How to Get into Copywriting

I've been a copywriter for almost three years now. I think that makes the statement "I am a copywriter" a bit more official. Also, I have business cards now. So there's that.

I was recently asked on Reddit for some suggestions on how to "break into copywriting" as if copywriting is a bank vault in a heist film. I was flattered to be seen as some sort of authority on the subject, and while I'm certainly no expert, I'm going to expand on and share my response here.

How to Break into Copywriting

Subjects:

• General Tips for Copywriting
• Create a Cool Online Portfolio
• Start a Neat Blog
• Make a Badass Résumé
• How to Obtain That Vital Thing Called "Experience"

So, you want to get into copywriting. Well, you wanted to be the next Stephen King, but you've just read multiple sources that say the chances of making a living as an author (and a popular one at that) are slim to none, but you don't really have any other viable skills or interests outside of your love and ability for writing. You took a few personality tests specifically designed to tell you what career to get into - or you watched a bit too much Mad Men - and settled on copywriting. You want to see your creative ideas turned into magazine ads and television commercials for Doritos, Pepsi (or Coke, not judging), and the highest of all entertainment products - beer.

For the record, I got into copywriting through the traditional method of getting a college degree, which led to an internship and later a full-time job in an office where I currently write product descriptions, press releases, marketing emails, and video narration for a small online retailer.

However, as is the primary requirement for most creative fields, you really just need to demonstrate your interest and skill in copywriting. So whether or not you spend at least four years and thousands of dollars earning that degree, here are some tips I'd give for getting the attention of potential employers.

General Tips for Copywriting

• Be concise and direct. The fewer words, the better. Every sentence must contain a feature or benefit of the product, so get rid of all the extra fluff.
• Look up the difference between a feature and benefit, if you don't know it already.
• Read up on SEO. Learn how to find and use keywords.
• Always double-check your work before submitting it. Nobody has a good excuse for spelling or grammatical errors if they're competent and passed high school, and copywriters doubly so because it's literally their job to be the best writers on the planet.
• Develop thick skin. Don't get offended because someone didn't like your work. Listen to their advice, try to get to the bottom of what they dislike about your work, improve upon it, and move on.
• Learn AP Style. Follow and read Grammar Girl everywhere.
• Do you know what a call to action is? What about an attention-getter? Because you should.
• Don't tell the reader something they already know. This is basically the same as the first point, but it bears repeating. Put yourself in the shoes of the customer, and ask yourself what exactly is the information they need first and foremost before deciding to make a purchase, and write that.

Create a Cool Online Portfolio

Create an online portfolio of your work on one of the many portfolio sites out there. I use Behance, but a quick web search will give you some other options. The point of your portfolio is to show off your creativity and understanding of how to sell with words. Make fun magazine-style ads for products you like or are just weird and interesting (stay away from the big brands and products, you don't want people to compare your work with something of that caliber). Include a headline and one paragraph of body copy. Partner up with a graphic artist that you know or on the portfolio site who also wants to show off their skill if you can't make it look halfway decent yourself.

Start a Neat Blog

You might have noticed that I blog quite a bit. Employers love that sort of thing because it shows that you're always writing and that writing genuinely is your passion. Now, mine is just a public journal for my thoughts, but if you can focus a blog around a single topic that you love, that's way better. Once you've started, keep at it. Don't go a month without a quality post.

Make a Badass Résumé

If you're applying for more creative positions at hip companies or agencies, make a version of your résumé that shows off your creativity. I personally have two versions of my résumé; a boring one I made in Microsoft Word, and a fun one I made in InDesign that is made to look like an old police file. The idea is for the second one to be eye-catching and memorable for those hip companies, and the first to be professional and proper for the others.

Even if you're not applying to high-status agencies, remember that you're trying to convince them that you can sell their products with your words, so you should be able to sell yourself with your résumé. It has to be flawless, neat, concise, and convincing. Link to your blog and portfolio on the very top so they can see for themselves just how much you deserve the job.

