When I started out as a copywriter, few knew about copywriting as a profession outside of ad agencies or direct mail shops.

But in recent years, interest has grown dramatically. Maybe it’s the economy and job losses that has people seeking new opportunities. Or it could be the small industry that has grown around promoting copywriter career information.

Whatever it is, there are more people interested in discovering what this “copywriting thing” is all about than ever before.

I’m always getting questions about this, so I’ve put together a Copywriter Information Center on my main business website. Aspiring copywriters can find information about what copywriters do, who does the hiring, typical pay, available full-time jobs, and more.

I’ll be adding information over time, so bookmark the page for reference. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, let me know. I’ll make notes for future updates or answer your questions on my ProCopyTips blog.

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People use the word “freelance” quite a lot these days, generally to refer to someone who doesn’t have a “real” job. But that’s hardly an accurate definition.

The word freelance comes from the Middle Ages, when there were basically two types of knights. There were the knights who worked exclusively for one king. Then there were the “free lancers,” or knights who worked for anyone who would pay them.

The idea of freelancing is still with us, but kings have been replaced by businesses, while knights have been replaced by professionals of all kinds. Today there are more freelancers than ever before and more freelancing opportunities as well. But it’s important to have a firm understanding of what freelance really means today.

Here’s a good definition:

A freelancer or freelance worker is a person who pursues a profession without a long-term commitment to any one employer.

This describes freelancing pretty well. The part about having no long-term commitment to one employer is easy to understand. It is quite different from being a full-time employee.

As an employee, you enter into a contract with an employer. The deal is that you show up every day and do a certain type of work. In return, you get a regular paycheck and benefits. Your contract is exclusive, meaning you work for that one employer and (generally) no other.

As a freelancer, you also enter into contracts, but with many “employers.” The deal is that you will do a certain type of work, but you can generally do the work at any location you choose, and the work is usually on a project-by-project basis. In return, you get paid for the work you do according to a fee that you and the business mutually agree to for each project. There are usually no benefits. Your contract is non-exclusive, meaning you may work for as many other businesses as you like.

Some types of freelancing end up being very much like employment in that you often work for just one business at a time. Years ago, I worked for an ad agency on a freelance, but nearly full-time, basis. Later I did the same thing with a “book packager,” writing and editing school textbooks, again for just one employer and nearly full-time. In both cases, it was possible to take on other freelance work, but it would have been impractical. It was basically a job without benefits.

Let’s go back to the definition of a freelancer:

A freelancer or freelance worker is a person who pursues a profession without a long-term commitment to any one employer.

What about the word “profession”? Well, we can define profession like this:

A profession is an occupation, vocation or career where specialized knowledge of a subject, field, or science is applied.

The best way to understand this is to think about the sort of people who are usually called “professionals.” This includes lawyers, doctors, dentists, architects, accountants, and so on. Those in a professional field are generally respected and often, though not always, highly paid. Teachers, for example, are professionals, but are generally not paid particularly well.

In summary, we can say that a freelancer is an “independent professional.” A person with a career, but not a job. Someone with “employers,” but who is not actually employed.

This may all seem fairly obvious at first glance, but it’s important to keep in mind if you choose to pursue freelancing. Always remember that you are a professional, because you will need specialized knowledge and skills to do the work. And also remember that you are not an employee, because this distinction will affect how you interact with prospects and clients and can substantially affect the path of your career.

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It seems every time you turn on the news, there’s another crisis. Another business failure. Another bailout. Another depressing statistic. More evidence that no one has any clue what they’re doing.

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting a little numb with all the drama.

Fortunately, a good sense of humor can help you survive and even thrive when all those around you are panicking. This applies especially to the advertising and marketing industry, which has been hit pretty hard in this wacky economy.

Whether you’re a copywriter, designer, manager, business owner, salesman, or anyone trying to stay sane, you might find a little inspiration (maybe even a smile) in this small collection of familiar observations.

