Get started as a freelance copywriter – collect junk mail

Freelance copywriters write for business. They write everything from tiny ads to 300-page product manuals. They write email messages, news releases, media kits – whatever writing needs businesses have, a copywriter can fulfill them.

If you’re a brand new copywriter, READ ADVERTISEMENTS. Read ads everywhere you find them. Read them in your junk mail, in magazines, and on the Web. Watch TV ads. Reading advertising will give you a feel for it. Over time, you’ll begin to understand how and why advertising is crafted. Many copywriters keep “swipe files” of effective advertising, that they can refer to when they’re writing. This is a great idea, because in the past 100 years there’s been little that’s new in advertising, only the medium has changed.

Businesses need to sell – so copywriters write to sell: they persuade
As I explained in my freelance writing for beginners article in the ezine this week, a freelancer writes for money. As self-evident as this seems, very few new (or even experienced) freelance writers think about this aspect. Their attention, understandably so, is on the writing.

However, unless you know why you’re writing, there’s no way that you can do a good job.

Read junk mail; get jobs
So please read and collect good examples of the copywriter’s art from your junk mail. Over the years, I’ve snagged many gigs just by keeping my eye on my junk mail.

My ebook First Steps in Your Copywriting Career: cash in on the demand for business writers, by Angela Booth gets you started copywriting. It’s fun.

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