Client starts writing her own copy...

Mabh

Wow! How to feel like a complete failure. One of my more frequent commercial customers (I have written her web copy, blogspots, etc) has started writing her own copy. It's not as good as mine; she's perfectly capable of writing in sentences but somehow always seems to get the information in the wrong order, diluting her impact and not getting over what she intends. But she's cheaper than me! I did, in fact, charge her about half my normal rate, so I was quite cheap for a copywriter. I wonder if that was my mistake - by charging relatively little, she thinks it's easier than it is! And then, of course, there's the bone-crunchingly awful fact that your average Joe (whoever he is) might not be able to tell the difference. I keep telling myself that people can tell the difference, but couldn't tell you why, but that's not going to replace the lost work! I suppose that I must have started writing my own copy rather than using a PR in the past, so maybe this is just what happens. Boooh, though.

Baggy Books

This happened to me too.

What really irked me was that some folk knew I'd been involved in the website originally and might now think the errors were mine.

Jay Mandal

It may be due to the credit crunch - no money to pay someone else to do it. A pity, though, especially if people think any errors etc are yours.

Mabh

I guess it could be credit-crunchy. So many people try to do stuff themselves these days, from writing to designing to building! Do we as a nation no longer believe in expertise? Or do we not care?

Baggy Books

To care is human, to forgive? Unlikely.

Liz

She may find she doesn't have the time ginger and come back... it's not exactly easy keeping everything up to date etc.

Carol

And the difference in style is usually obvious, so I wouldn't worry people will think it is you.

Mabh

Well, I hope people don't think that it's still me. It's not that she makes spelling mistakes and so on, rather that she just jumbles out a load of stuff that doesn't go anywhere. Ironically, I think the reason for this is that she tries to do it in a couple of minutes rather than thinking and editing, thinking and editing, as I'm sure we all do. I sometimes think clients look at their two sheets of carefully crafted copywriting (...with or without alliteration) and think, 'I could have typed this out in five minutes, so why is she charging me half a day?'

LilyC

I have a similar problem with the organisation I work for. I run our large website and train divisional web authors in how to write for the web, write in plain English and how to understand web best practise and standards. The trained staff get it really well, but then their managers (most of whom won't come on the training) walk all over them and say they 'want it like this' - which is often far too wordy and breaks all the rules. Fortunately for me I can refuse to publish stuff that isn't written correctly, and I'm not too bothered by having to explain why to managers.

Another thing some managers will do is try to get staff to be given logins without going through the training - absolutely not! Even yesterday I was told one manager thought the the training was a waste of time - anyone can do it.' Let's just say the staff he puts forward in future will receive ADDITIONAL training.

When I was a freelance designer, one of the main reasons I gave up was because I couldn't cope with putting my name on badly worded sites.

I feel for you Ginger, and I think you're absolutely right. People see something done well and think 'that's easy'. But it's not. The only way out of this will be when your client's popularity drops as a result, and she might come sneaking back. And you are not a failure - it's actually testimony to how good you are that others may think it's so simple.

Jay Mandal

Websites (for writers) with spelling mistakes annoy me.

Carol

And when she comes back charge a bit more...

Mabh

Now there's a thought, Carol!!!

Kaz

I think there is a bit of a tendency with copywriting, for non-specialists to think it is something they can do for themselves, whereas the majority of us wouldn't dream of carrying out our own dentistry for example - OK, in cases of emergency . . . ouch! Don't, whatever you do, undervalue yourself, Ginger. Always charge what you are worth (in some cases more if the client is a pain!) I realise it's difficult when we are are being bombarded with 'credit crunch' messages everywhere we turn, but if I were you, I'd rather have a couple of quality clients on my books, than these scrimpers who drain your resources. There are only so many hours in a day.

Great copywriters make their art look effortless - this is most probably what has happened here - you've made the whole process look too damn easy, so this client may still come back to you if her writing is not producing the results yours did. And when she does, you can hit her with your 'revised' rates. Best of luck.

Phots Moll

Hopefully she'll soon see it's more difficult than it seems. Many people could write a few blog entries, but would struggle to keep coming up with fresh ideas. Maybe she'll see the difference in quality too and begin to appreciate what you did for her. If she does ask you to work for her again, you should definitely put the price up.

Claudia

Commiserations, Ginger. Reading through these posts, I find similar attitudes regarding article writing. A friend of mine, an aspiring writer, can’t understand why I get my articles published whilst she has had no joy. What can I say? :)

Mabh

Hmm, maybe she will come back when she runs out of ideas. That is half the trick with this game, though, isn't it - making ordinary things sound characterful and interesting! I do feel professionally bruised, but then, I occasionally write short stories and articles which are usually rubbish - so I guess that's me doing the same thing as her!

Kaz

I meant to say, Ginger, when my friend was starting out as a copywriter, she sometimes used to do bits and pieces for free when she thought it would lead to bigger gigs (it rarely did). Anyway, this guy approached her about doing a (local)radio commercial for his NLP business and she agreed, even though it was two days before Christmas and the deadline was Christmas! He emailed her the briefing and after she'd read through everything that was required (and believe me, there were a lot of stipulations!) at the bottom under 'Project Budget' he'd written: zero pence!

The mug still went ahead and did it for him and the three versions - yes, THREE versions got aired and the only thing my mate received was a one-line thank you note.