• Indecision is the key to flexibility.
• You can’t tell which way the train went by looking at the tracks.
• There is absolutely no substitute for genuine lack of preparation.
• Happiness is merely the remission of pain.
• Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.
• Sometimes, too much to drink isn’t enough.
• The facts, although interesting, are irrelevant.
• The careful application of terror is also a form of communication.
• If you think there’s good in everyone, you haven’t met everyone.
• Someone who thinks logically is a nice contrast to the real world.
• Things are more like they are today than they ever were before.
• Anything worth fighting for is worth fighting dirty for.
• Everything should be made as simple as possible but no simpler.
• Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate.
• I have seen the truth, and it makes no sense.
• If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.
• One-seventh of your life is spent on Monday.
• By the time you make ends meet, they move the ends.
• Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.
• There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.
• This is as bad as it can get, but don’t bet on it.
• Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty. And the pig likes it.
• The trouble with life is that you’re halfway though it before you realize it’s a do-it-yourself thing.

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I’ve just added a “free publication store” to my Web site.

You can get FREE subscriptions to trade magazines in a wide variety of industries, including sales and marketing.

There’s no catch. Most of the subscriptions are 100% free. A handful offer cheap trial subscriptions.

How does this work? Well, a little-known secret of the publishing business is that there isn’t much money in subscriptions. The money is in the advertising and spin-off products. This is particularly true for magazines catering to niche business markets.

So what many publishers do is give away free subscriptions in order to build their readership. The higher their circulation, the more they can charge for advertising. Simple, huh?

Click here to browse my catalog of publications and subscribe to as many as you like. There are no limits and they’re all free. Plus, there are lots of extras, including white papers, podcasts, downloads, and more. You can browse by title or by industry.

Here are some of the most popular publications in the sales and marketing category:

• Direct
• BtoB Magazine
• Website Magazine
• Creativity
• Internet Retailer
• Catalog Success

Take your time. Look around. Subscribe or take as much of the free stuff as you like. And don’t forget to bookmark the home page because there are new magazines, newsletters, and other good stuff added regularly.

CLICK HERE to visit the collection of FREE publications.

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1. Sales lead call backs: strike while the iron is hot

What’s the difference between high-earning freelancers and all other freelancers? For the most part, the high earners have a professional mindset.

And what does that mean?

It means making a shift from the paycheck mentality to the professional mentality. Here are 11 tips for doing just that.

1. Think like a professional. Whether you want to earn a little extra income on the side or go full-blown freelance pro, you should consider yourself in the same class as all other professionals, worthy of the same respect and income.

2. Ignore most of the advice from the freelance “industry.” Many magazines, books, and online sources give bad advice for those wanting to make money at freelancing. You must carefully weigh the advice you get, choosing to follow only what you know will further your business interests.

3. Politely disregard the advice from friends and family. Everyone thinks they’re an expert, even those who have never freelanced before. But you have to avoid seeking emotional support and start seeking success. If someone gives you advice, look at how much money they’re making from their own freelancing, if any. If they’re no better off than you, smile, nod politely, and promptly forget what they say.

4. Think long term and never give up. It will probably take 3 to 5 years to establish a profitable clientele and to get comfortable with your new business. Many freelancers simply give up too soon. Make a commitment to persist against all odds and slowly grow your business over the next few years. Easier said than done. But persistence pays off.

5. Offer special expertise. You must offer clients unique knowledge, experience, or skill in some area besides the physical task you perform.

For example, if you’re a writer, what expertise do you have in addition to writing? Perhaps you work in the PR department of a hospital, or you have a few years of volunteer experience raising funds for a nonprofit, or you’ve written a number of successful radio commercials, or you have a chemical engineering degree. Whatever it is, your specialty gives you the edge you need to a) differentiate yourself from all other writers, b) narrow your market and find the right clients, and c) charge higher, professional-level fees.

Neither your technical skills nor your special knowledge is enough by itself. Put them together, however, and you have the edge you need.

6. Avoid the “generalist trap.” Being a specialist is better than being a generalist. What happens if you don’t specialize? You will offer to do just about anything for anyone, as long as there’s a fee involved.

Your logic will go something like this: If I accept a wide variety of assignments, there are more businesses I can work for. And that means I will get more work and make more money. This sounds perfectly reasonable, but it’s dead wrong.

The generalist is seen as a jack of all trades, and a master of none. All-purpose freelancers are easy to come by. So, from a client’s point of view, the generalist has nothing special to offer.

