alfie De Horse when confronted by something that alarms him.

There is absolutely no evidence that there is any copywriting job that would be beyond my level of competence.

My clients are always pleased with my work.

They give me more projects.

I am head-hunted.

I've worked with one client for over ten years.

So WHY, in the face of  all this evidence, do I think, even for a micro-second, that I can't do the work?

By way of a footnote, I completed all three projects.

The clients were delighted.

5 surprising ways that copywriting is more refreshing than new socks

Do you like the title? Do ya?

The thing is, I didn't think of it. THIS did.

http://www.portent.com/tools/title-maker/

Son Tim, bless his little (old and distinctly unrefreshing) cotton socks, set me a challenge. 'Generate a title then write a blog about it.'

I chose the subject 'copywriting.' I cheated a bit because the first title came up as 'Why Kim Kardashian will never be any good at copywriting.' Apart from knowing nothing about Kim Kardashian except that I'm not interested in knowing anything about Kim Kardashian, I'd rather not be sued. (Who IS she anyway?)

by Zinkai

SO - 5 surprising ways copywriting is more refreshing than new socks?

1. Copywriting doesn't make your feet sweat (very often)
2. With copywriting, you don't have to bend down as much
3. Copywriting refreshes the brain cells that new socks can never reach
4. Copywriting comes in many shapes but socks are always...well, sock-shaped.
5. New socks aren't that refreshing anyway

From Flying Buttresses

Hmmmmmmm.

Thanks, Tim.

Note to self: Don't open anymore of Tim's emails.

I have always believed that copywriting is the second most profitable form of writing. The first, of course, is ransom notes.

With thanks, and slight apologies for changing a couple of words, to Philip Dusenberry, American advertising executive.

Ransom notes! A gap in the market? I shall start a kidnapper client database immediately...

Copywriting profitable? Yes, if you charge fairly (fairly to yourself, I mean!) and have enough clients. As far as clients go, word of mouth has done well for me. I could still do with more, but I'm working on that.

Hint, hint.

Not that I'm begging or anything.

Here's how NOT to attract people to your copywriting services:

Post an advert like this. This is real.  (Name changed out of pity)

"Meet copywriter Willy Wordsmith and learn about the Acellerated Six-Figure Copywriting Program."

Oh yes. EXACTLY the sort of attention to detail and impeccability anyone would jump at with unbounded glee when thinking about hiring a copywriter.

Pretty much like using this image...

...to promote the efficacy of your car valeting business.

That's how not to....

Next...HOW TO?