Hope this cheers you up, Ginger! What a game to be in, eh?

Best, Kaz

Mabh

Oh my goodness, Kaz, what a stinking brief that was! You know, it's funny, but since I've been freelance it's amazing how many people ask me to do stuff for free. I think each requester thinks they're the only one! Somebody once asked me to work up their whole brand image (I do marketing as well) in return for some management training (????). I have been known to offer free marketing advice to the local teeny-tiny businesswomen groups (now there's an image), but I draw the line at free copywriting. That's far too precious to dish out for free. Must remember not to dish it out for a low price, either!

Amanda

hi ginger, i must say i am prompted to come out of lurking and give you my utmost sympathy.

I am a riding teacher and have 25+ years of equine experience and i was continually hounded for 'freebies' all day everyday when i kept my horses on a local stable yard. To go to the local riding school would have cost 25.00 per hour but they wanted it all for free or thought they could 'bung me a fiver'. But i think the worst of it all was the horse care side. No-one wanted to call out a vet or actually spend time working with their horses behavior. In the end it was a big facture in my move to france, as i was loosing all my time that should have been spent working with my horses or just giving them lots of cuddles in the fields.

People never value anything that is given away. I hope that this person soon finds the error of her ways and pays you some decent money!

Mabh

Hello lurking Amanda! Merci! I think that people who have done the incredibly brave thing of doing what they feel passionate about get targetted by freeloaders - I know a few complementary therapists who have the same problem. The truth comes out with the vet and behavior aspect, doesn't it? They like the dream, but not the reality. I suppose it's because we're in the position of having skills that are envied, which a lot of people think they would also have if they put their minds to it, and yet they are not prepared to make the big leap into the unknown to do it for real. You are (all) so right about the not underselling yourself thing. Only this morning, I was advising a photographer not to cut her prices in an effort to boost sales. I need to take my own medicine!

collide-o-scope

When I was working for a media company earlier this year we did an annual report for this food co-operative and they were huffing and puffing about the cost. In order to try to save money they opted to proof read it themselves. When it came back from the printer's it was riddled with mistakes; compliment instead of complement, first to third person in one sentence, inconsistency with words like co-operative/cooperative. They may have saved a few bob but they got a shabbily written document for their stinginess (or a poor pamphlet for their parsimony, if you are into the whole alliteration thing) ;-)

Mabh

Oh no! That's cringingly awful. But how typical - people think 'oh I've got my o level/A level/whatever in English, so of course I'm a great proof reader'! Not realising that it's a very rare skill indeed and more about in-built pernicketiness than English qualifications. I used to work for a catalogue company, and I once found fifty-odd errors in a copy that had been 'proof-read' by the entire staff of about twenty. Huh!

Kaz

Tell you what annoys me, Ginger. It's when you see ads for copywriters and the companies demand a degree in English, or similar. It's just too formal - like they have no idea what makes a good copywriter. No offence to anyone with a degree in English!

Mabh

Know where you're coming from, Kaz. I've noticed recently that a lot of companies ask for what they think is the 'obvious' qualification. I think it happens when the company doesn't have the skill in-house already, so they're both guessing what's needed and trying to cover their proverbials in case the new employee turns out to be rubbish. It could be worse, though - they could be insisting on a writing degree for copywriters, a journalism degree for journalists, a marketing degree for marketers... etc. Anyone much over 40 will definately sympathise (there were no degrees in these subjects in our youth!).

Katinkia

My partner and his family have a marketing agency and he writes a lot of copy for stuff - brochures and such. He doesn't think he is talented at all but I do. He is much better at writing than I am. I am jealous! But he is not interested at all in doing it in his spare time. Anyway the point is, he has no qualifications other than his basic schooling (public school though) and NEVER have they had anything printed with silly mistakes in. I am so shocked and annoyed even sometimes when I read stuff in magazines that has really silly mistakes in. I'm no Lynn Truss but even I wouldn't make some of the basic mistakes that some apparently 'qualified' people do.

dorothyd

Oh I can sympathise with the 'freebie' thing. One of our authors sent me a huge manuscript, nothing to do with my company's output, and asked if I would read it (all of it!) and comment on it. I read the first two pages which were appalling. Like, one sentence which went on for an entire paragraph and the entire sentence/paragraph was so full of purple prose the whole lot needed to go. I wrote on it, showed him where and how to cut and advised him to think it through. I have not only never heard again, I also have had no new books for the company to put out ... he obviously got upset, but - if you ask for criticism, and want to know why it has been rejected over and over and you're told, accept it! For nothing, too!
And then this guy wrote. He has been trying to get books for free by exchanging stuff, he sent me books which were so bad I binned them (condition wise, that is, thumbed, torn, dirty) and lately has taken to sending us DVDS. He slipped up, one of them was ours, bootlegged by someone else ... so we said no way do we exchange books for these, thank you. So he tries something else. Would my 'Master' write to him and here's the key to his chastity cage and would I write to him. I sent the key back and told him we would write. both of us, at £25 a letter. As he uses unused stamps sellotaped to his envelopes (usually insufficient at that) and tries to trade rather than actually pay money for something, I think I have heard the last of him. At least, I hope so.

Carol

Some people...

Mabh

Lord, Dorothy! Blimey. 'My' freeloaders are so tame in comparison...