Without a specialty, the generalist invariably concentrates on selling time or effort instead of helping a client accomplish something. Businesses are task-oriented. They want to get their newsletter out. They need a brochure to help their sales staff sell more widgets. They want a video to train employees. Clients need communication tools that do something, and they are not interested in your technical skills.

Since the generalist offers nothing special and doesn’t focus on the ultimate needs of clients, he or she will actually get LESS work and make LESS money. For example, I specialize in direct mail. My marketing pieces tell prospects to “Call the Direct Mail Copy Pro.” If a client needs a direct mail package written, who will they call? The writer who writes a little of this and a little of that? Or me, the direct mail copy professional?

Clients always call the specialist first.

By narrowing your market, you can more easily find your potential clients. If everyone in the phone book is a prospect, where do you start? By specializing, you decrease the total number of prospects and make it easier to market your services.

7. Specialize by industry or client type. This is the best way to specialize if you want to easily find your clients. It lets you use your specialized knowledge or experience and helps you hone in on the clients who could benefit from your services. There are literally thousands of ways to classify businesses, and therefore, thousands of ways for you to specialize by client type. Here are three common business classifications:

• General Industry, such as Agriculture, Construction, Manufacturing, Communications, Retail, Financial Services, Insurance, Real Estate, and Business Services.
• Specific Business, such as home builders, hospitals, law firms, photography studios, professional associations, resorts and hotels, or restaurants.
• Business Size, such as Fortune 500, mid-size companies, or home-based business.

8. Specialize by function or format. Specializing by function means to specialize in something businesses need to do, such as generate sales leads, increase in-store traffic, build a brand image, improve customer communications, etc. Specializing by format means to specialize in a particular physical product, such as Web sites, annual reports, industrial manuals, and so on.

Specializing by function or format makes it more difficult to find clients, but easier to sell your particular skill set. This is the way I specialize, though if I were starting over today, I might consider specializing by industry.

9. Go with what you know. If you have an advertising background, stick with some form of advertising or marketing. If you have a technical degree, you might try technical writing. If you used to work in a graphic design studio, any sort of graphic design will be your strong suit. Whatever you choose should be specific enough to set you apart, but broad enough to give you a sufficient client pool to hire you.

Can you make a radical jump, say, from a public relations job in the fashion industry to technical writing for software companies? Sure. But you won’t have the right samples to show your prospects. Few prospects will believe you can handle the work, even if you can. And you’ll dramatically increase the time you’ll need to understand your new business and become profitable.

I know, because I started out as a writer for a small television station. My jump from television writing to direct mail added about three years to my learning curve and probably cost me a hundred thousand dollars in lost profits from those early years.

10. Choose what is most profitable. Not every specialty pays the same. You could specialize in newsletters, for example, but you will probably earn less than someone creating annual reports for Fortune 1000 clients. On the other hand, any sort of freelancing can be profitable if you find a way to make it work for you. If you can get $1,000 for a newsletter, and create five each month, you’ll be earning $5,000 a month and $60,000 a year just from the newsletters.

11. Have more than one specialty. Being a specialist isn’t a matter of who you are, but how your clients think of you. I’m a direct mail copywriter for many of my clients, but I’ve developed additional specialties in sales lead generation programs, writing and producing radio commercials, and creating ads for software products.

For now, you should focus on one strong specialty. But keep your options open. As you get work, you’ll probably find that similar clients are hiring you and that you are automatically developing specialties in several areas.

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One mistake novice freelance copywriters make is to think of themselves as “writers.”

It’s an understandable error. Usually, those who get into this profession are people with a background in writing. They see freelancing as a way to write and actually get paid decent money for it.

But freelancing is really a service business. You provide a service (copywriting) to various companies, not because they want writing, but because they need copy to help them sell products and services.

Once you make that little mental adjustment, you realize that if you can provide one service, you can also provide other services. This is what most businesses do and it’s what you should do as well.

That’s the premise of a new book by Don Hauptman, one of the most respected copywriters in the industry. The book is called The Versatile Freelancer: How Writers and Other Creative Professionals Can Generate More Income by Seizing New Opportunities in Critiquing, Consulting, Training, and Presenting.

