There are many careers that involve writing, but none that offers as clear a path to good income as copywriting Six-figure annual incomes are not uncommon in this profession.

But note: It is a profession, not a job. You learn a set of skills, and are forever improving them. You (generally) must find your own work, keeping your own “pipeline” full. And many gigs are one-time affairs.

So learning copywriting is not only a matter of learning the special kinds of wordsmithing used in the profession. You must also learn where to find engagements, how to price your services, what your contracts should contain and exclude, and how to run an independent business.

The “copy” referred to is advertising copy, writing to support sales. Now, before you curl your lip and sneer, let me point out a few facts about ad copy:

• Many famous writers, including Mark Twain and Joseph Heller, wrote ad copy.
• Almost nothing is sold today without the use of ad copy.
• The Web has opened up vast new markets, all needing good copy.
• You can learn to write ad copy through relatively brief courses from organizations that have substantial track records.
• The best copy is respectful of readers, authentic, and honest.
• People commonly pay tens to hundreds of dollars for brief ads, and hundreds to thousands for longer copy. Copy writing masters often receive thousands of dollars plus a percentage of sales for their work.
• Many copywriters expand their business by promoting their own products or those of others, using their skills to benefit their own sales.

Happily, there’s a lot of excellent free information about learning to write good copy on the Web. Some of my favorites are Copywriting-101 and its CopyBlogger.com site; AWAIonline (Michael Masterson’s company site, with excellent articles by leading copywriters); and Michel Fortin‘s blog. Through these, you’ll find many more links of interest.

Brian from CopyBlogger lists both his own course and a couple from competitors here. (Michael Masterson’s course, noted there, seems to be the most popular one around–and has the graduate testimonials to back it

The amazing Kurosawa film, Rashomon, is a study in and of ambiguity. I’ve experienced it a couple of times, and have been left amazed, perplexed, and unsatisfied. This analysis by Matt Shepherd, complete with powerful diagram, doesn’t bring ultimate satisfaction–but it does fascinate and edify. Enjoy!

Like a monstrous snail, a toilet slides into a living room on a track of wet, demanding to be loved.
It is impossible, and we tender our sincerest regrets. …

From “With Sincerest Regrets,” Russell Edson

I came late to “Writing Down the Bones,” by Natalie Goldberg (1986)–just this year, in fact. I was enchanted by it, edified and refreshed by its joy and candor. (Read it.)

One of the many things for which I am grateful to Natalie is introducing me to Russell Edson’s poetry. (Click above to read the rest of the poem on a site that has permission to reprint it.) Its allusions and imagery are bizarre, yet weirdly intimate.

And unforgettable.

Do you want your book, your prose, to be unforgettable? Find and read unforgettable writing. Think about what makes it special. Talk about it. Adopt its ideas, if only for an exercise, and write some of your own, “in the style of” the author.

Your uniqueness is not in question. Own it. Learn to express it. Make your writing unforgettable.

If you’d like the hard-copy version of “Joel’s BookProgram™: The Simple Secret To Writing A Non-Fiction Book In 30 Days Or Less, At 1 Hour/Day!” just click on the title to order it!

And if you want to talk to me about writing your book, email me for a free 15-minute consultation.

Despite the fact that Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson’s latest book, Free: The Future of a Radical Price, wasn’t released until this week, it has still managed to generate much pre-publication discussion about the future of the digital economy. Anderson found himself enmeshed in a pre-publication plagiarism scandal two weeks ago when the Virginia Quarterly Review found that some passages in the book directly matched Wikipedia entries. (Anderson quickly apologized, blaming inaccurate citing and overall carelessness.)

Then, of course, there’s the actual content of the book, which has been received by journalists and business-minded folks in decidedly polarizing ways. Malcolm Gladwell unleashed a scathing review of Free in last week’s New Yorker, scolding Anderson for adhering to the freeconomy as an “iron law” and writing, “The only iron law here is the one too obvious to write a book about, which is that the digital age has so transformed the ways in which things are made and sold that there are no iron laws.” (Plenty of responses followed.)

But for Anderson, Free is indeed the ultimate destiny of our economy. “Sooner or later every company is going to have to figure out how to use Free or compete with Free, one way or another,” he writes in the beginning of the book. This assertion will probably look depressingly familiar to journalists who’ve watched their traditional business models fall apart in the wild west of the web, where “free” is the gold standard.  Read more

My focus is non-fiction, and especially the kind that serves the needs of individual professionals–”solepreneurs.” But I encounter many people who want to write fiction. If you are such a person, I highly recommend you sign up for the ezine of Randy Ingermanson, creator of the “Snowflake Method” for writing fiction. Follow the link in this blurb:

Award-winning novelist Randy Ingermanson, “the
Snowflake Guy,” publishes the Advanced Fiction Writing
E-zine, with more than 16,000 readers, every month. If
you want to learn the craft and marketing of fiction,
AND make your writing more valuable to editors, AND
have FUN doing it, visit
http://www.AdvancedFictionWriting.com.

Download your free Special Report on Tiger Marketing
and get a free 5-Day Course in How To Publish a Novel.

That’s a quote from one of the attendees of the Book Writing Intensive I held at my home in Mountain View, CA, yesterday. She told me the Intensive gave her what she needs to complete the 2 books she’s working on. I had promised the attendees that, regardless of where they were in their book projects, by the end of the day, they’d be fully equipped to complete their books following whatever timetable they chose. The group assured me before they left that I had kept my promise.

The group had some fascinating people, including a forensic psychiatrist, an MD who is also an African shaman, a documentary filmmaker, and a psychotherapist. The resultant group dynamics were wonderful–energetic, engaging, encouraging, and uplifting.

We had a buffet lunch in place, so we were together for about 7.5 hours, continuously. By the end of the day, everyone was inspired–and ready for a nap…:-)

The next one will be toward the end of August. Watch for an announcement.

There’s no better way to get your book under way than to come and spend the day with me at my home. On Sunday, 6/28/09, we’ll be gathering in my living room for a day of book-writing intensity. The participants will come away with everything they need to write their books quickly and well.

Interested? Click here for more details.

WEbook is a bit hard to describe. It’s a community of writing-oriented folks; an environment that makes it easy to collaborate on writing projects; and an evolving publishing environment.

You post stuff you write, and invite others to comment on it. You might invite people to collaborate more closely with you.

When your work–non-fiction, fiction, poetry–seems complete to you, you can submit it to the periodic judging process. If the community likes it, WEbook may offer you a publishing contract with reasonably good terms (50% of profit, but defining what constitutes “profit” is always challenging; read their Terms of Use).

When the site first came out, the Terms of Use suffered from excessive complexity, and were widely criticized. The good intentions of the founders did not manifest clearlly in them. WEbook took it all very seriously and modified them.

You don’t give up any rights to your stuff by posting it in WEbook. If you get offered a publishing contract, you don’t have to accept it; your writing belongs to you, and you can take it elsewhere.

All in all, it sounds to me like a good deal for different kinds of writers–novices; people wanting general feedback; people wanting specific help with particular issues; writers wanting to engage with a community.

The writing I found in a quick review of the site was not sophisticated in tone or content. But that’s not a criticism, just an observation.

I like the tools the site offers; I think any writer can put them to good use. Check out the site.

CBC: “The U.S. publishing industry passed a key marker last year, with the publication of more “on-demand” or short-run titles than traditional books, a U.S. company that keeps publishing statistics says.” More