How to Obtain That Vital Thing Called "Experience"

As you might have heard, it can be very tough to get experience without prior experience. It's crazy, I know. When I started applying for positions in my field, I only heard back from three of the places I applied to, got an in-person interview with two, and was unemployed for two weeks out of college before the one ended up hiring me. Bear in mind, this was after I used all the tricks I've described above. With that in mind, here's what I have to say on getting experience so you can eventually get that dream job.

Firstly, apply for every low-level writing/copywriting position you feel even remotely qualified for. It's not up to you to decide if your lack of real-world experience or knowledge is a deal-breaker, so even if the requirements say "3+ years and an in-depth knowledge of the world of watchmaking," apply. The copywriters with actual 3+ years and knowledge of watchmaking are all gunning for the 5+ year jobs anyway, and for all you know you're the most qualified person who applied, so send them your résumé just to be safe.

Secondly, do freelance work. Sign up for a content mill site and churn out a few 500 word articles, press releases, and product descriptions every day. You'll get experience, make connections, and get paid (though not well at first). Check out The Freelance Writer's Guide for tips, tricks, and freelance site reviews. Who knows, you might even figure out how to support yourself entirely on freelance work and not have to worry about all the other stuff I said.

Lastly, do not give up. You've got to be patient and persistent. Even if you're not employed, you should be practicing your craft by fleshing out and polishing your portfolio and blog. Your demonstrable skill will always trump a number on your résumé. Make connections. Ask your employed friends to vouch for you or put you in contact with someone in your field. Be prepared for anyone at any moment to Google your name, find your work, and realize you're the perfect candidate.

Follow these steps, get even more people's advice, and you should land a job in copywriting in no time. Good luck.

Leave a comment below if you have any further questions and I'll be happy to answer them.
-Ryan

I Figured Out How To End My Novel As I Wrote This Blog Post

I'm literally about a chapter away from ending my novel, and yet I can't decide how to end it.

Hello, and welcome to Ryan's Blog, where I rant on about my struggles to write a novel that you know nearly nothing about. Yes, this is going to be one of those posts.

Endings are tough. You have to basically wrap up all the loose strings from your novel into a really neat-looking bow. It's hard enough to wrap up the end of two ribbons into an actual bow, so this is just insane.

Actually, the ending was kind of easy for the novel I wrote for NaNoWriMo; the type of plot I was writing basically allowed for only one of two possibilities, and I just had to pick the best of those two and try my best to carry it out. This, however, is a completely different monster.

And what a monster it is. As it's the first novel I've attempted to write proper (that is to say, not counting the "long story" I wrote as my first attempt at a novel - that one didn't even make it to twenty thousand words in length), it's been a very, very rough process. The overall idea stayed the same, but the details, both large and small, changed dramatically over the course of writing to the point that I felt the overwhelming need to publicly blog my promise to stop going back and changing so much. What I'm left with is a very Frankensteinian (a word I've just now coined to mean "liking to Frankenstein's monster in that it's made up of many non-matching parts to create a whole that resembles a cohesive final product, though the seams used to connect the non-matching parts are very much visible, as is the fact that those parts do not match") rough draft.

One character was shy and kept to herself, and suddenly she's bluntly honest and forward. One character was a potential love interest, and then he was a bit of a stalker, and suddenly he's just some random mutual friend. Didn't this person say they were an only child? Where did this brother come from?! That sort of thing.

But you get what kind of monster it is - I need to get back on track. The ending.

The ending, in this case, can be narrowed down by determining just what exactly the novel is about and what lessons it aims to teach both the reader and the main character. The problem is that I've spent so much time on this novel and changed it so dramatically over the years that I can't really tell for sure what it's about anymore.

I got so stressed about this three weeks ago that I attempted to write a synopsis of the novel's plot from beginning to end in hopes that simplifying it would give me clarity into what it's about and how it should end. The results of this experiment? I drafted up an ending that made about as much sense as I could figure out at the time, but, unlike the moment I thought of the novel's clever title, I just didn't feel 100% confident and certain about it.