Don shows a variety of ways that copywriters, or any type of freelancer, can make extra money using the core knowledge and skill they have as writers.

For example, Don starts out by talking about “critiquing,” which is a service I’ve offered my clients for many years. This is both practical and timely, given today’s tough economy.

Sometimes a client wants to work with you but doesn’t have the budget to pay your full copywriting fee. By offering a critique of ads, brochures, Web sites, direct mail, or other items, you can provide a valuable service at a lower cost. I’ve also found that it’s a good way to “audition” for some clients. Once they see how helpful your critique is, they feel less risk in hiring you for your premium services.

Don also covers public speaking, training, giving seminars, and other services, with lots of specifics and personal anecdotes about how he used these ideas in his long and successful career.

What I think you’ll enjoy just as much as the sound advice is Don’s writing style. He’s a master wordsmith and a well-known author of books on language and wordplay. I guarantee, Don agonized over every word to make The Versatile Freelancer a joy to read.

CLICK HERE to find out more and order your own copy.

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1. Tweets and blogs and stuff

If you provide copy, design, consultation, or any kind of service to advertisers, you already know how difficult it is to deal with pricing.

One of the hardest decisions to make is whether to charge by the hour or to charge a fixed rate.

This is just one of many issues I’ve been thinking about lately after reading Steve Slaunwhite’s definitive book on the subject, Pricing Your Writing Services. It’s written from the professional writer’s perspective, but the principles apply to graphic designers, Web professionals, consultants, and many other service providers as well.

The short answer to this quandary is that it’s better to charged a fixed rate in most cases. Why? Well, that requires a longer answer.

Quoting hourly prices seems more natural when you’re starting out. That’s because we’re all used to the hourly concept. People are often paid hourly. And it’s an easy answer to the question “What do you charge?” But hourly rates present problems for professional level service providers.

First, clients tend to dislike hourly rates. If you quote $75 per hour, a prospect might think you’re charging too much if he or she earns less.

Second, hourly rates are inherently unfair. They’re unfair to you because the better and faster you get at providing your service, the less money you’ll make. They’re unfair to clients because if you don’t know what you’re doing or have a bad day, the client has to pay for it.

Third, both you and the client will be looking at the clock all the time. The client will want you to hurry while you’ll want to slow down.

The fixed rate or project rate solves all these problems. There is a set fee for a given piece of work, so you and your client know what money is involved. Your client can’t make a head-to-head comparison of what you earn vs. what he or she earns. It’s more fair all around. And everyone can forget about the clock and focus on doing good work.

Are there any circumstances where hourly rates are called for? Yes.

If the scope of the project is unclear or if the project is open-ended, hourly is the only way to go. Sometimes a client may ask for it, though in the ad and marketing business this is rare. And hourly rates make sense if you offer add-on services such as consulting.

In my experience, fixed fees are also a lot simpler to quote. Over the years, I’ve built up a fee schedule for dozens of projects. So when someone asks what I charge for something, I just consult my schedule.

One more thing. A fixed fee helps you avoid difficult situations with your client. Service pricing in this business is all over the lot, from ultra cheap to astonishingly expensive. If you’re designing a brochure and your client assumes it will cost around $500, sending an invoice for $2,500 is going to cause a problem.

Pricing is a hugely important and complex issue. What I’ve covered doesn’t begin to scratch the surface.

If you want to know more, I highly recommend Pricing Your Writing Services regardless what services you offer. I consider Steve the guru of pricing and his book covers this subject clearly and in great detail.

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They say the best things in life are free. Some of the best things for copywriters sure are.

One of great things about running a copywriting business is that your overhead can be incredibly low. You can work from your house, avoid commuting, dress casually, and take advantage of all the comforts of home.

And when it comes to some of the tools of the trade, some of the very best are totally free of charge.

Here are a few of my favorites:

OpenOffice - I loath Microsoft Word. It used to be a fine piece of software, and the .doc format is a standard most clients will want. But it’s become so loaded down with features, it’s a pain to use. And since millions of others feel the same way, OpenOffice is now available to replace all the core Microsoft Office products.

