Maybe you don’t say it out loud. It sounds like bragging, and bragging is obnoxious.
But you know you’re good.
When you see a sentence that isn’t right, you know what needs to change. You twitch a little when you see a clumsy turn of phase, or a sentence that doesn’t mean what the writer thinks it means.
You know that words are play. And work. And entertainment. And magic.
You know that they can be a weapon. And you know how to wield that weapon.
So why are you letting other writers have all of the success?
Did those successful writers, the ones earning a really good living as copywriters and content marketers, “sell out?” What does that even mean?
They get the kinds of gigs that make good money. And you’d like to think you could take those gigs as well. But the truth is you aren’t ready for them. Not quite.
You already know how to do the hard part — how to put the words together. Selecting them for their shades of meaning, and for their music.
But you’re missing the piece that people will pay good money for.
Clients don’t want to pay for poetry
It’s sad, but we have to face it.
Clients don’t have a budget for truth and beauty. They don’t have a budget for joy or delight.
They want results. They want customers who will buy what they have to sell.
What makes customers buy what they have to sell?
Truth. Beauty. Joy. Delight.
Clients don’t want to pay for poetry. But it’s poetry that gives them what they want.
Strategy can be learned
It’s hard to learn art. Art has to be acquired. It takes passion and time and work. Art comes from caring a lot, and putting in the hours.
It’s much easier to learn strategy.
Strategy is about putting the words together in a way that is both useful and beautiful.
It’s about understanding that markets are made of emotional, complicated humans. Those humans need stories and songs. They want laughter. They fear dark things.
Strategy is taking beautiful language and giving it structure. Just like a beautiful building, writing needs to be structurally sound. Without the right engineering holding it together, it collapses.
Marketing matters
Artists like to wrinkle our noses at marketing, but it matters.
Marketing is how people find great businesses.
And business is how we make the things that people need. It’s how we move those things around. It’s how we serve each other. It’s how we help each other.
There are crummy businesses and there are wonderful businesses. If you’re smart about how you put yourself forward, you get to be choosy and pick the wonderful ones to work with.
Every wonderful product or service needs a bard to sing their songs.
Bards can weave pictures and light out of words. It looks a lot like magic, particularly to the people who don’t know how much work it takes.
That’s your inheritance. That’s for you to claim.
Marketing is how wonderful companies can communicate to the world, and grow, and thrive. Marketing is how the good guys can win.
Marketing is too important to leave to terrible writers.
Stop settling for the grind
Stop settling for low-paying gigs with companies that treat you like a cog.
Stop writing soul-crushing listicles that you know no one wants to read.
Stop wishing you could make a real living at this.
You have the gift that makes the difference. You know how to make the words sing together. We can teach you the strategy.
It’s learnable, and you can learn it. It would be our pleasure to show you how.
You have the art … here’s how you can learn the strategy
Our Certified Content Marketer training program was created to teach writers like you — the ones with strong voices and solid skills — how to use their words to sell, both for themselves and their clients.
We’d love to show you how to make a great living as a writer. Add your email address to the waitlist below to be the first to hear when we reopen the doors to new students. We’re scheduled to open the course next week, so you don’t have long to wait.
Reader Comments (4)
Hey Sonia!
I’ve enojyed reading your post here very much. I like your writing style.
I like what you said about having a strategy. You are spot on with what you’ve said, great writers put words together in a way that is both useful and beautiful.
Very well said!
I believe a lot of pratice helps you become a great copy writer. The more you play around with your writing skills and always look to learn from it, the better you will become at it.
Thanks for sharing!
Cheers! 😀
I say always believe in your writing and other digital marketing skills.. no matter how many jobs you lose to hacks! Eventually the tide will turn $$
Cheers!
I tried to sell out but I couldn’t find a buyer.
Thanks for this, Sonia. It almost feels like a “rite of passage” for freelance writers to learn how to self-market and value themselves the hard way. It requires trial and error, as well as no small amount of determination to not settle for less when we’re capable of so much more.
This article's comments are closed.