The contracted project affords a win-win situation. This is not You vs. a Corporation; this is just an individual with a need, and a single service provider who can answer that need. Who wouldn’t jump at the chance to negotiate a terrific deal on a job that’s done to their exact specifications?

My guess is, the biggest reason people shy away from contracted jobs is the same reason people don’t do a lot of things: Fear of the Unfamiliar. Allow me to familiarize you with the ways of the freelance writing world. Here’s how to curb copywriting costs while getting the most bang for your buck!

Thoroughly research prospective candidates for the job. Seek out four or five different writers, carefully examine their work and ask about their qualifications. Request samples from each writer. Check for accuracy, language mastery and appropriate use of tone. Compare rates. You may discover, to your delight, that there are some really talented “newish writers” who will offer you a much better deal than some old veterans out there!

Consider hiring someone who has never written for your field before. Yes, you heard right. So many people shy away from a writer who hasn’t done exactly what they’re looking for. Unless you’re in a really specialized area, there is no reason why a well-rounded writer can’t easily adopt to your tone and style of communication. Let’s say you were looking for someone to write a manual on “how to get through your first year as a corporate professional.” You find a writer who’s written a slew of great articles and a smattering of e-books, but never an exact match of your project. Here are three reasons to hire her: 1. She’s an excellent writer, 2. It’s likely she’s worked for a corporation at one time or another, and 2. She’s probably willing to offer a reduced rate because she’d love to add this project to her repetoire.

Fill in all the details beforehand. Give the copywriter a project overview, some background information on your business, and examples of past projects or a competitor’s work that you’d like to emulate. Make sure you thoroughly describe the habits and attitudes of your target audience. Why do this? It’s the quickest way to help her understand what you need… and the quicker she grasps what you’d like to have her create, the faster the job will get done to your satisfaction. The faster the job gets done, the sooner you’re on your way to making big money with your advertising effort!

Expect to haggle. I’m astonished that so many people just turn away from a potentially great working relationship because they’re afraid to make their budgetary needs known. Here’s a little secret about independent contractors: we’re always going to try for the highest going rate we can get. Why? We expect YOU to haggle! Shopping for freelance services is a little like going to a peddler’s market. There’s no big scary corporation to call the shots and set the prices in stone. It’s just you and me playing Let’s Make a Deal. So don’t be intimidated by a freelancer’s “advertised rates.” You’re always welcome to come back with a counter-offer. That’s what we expect you to do!

If you’re not sure of a copywriter’s abilities, give him a few small jobs to start. This is one of the greatest advantages of hiring a contractor. You can test him out with a few projects, and if you like his style, hire him back to do more work. If you don’t care for the way he handles your projects, you’re free to seek help elsewhere. What are some small jobs you can offer as a trial-run? A press release, a company tagline, a corporate mission statement, a newspaper ad, some headlines for your website.

Offer your writer a weekly rate. A project here, a project there… boy, those hourly fees add up fast! If you know there’s a crunch coming up and you have a trusted writer in mind, contract the job out “by the week.” Ask the writer if she’s willing to devote 40 hours a week to researching and writing marketing materials for your company. Define her expected responsibilities ahead of time, agree on a set fee for five consecutive days of work, and make sure she’s easily accessible by phone and email. Most freelancers are willing to accept a much lower rate of pay if they know they’re guaranteed a steady gig. Get it in writing, and bam, you’ve hired your first temp and saved a ton of money in the process!

Hire someone to “clean up” your written materials. Don’t have the money to spend on a full-scale ad campaign? Do the work yourself, but have a seasoned writer critique it for you. Ask the copywriter what his proofreading rates are, and then send a few drafts his way for a quick revamp. You won’t believe how much better your ads can look when you spend just a few dollars on an expert proofreader.

Ask the copywriter if she’ll give you a reduced rate for just one written draft. Lots of writers factor multiple draft revisions into their fees. But what if they knew going in that they only had to write one draft? The price would likely be considerably lower because of significantly less time spent on the work. When it comes to copy, do you like to “have it your way,” same as your Burger King? Then a single-draft copywriter might be the way to go. You’ll save a ton of money on copy revisions, and you can use what the writer creates and “make it your own.”