And now, as I've just finished writing another scene, yet another ending has presented itself to me - one that I had been specifically trying to avoid for quite some time. You see, without giving anything away, I'd been working under the idea that I wanted to write a story about a girl stumbling into some very implausible situations, trying to make them work for her life, and then having a reality-check in the form of everything coming crashing down along with the realization that life just doesn't work like that; not everybody gets a happy ending because we're all just background characters in someone else's life. Jeez, that sounds like someone learned how to fly so I threw them into a pit of fire.

The thing is that the short story this novel is based on had a totally different spirit to that proposed ending. The short story was lighthearted and fun. While I tried to retain this same spirit in the novel, over time it eroded away and became more of a serious drama with only slight glimmers of the story it started as. The ending, then, became a bleak reality-check - though with a positive lesson for the main character at the end. While I still believe it's important to increase the drama as the novel goes on, I'm beginning to realize (literally, as I write this blog post) that I lost sight of what I wanted to write in the first place. I wanted to humanize an overused archetype. I wanted to make you like her.

There it is. Just as I wrote the last sentence of that paragraph, everything clicked into place. I know now how it has to end. I need the reader to be on her side. I need her to be the lovable archetype. I need to remove the story from reality and keep its feet planted firmly in the fantasy.

Wow. I'm so glad I decided to write this blog. I had no idea it would end with me knowing confidently what I want to do with the novel.

Knowing my history, I'll write another in a month or two about how the ending changed again.
-Ryan

Honesty is More Valuable than Praise

Here's an anecdote:

After most people had left, one of the few remaining guests at the Christmas party I was at happened to be a musician. The hosting family has been known to enjoy his music, so he offered to put in a CD of his, which they were delighted to hear.
"That's me playing the drums on the keyboard," he said during one track, "it's really bad."
I had only just entered the room, and had not heard enough to have an opinion, but it was probably not bad at all. One of the other guests even said "nonsense! It's really good!"
As we passed each other, I chimed in, saying "I thought it was terrible."
"Thanks," he laughed at my sarcastic remark.
After a moment or two of consideration, I realized that this was a fellow creative mind I was in the midst of, and that I understood his nervousness in standing around and listening, waiting to get some sort of feedback and hoping for it to be good. I know what it's like to want to apologize for all the minor flaws that you see in your own work.
I decided to offer up a bit of wisdom on the subject. "Unless people cut you down every once in a while, you'll never get better," I said.
"That's deep," he replied.

I've met creative minds who were terrified of being critiqued. Obviously I didn't actually give the musician a real opinion or advice on his music, since I'd not even really listened to it, but it was nice to meet someone who understood the value of being told your work is crap from time to time.

Always tell me if my work is crap.
-Ryan

Damnit, Snow!

I had things to say this month about interesting topics such as existentialism, sexism, and fibromyalgia. I also could have come up with something to say about my writing.

Instead I want to tell you how quickly I've learned to dislike snow.

Some learn quicker than others.

We all know how it goes, right? When you're a kid, every time that frosty white stuff falls from the sky it's a sign of a possible snow day. You watch your parents shovel the driveway and sidewalk and pile it up onto the yard for you to enjoy, ignoring their warnings that someday you'll despise the chilled white gold.

My Kia Rio does not do so well on the roads when there's any more than zero snow beneath the tires, and the drive to and from work takes anywhere between 20 to 30 minutes. I've discovered that that time can double because of the very substance that I once leaped for joy to see.
Not only do I have to deal with the painful art of becoming mobile after a stop thanks to manual gear shifting, but just about every car on the road is bigger than me. This wouldn't be an issue if it weren't for the odd fact that people who've grown up with snow their whole lives forget how to drive in it during the seasons in which it does not fall.

Thankfully I've not been in an accident or spun out yet, but with my daily commute being longer than ever in the past, I cannot confidently assume that I never will.

At least I don't have to deal with shoveling. Yet.
-Ryan

Modern Fantasy

Have you ever realized just how few fantasy movies take place in the modern age?