OpenOffice is a suite of programs, just like MS Office, with a word processor, spreadsheet, database, etc. They’re lean, with most of the features most people use. You can save your files in other formats, including .doc, so others can open them. I switched to OpenOffice a few months ago and I’m not going back.

Firefox- The Internet is a copywriter’s best friend for quick research, so a browser should be one of your primary tools. Firefox is arguably the best Web browser available. It’s favored by Web developers because it has so many handy features, but it’s a good all around browser for anyone. It’s much smaller and faster than the standard Microsoft browser. Plus it offers a variety of security tools to protect your computer as you browse, which is more improtant than ever these days.

Two cool features are Zoom and the Foxmarks add-on.

Zoom lets you literally zoom into any Web page to make it easier to see. This is different from the standard text size tool that most browsers offer, which just enlarges the font on the screen and makes everything look out of proportion. Zoom is like a magnifying glass that makes the entire page, graphics and all, appear closer. This is helpful if you’re doing research on a site that’s hard to read or you want to sit back in your chair and still browse.

Foxmarks is a time saver if you work on both a desktop and laptop, or have multiple desktops, and want your browser bookmarks to be the same on all your computers. Whenever you save or delete a bookmarked page on one computer, Foxmarks mirrors this change on your other computer automatically. This is one of those little conveniences that you won’t appreciate until you try it, then you’ll wonder how you lived without it.

Thunderbird – This slim, trim e-mail program is created by Mozilla, the same organization behind Firefox. Like its cousin, it’s a small program with all the features you need and none that you don’t. It offers good security and convenient folder tools for organizing your e-mail. One feature it lacks is a stationery tool that lets you create a branded or templated e-mail for all your messages. Eudora offers this, but that prograrm has been discontinued. (It’s under the Mozilla umbrella now and will be re-released some time in the future as a souped up version of Thunderbird.)

Adobe Reader – Along with e-mail, PDF files have revolutionized the freelance business. You can send or receive documents of virtually any size to anyone. If you’re offering copywriting services, you probably just need the Adobe Reader to open documents from clients. If you do do design or want editing and other features, invest in a paid version. The PDF is an industry standard that lets you publish any kind of document and even deliver high-quality files to printers.

PayPal – Most clients will want to pay you by check. But if you want something faster, or if you work with some international clients as I do, PayPal is a Godsend. You don’t have to make trips to the bank or worry about foreign checks clearing. Set up an account and clients can send payment with an e-mail address. You just transfer money into your bank account when you want access to it.

sendspace – How many times have you tried to e-mail or recieve PowerPoint presentations, video or audio, or other big files only to have them stripped from your e-mail or returned undelivered? If you’re tech savvy, you can set up an FTP site. Or sometimes you can use a client’s FTP site. But sendspace is easier. Upload any file up to 300 MB and just e-mail a link. The recipient clicks on the link to download. I send big design files like this all the time.

eFax – I’ve evolved away from faxes. I’ll bet I don’t send or receive more than half a dozen over the course of a year. Which prompted me to toss my old fax machine and cancel the dedicated phone line for it. It saved me desk space and over $200 a year in phone bills. But some faxing is still necessary, so I handle it with the built-in fax utility in Windows and eFax, which offers a free online fax service. You sign up to get a number and can then receive faxes as an attachment in your e-mail inbox. Very handy indeed. Note: When I upgraded to Windows Vista and discovered the fax utility was gone (thanks, Mr. Gates), I bought an inexpensive utility called RKS Fax. Works like a charm.

WordPress – Want to start a blog? You have lots of options for software, but WordPress is considered the best choice by many, including me. This blog is powered by WordPress. Installing it yourself can be a little tricky. However, if you have a Web site host that offers it with your hosting package, it’s simple. I host this site on GoDaddy, and all I had to do was click a link to have WordPress automatically installed on my site. No fuss, no muss.

CoffeeCup HTML Editor – If you maintain a Web site yourself, and don’t use blog software, you’ll need to edit your HTML from time to time. Yes, you can do it with any basic text editor, but CoffeeCup makes it a lot easier. There are two versions of this popular editor, paid and free. The free one has everything you need for basic editing. You can add HTML “tags” with a single click and view the results of your work as you go. The more HTML work you do, the more time this tool can save you.