Get a written estimation of the time it will take to complete a project. What’s your biggest fear about copywriting jobs that are charged by the hour? That the writer will spend hours longer than you expected on it, and as a result, charge you an arm and a leg. Eliminate that fear by asking for an estimated project time up-front. The more clarification, the better. Don’t just say, “I need 4 pages of website copy written” and expect her to know how long it will take. Instead, map out the work plan. Will she be responsible for research? Project outlines? Phone interviews? Multiple draft revisions? Knowing the process will help her figure out a fair price for the work. In the end, you’ll both feel more comfortable settling on a price.

Q: What does a copywriter do in a typical day?

A: This question is very comprehensively answered in http://www.divinewrite.com/adayinthelifeof.htm , to summaries, copywriters do some or all of the following:

„X meet with prospective clients (”prospects”) or talk with them on the phone to sell your services to them (freelancers only)
„X liaise with clients to take a brief (learn what the client needs from the copy, who the audience is, what benefits the client offers their customers, etc.)
„X research the subject matter
„X plan the structure and approach of the writing
„X write the piece
„X liaise with the client through the review process (the client reviews the work and the copywriter fixes whatever needs fixing - so long as it’s not out of scope, e.g. a new requirement)
„X get the client to sign off (approve) the job
„X invoice the client (freelancers only)
„X chase payment of invoice (freelancers only)
„X process the payment using an accounts package (freelancers only)
„X keep detailed records of all correspondence and activities throughout the process
„X manage the business (freelancers only - including manage your IT systems, accounting, create and maintain a website, create advertising materials, writing proposals, generate a search engine ranking, maintain a database of contacts, etc.)

Q: What are the working conditions like?

A: Most copywriters work either for themselves (”freelancing”) or for advertising or web design agencies (”employees”). Freelancers tend to work from home, but may sometimes work at the client’s workplace. Employees almost always work at the client’s workplace. Conditions for freelancers tend to be pretty relaxed (they’re at home, after all!!!). I haven’t worked at an agency, but I suspect things are a little different there.

Q: What is the pay like?

A: I’ve heard of freelance copywriters being paid by the article at a rate of USD $12 per 600 word article (seems ridiculous to me!). I believe these people were college students looking for a way into the copywriting industry. At the other end of the spectrum, talented freelancers who treat writing as a serious business can earn in excess of USD $100,000 per year. I think that agency copywriters tend to earn somewhere in between these figures, maybe averaging between USD $35,000 - $70,000.

Q: What skills do I need?

A: A copywriter needs to be able to write very well in many different styles (from short 1-2 line ads through to long 3000 word articles). They also need to be able to adapt to heaps of different subjects (from IT to kitchen surfaces to accounting to nutritional supplements to cars). They need to be organized and hard-working, with an eye for detail and an understanding of writing for different media (website, brochures, radio, TV, etc.). Freelancers need good business sense, an understanding of search engines, some ability with IT systems, and patience. They also need to accept that they’re gonna be poor for the first 2 years!

Q: What education do I need?

A: Formal education never hurts, and often helps. But it’s no guarantee of success. If a copywriter has all of the above skills, they won’t need formal training in writing. Also, in my humble opinion, you can’t train to become a writer; you’re either a writer or you’re not. Training can sharpen certain skills, and teach new styles, etc., but if you don’t have ‘the flow’ when you start the course, it’s unlikely you’ll have it when you finish.

Q: Do I need a website?

A: Yes! The best place for any freelance advertising copywriter or website copywriter to start is to fork out for a website. A website is invaluable because when you cold call and email prospects, you¡¦ll need to direct them somewhere that gives them more information.

Q: What should I include on my website?

A: Keep it simple, include a portfolio page, add any samples of any sort of copywriting you’ve done, talk about the places you’ve worked, the clients you¡¦ve written for, and include any testimonials you¡¦ve received. Make sure you include your address and contact details as well, so people don’t think you’re a fly-by-night operation. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to include a photo either. If you can’t say much about your experience, don’t say much. It doesn’t even really matter if you don’t say anything. Remember, just like any other form of advertising copywriting, writing about yourself requires the art of subtlety. If you lack experience, but you¡¦re confident you can do the job, you can be very clever in what you don’t say, and most people will read it the way you intended.