I'd venture to guess that number is somewhere around ... hold on, let me do the calculations here ... NONE.

I didn't even realize this until I had a fantastically brilliant idea a while ago when I was watching Jack the Giant Slayer with m'lady. You see, the movie shows the whole Jack and the Beanstalk and Jack the Giant Killer thing at first where it's a fantasy adventure set in (when else?) medieval Europe. Then at the very end (SPOILER-ISH THING) it transitions to the modern day where it is implied that the whole movie takes place not in a fantasy world, but in our world, and that Giants are still living on floating islands in the sky that none of our planes have crashed into or our (Google) satellites discovered.

So this movie isn't the best representation of a true classic fantasy story, but still, who says elves, dwarves, wizards, and orcs cannot exist in our modern world?
Imagine if some crazy hack decided it would be a good idea to pen up a Lord of the Rings movie sequel that took place today.

Gandalf (now known as "the Blue") would be a Broadway tech engineer (or a dentist), Legolas would be a FBI agent, the dwarves would probably still be mining (except for oil and natural gas), and Frodo would be dead, because you know ... he's not an elf or wizard and hobbits only live for like 150 years or something.

Seriously, what would those fantasy worlds be like if technology/magic progressed?

This is the sort of stuff I think about in my free time.
-Ryan

Keeping Opinions To Myself

As I become an adult, I realize that the world isn't as perfect as my child eyes thought it was.

Everyone is taking sides. Conservative or Liberal, Theist or Atheist. We live in a world of diversity, and so even within these four broad categories lies diversity.
Rodney King was once misquoted as saying "can't we all just get along?" (which holds more meaning than his actual phrase "can we all get along?") and the answer is simple: sometimes people don't want to get along, they want their side to be right, because they believe in their side.

There's nothing humanly wrong with this idea, because why would it be your opinion if you didn't believe it? The problem is, of course, that we can't all be right, and a lot of people want to prove each other wrong.

Yes, I'm one of those people. Who isn't?

The difference is knowing when to speak and when to shut your mouth. Over time, through trial and error, I've been learning to tell the difference between these times, for example it is often unwise to comment on a controversial topic on a public forum such as Facebook. I know that now, because I made the mistake of doing it a few times and realizing that controversy creates more controversy. As a result there are people I know who I thought of as my friends who have drawn invisible lines between themselves and I, ultimately severing the innocence of the friendship that was and turning it into a rivalry. I can think of at least three of these, and while I remain "Facebook friends" with them and keep civil, I cannot help but notice that something has changed and ruined our friendship forever.

And over what? A difference of opinion?
Take the following example:
I like blue and you like green. That's good for you, what did you do this weekend? Yes I realize that plants are green. Yes I realize that blue is the color you turn when you die. Fine, don't tell me what you did this weekend, we should argue this instead.

It's ridiculous. I think blue is awesome. I want you to appreciate blue, maybe even like blue as much as I do, but I definitely don't want you to bring up how much I "hate green" (I never said that) months later during a completely unrelated conversation. Besides, I respect that you like green and you have some very valid reasons for liking it (that I just happen to disagree with). If you can't live with that, don't be my friend. I can live with the fact that you like green and I'd like us to get past it so we can make aqua.

Okay, so maybe it's not that easy. After all, I get offended if you express an opinion that's drastically wrong compared to mine, but I promise to have a civil conversation about it if you do. Debate is healthy, after all; how can we make informed choices without being given our options first?

I admit that I'm still learning when to keep my mouth shut. I've heard that I should just keep my opinions to myself, and maybe that's true, but I shouldn't have to feel afraid to express myself, and neither should you. If someone brings up something controversial to you, feel free to bring up your side, but don't turn it into a mud-slinging argument. I've been trying not to, and I usually get mud on my face for it, but every once in a while the other person realizes I'm not trying to insult them and we have a decent conversation about our differing opinions. Those are the best conversations, even if neither of us converts the other.

I'm also a huge fan of putting cheese on everything.
-Ryan