Freelance Copywriter UK Blog 2012
Latest entry, 16 January 2012
What single word does a freelance copywriter most dread to hear?
There are several unwelcome phrases that spring to mind that I have heard over the years which cause the heart to sink. For example, almost as unwelcome as 'Sorry about your invoice, but we've gone into receivership' is 'It's being passed around the team' (no doubt for death by a thousand cuts).
But there's one word that keeps cropping up in the world of freelance copywriting. And that's 'content'. Because you know that anyone asking for content, as opposed to copy, is really only going to be interested in quantity and not quality, and is only prepared to pay peanuts for it.
I apologise. I know I've covered this before. But it keeps coming up. In an online discussion last week, someone took objection to my disparaging on thr word 'content'. It turned out that her job title was Content Writer, and she fiercely defended the quality of the work she was writing.
Now I don't doubt for one moment that she was proud of the work she produced. And for all I know, what she wrote was good. But I'm prepared to bet large sums that she wasn't getting properly paid for it. And that as long as she thought of herself as a content writer, and was prepared to be categorised as such, then her future prospects were not rosy.
