How to Set Up a Freelance Writing Business: An Insider Guide to Setting Up and Running Your Own Copywriting Business

256 Pages·2008·0.77 MB·English

by  Jason Deign

HOW TO SET UP A
FREELANCE
WRITING
BUSINESS
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HOW TO SET UP A
FREELANCE
WRITING
BUSINESS
An Insider Guide to setting up and running
your own copywriting business
JASON DEIGN
howtobooks
For Áine

Published by How To Content,
A division of How To Books Ltd,
Spring Hill House, Spring Hill Road, Begbroke
Oxford OX5 1RX, United Kingdom.
Tel: [phone]. Fax: [phone].
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