The 29th Washington Writers Conference
THE WRITING LIFE: Where We Are and Where We Are Going
Sponsored by Washington Independent Writers
The George Washington University
Cafritz Conference Center
Marvin Center Building
800 21st St. N.W.
Washington, D.C., 20052
Saturday, June 14, 2008
PRINT SPEECH (PDF)
Peter Bowerman Speech (cont.)
For commercial freelancers and magazine writers, the easiest way to become memorable
is to specialize. A dear friend who’s been writing magazine articles in the gardening
niche for 12+ years can often command $2 a word and higher because of it. For
commercial writers, specializing can mean a particular industry (i.e., healthcare, financial
services, retail, telecomm, high-tech, some subset of high-tech, etc.).
Those who heard my address last year perhaps recall some of the interesting writing
niches I’ve come across in my travels. Deathcare. Farm equipment. Automotive. Booklength
company histories. And many others…
Of course, you can also specialize in a particular project type: web copy, speeches, case
studies, SEO, DRC, etc. Get known as the _____ writer AND get good at it (pretty key),
and people will remember you and pay you more.
How many of you have heard of Casey Hibbard? Or Michael Stelzner? Why? Probably
because they specialize. Casey in case studies (talk about a memorable doublewhammy…)
and Michael in white papers. I recently did a blog post asking readers what
advice they’d give to “short-cut hunters.” The post originated with an email I’d received
some time back from a hopeful young man (i.e., a “short-cut hunter”) who asked:
“I want to go after the money, in whatever form is most easily gotten in terms of getting
the work and getting paid, so I would love your input in where that might be and how to
get the work.”
Silly boy. Just doesn’t quite work that way, now does it?
In any case, Casey Hibbard weighed in with this:
The growth of my business has corresponded proportionally to narrowing my focus on
case studies. Specialize and you become an “expert” in that area. When you meet people,
they don’t just remember you’re a writer, but that you have specific expertise. And they
remember you much more clearly – especially if they’ve met five other copywriters at an
event. You probably have to do everything for a while to pay the rent, but increasingly
specialize and it will pay off. Just make sure it’s a focus you love!
Now, I’ve been a generalist forever, and like it that way. That said, readers of my ezine
may recall a piece in May’s issue, where I talked about getting a real taste of the financial
rewards of specializing. I’ll call what I did here “Spot Specializing.”
This story also underscores the idea that “commercial writing” is a lot more than just
brochures, ads, direct mail, web sites, etc.
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