Copywriting | Writing | Confessions
3 Years of Copywriting in 3 Minutes!
Confessions I am ashamed, yet proud of!
Did you know that copywriting has another name?
It’s called professional procrastinating.
Even though this might seem to be my first confession, it’s not. I stole that line and changed it a bit.
Now that would be my first confession.
I steal with all the zeal
Let’s be honest, every creative steals, right? We even have a name for this process of stealing.
We call it research!
According to David Ogilvy, in a 40-hour workweek, a copywriter spends about 36 hours on research and only 4 hours on the actual writing.
A French writer André Gide puts it this way,
Everything that needs to be said, has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again.
If someone says they are making 100% unique content, they are lying.
I’m not saying they are a thief; they are just really smart people who know how to change inspirations into the content of their own.
I go to Pinterest and look at the words of famous people and brands. I copy down my favorite ones and then try to come up with my own.
The more you read, the better you write.
This brings me to the part where I justify buying 40 books in a single day!
In the nook with my book
Some people might argue that a fiction book does not do much for copywriting, but I beg to differ.
I believe copywriting is a work of imagination.
To craft a copy that would compel readers by telling them a story, your imagination needs to be strong!
And that is the excuse I give myself to open up my wallet every time I see new books (especially with cute covers with cartoon people on them).
Please don’t come over — I’m an introvert
I sound like a very friendly, outgoing person, don’t I?
Well, I’m not. I am an extremely introverted person, who likes to write, read, watch and eat.
Wow that was quite a spontaneous rhyme.
But I also believe that an introvert is only shy until they become comfortable and for me that comfort zone is writing and my best friend.
If I have successfully convinced you with my writing that I have an outgoing personality, I would consider myself quite a good copywriter.
But who am I to decide that? So, what do you think? Am I, or aren’t I?
Another thing that should have made this list is “how hard it is for me to explain my freaking job!”.
And I did start writing about that, but the read time went from 3 minutes to 15 minutes! Which made me realize that I would have to write a whole different post on that topic.
Whenever I tell someone, I’m a copywriter, I get to hear one of the following:
- So, whose work do you copy?
- What is copyright law anyway?
- You write copies? Does that mean you’re a human photocopier?
God, the nerve people have to ask these types of questions. There was a time when I stopped calling myself a copywriter and just went with writer!
Let me know if you want to hear that story and my rant about people not understanding my job. I’ll try to make it as entertaining as possible ;)