This just scratches the surface. There are zillions of free tools out there. If you have some you’d like to share, let me know. I’m always looking for ways to make work faster and easier.

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About once a week, someone contacts me with a letter or ad they want me to “tweak.”

Definition of tweak: “I read a book on copywriting over the weekend and wrote my own copy. It sucks. I desperately need your help, but I’m too cheap to pay you to write something for me.”

This, my friends, is a no-win situation for a highly paid copywriter.

If you tell the prospect their copy sucks, you’ll insult them. If you quote them your full price, you won’t get the job. If you take the job and do it on the cheap, you’ll have a hard time because a) you’ll have to rewrite the copy without it appearing that you rewrote it or b) you’ll have to start from scratch and get paid a fraction of what the work is worth.

How you handle a tweaker is up to you, but here’s what I do:

I ask to look at the copy before I say anything else. If the copy really isn’t that bad, I play along and agree to a rewrite. If the copy is bad, I say so. I quote my price for new copy and let the chips fall.

Will this result in a loss of business? Yes and no. Yes, because if you charge high fees, any time you give a quote, you’ll lose business from someone not willing to pay what you charge. No, because if someone can’t afford your fees, that’s not a client you want anyway. You really aren’t losing anything by not working for those who do not fit your client description.

What if you’re just starting out and need the money? Take the job. Early on, you need experience more than anything. And you won’t have to deal with the “opportunity cost” of working for less than your standard fees because you probably don’t have work queued up for weeks or months anyway as do many top copywriters.

Takeaway: Beware the tweak. For some copywriters, this means more trouble than it’s worth.

I’m curious, do designers and other freelancers experience the tweak too? Are there similar situations in other businesses?

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Most people who get into the freelance copywriting business do so because they love to write compelling copy. They seldom do it because they want to spend time finding clients.

However, to survive as a freelancer, you DO have to find clients. It’s just part of the profession.

Recently, I ran across a unique resource called “The Freelance Copywriter’s $64,000 Direct Mail Self-Promotion Package.” It’s written by Pete Savage, a copywriter in Canada.

Now I’ve been around a while and have seen all sorts of e-books and reports that promise to give you the “secret” for success in this business. Most, frankly, are full of tripe and nonsense from people who don’t actually earn a living as a copywriter.

Pete’s book is different. For one thing, Pete really does earn a living writing copy. For another, it’s very specific and practical. It’s not just “how-to,” it’s “here’s exactly how-to.”

Basically, Pete shows how he created a direct mail package to advertise his copywriting services. He takes you step-by-step through the whole process, from how he came up with the idea to writing the letter to printing and mailing to the results. And yes, this letter earned him $64,000. Though I think it’s likely that by now it’s earned him considerably more since that $64,000 was just what he earned from the one mailing in one year.

The cool part is that he includes photos of each element in the package so you can see exactly what it looks like. And he does a line-by-line analysis of the sales letter to reveal why he wrote what he wrote.

Most guides on self-marketing give you 101 general tips that sound great but are hard to implement because they’re vague. Pete doesn’t try to tell you everything about everything. He just shows you one direct mail piece that works. You can easily modify the idea to use it for yourself.

But isn’t “snail mail” a little out of date today? No. In fact, despite what many would have you believe, direct mail is still the most effective way to reach a business audience.

With a physical letter, you’re only competing with a handful of other items. With e-mail, you’re competing with potentially hundreds. And if all you do is create a Web page expecting clients to call, you’re in for a rude awakening. My Web page gets a lot of hits and I get plenty of contacts from it. But that’s not the case for most sites.

I’ve tried virtually every self-promotional trick out there, and only two have ever worked for me. One is direct mail. It works every time. The other? I’ll keep that to myself for now.

Now, I don’t recommend just anything. I’m only recommending Pete’s book because I’ve read it and am impressed by it. Pete’s approach is right on the money.

Pete has a Web page with details on The Freelance Copywriter’s $64,000 Direct Mail Self-Promotion Package. Check it out.

By the way, just because the word “copywriter’s” is in the title doesn’t mean it won’t work for designers and other freelancers. Really, Pete’s approach will work for just about any service you offer.

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