How to Set Up a Freelance Writing Business: An Insider Guide to Setting Up and Running Your Own Copywriting Business PDF
Preview How to Set Up a Freelance Writing Business: An Insider Guide to Setting Up and Running Your Own Copywriting Business
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Contents Acknowledgements xi Preface xiii Note from the Author xv PART 1: YOUR BUSINESS 1 1 Why Become a Copywriter? 3 What is copywriting? 3 The right qualities 7 Running your own business 11 Earnings 13 2 Getting Started 15 The good news 15 The basics 16 What sort of business? 19 Other considerations 22 What you absolutely have to do 25 3 Getting Kitted Out 27 What you need to get going 27 Your computer 28 Software 31 Internet access 34 Computer peripherals 36 Other equipment 38 Furniture 40 Vehicles 41 4 Where to Work 42 Your options 42 Working from home 42 Working in an office 46 Working from client premises 49 v vi / How to Set Up a Freelance Writing Business 5 Book Keeping for Copywriters 53 Where do you start? 53 How do accounts work? 54 Your financial year 57 Receipts 57 Invoices 63 Managing cash flow 65 Choosing an accountant 67 Filing your own tax returns 68 National Insurance 69 VAT 69 6 How to Find Work – and Keep It 72 Sources of income 72 Networking 73 Advertising and promotion 73 Finding work on the web 74 Working through agencies 79 Drumming up business over the phone 79 Pitching, impressing, winning and pricing 80 Ensuring repeat business 86 7 Getting Help 87 Don’t be alarmed! 87 Lawyers and legal matters 87 Professional bodies 88 Working with other freelancers 90 Training 91 Finding information 92 PART 2: YOUR WRITING 95 8 Delivering Great Copy 97 What makes great copy? 97 Keep it short 98 Keep it simple 100 Keep it interesting 102 Keep it relevant 104 Contents / vii Keep it active 106 Keep it honest 107 Finding inspiration 110 How to present copy 112 9 Things to Watch Out For 113 Respect the language 113 Abbreviations 115 Apostrophes 116 Capital letters in names 117 Collective nouns 118 Exclamation marks 119 Jargon 119 Repetition 121 Use of italics, bold or upper case type 122 Words to watch out for 122 US or UK English? 124 Avoid clichés 124 10 Writing for Advertising 126 Before we start 126 What does advertising do? 126 Using creativity to sell 129 Benefits and USPs 131 Maximum impact, minimum copy 132 Thinking in words and pictures 133 Getting a response 134 Writing for different media 134 11 Writing for Direct Mail 140 The basics 140 Selling by mail 141 The importance of targeting 141 Being creative 142 Clinching the deal 144 Some golden rules for DM copywriters 145 Consumer and business-to-business audiences 146 Email marketing 147 viii / How to Set Up a Freelance Writing Business 12 Writing for Internal Communications 151 What is internal communications? 151 Processes involved in internal communications programmes 152 Striking the right tone 154 Dealing with approvals 155 Creating and maintaining a style guide 156 Human interest and business stories 158 Managing internal communications programmes 160 13 Writing for the internet 164 A short history of the internet 164 The basics of web copy 166 The appearance of text 169 Thinking in hypertext 171 Words to watch out for 172 Other essential information 173 14 Writing for the Press 177 A major market 177 The principles of journalism 178 The editorial process 180 Sources of information 181 Writing news 183 Writing features 183 Headlines and captions 185 Writing to length 187 Writing for newspapers, magazines, contract publishers and news wires 187 Pitching ideas 189 15 Writing for Public Relations 191 The difference between journalism and PR 191 How PR works 192 Giving journalists the basis of a story 194 Writing a damn good press release 194 Key messages 198 When not to write press releases 199 Other types of press material 199 16 Writing for Sales and Sales Promotion 203 Types of sales copy 203 Contents / ix Brochures 203 Leaflets, flyers and posters 204 Point-of-sale materials 205 On-pack 205 Media packs 206 Case studies 206 White papers 206 Dealing with sales people 207 Working with designers 208 17 Writing for Other Media 209 An infinite variety 209 Blurbs 210 Business plans 211 Manuals and technical documents 213 Presentations 214 Speech writing 216 Video scripts 218 Other types of writing 220 18 Beyond Copywriting 221 Where next? 221 Sticking to your guns 221 Consultancy 222 Marketing 223 Brand and corporate identity 223 Setting up your own agency 224 Creative writing 224 Sources and References 226 Index 235
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