Q: Should I target agencies?

A: If you¡¦ve never worked as an advertising copywriter or website copywriter before, don¡¦t target advertising agencies and web design agencies. They know exactly what they¡¦re after, so if you don¡¦t have a portfolio, you won¡¦t stand a chance. Target end-clients directly.

Q: Should I cold call?

A: Yes. One of the best ways of generating business in the early days is to cold call potential end-clients. It¡¦s hard work and very time consuming, but you can generate some very qualified leads. For more information on cold calling, take a look at http://www.divinewrite.com/coldcallingcopywriter.htm .

Q: Should I write samples?

A: Yes. If you¡¦re targeting specific clients or industries, don¡¦t be afraid to write a few samples and send them through. You can offer the pieces free of charge (everyone likes something for nothing) or at a discount, or you can use it as an incentive to sign them up for future work. It all depends on the type of work and the type of client. The important thing to remember is that samples are virtually as good as a portfolio to most prospective clients.

Q: Do I need an accounts package?

The first key to writing a novel is the ability to dream and imagine. Think back to when you were a little child and dreamed. Your imagination took you to places you’ve never been before. It made you do things you never thought you could do. Having superpowers…being in strange places…the conditions are limitless. Writing a novel is actually imagination translated into words. You close your eyes and let your thoughts drift while creating a web of consequential ideas. Afterwhich, you write them down on paper.

The second key to writing is formulating the premise of your novel. Let’s say you’d start with a huge asteroid moving about in space. Then suddenly it collided with another asteroid and instantly created an explosion. Some of the explosion’s debris fell down into the earth’s atmosphere. By accident a person comes in contact with it. These sequence of events could be your initial start in which you let your mind take hold of and run with to produce the succeeding events.

The third key would be creating a stream of spontaneous ideas. Once you have the initial idea, sink down into it and allow yourself to be completely absorbed. Let’s say after the person comes in contact with the asteroid debris, he gains supernatural powers! And then he notices some new changes in his being, not just physically but also emotionally and psychologically. This is where an avalanche of new ideas start coming in. You will notice that you are no longer directing your story but your story is directing you. That makes writing now so easy. You don’t need to analyze anything because the story now starts to play like a movie. All you have to do is put them into words as the story plays in your head.

Next, make sure you are able to retain your daydreaming and concentration as one event goes after another. This state is now called the “alpha state”. According to Judith Tramayne-Barth, this is the place between consciousness and sleep. Time stands still when you are in this state. Words keep coming to you until you start to feel pain in your legs and in your waist and then you suddenly flick consciousness and you become flabbergasted because you’ve not only written one or two pages but five or more without even knowing it!

The next key would be to practice flipping in and out of the “alpha state”. You can do this by rereading what you’ve written and internalizing it as if it was your first time. It might take you time, as much as hours or even days before you are able to go to your “alpha state” again but once you’re adept at going into the zone, it would only be a matter of minutes before you start writing a new dialogue.

What does a ghostwriter do?
A ghostwriter edits, writes, collaborates, and researches on behalf of someone else who becomes their client. Many biographies of celebrities and television personalities have been ghostwritten.

Why do I need one?
Not everyone knows how to or has the time to turn an idea into a book. A ghostwriter is a professional who has the time to turn your thoughts into a polished manuscript.

How does ghostwriting work?
You give the ghostwriter your ideas; s/he tells your story. Most people provide notes, digital recordings or audio tapes. Some may even have drafts of chapters or the whole book and ideas about characters and dialogue. The more information and material you provide, the closer the final product will be to your original idea. The ghostwriter turns your idea into something that people will enjoy reading.

Will the ghostwriter steal my idea?
No, that wouldn’t be professional. Any ghostwriter who did that would soon be out of a job. A reputable ghostwriter will usually be happy to sign a non-disclosure or confidentiality agreement.

Who gets the credit for my finished book?
It’s your idea, so you take the credit. Many ghostwriters work behind the scenes. Of course, in some instances, you may want to share the credit - that’s why many biographies are credited like this: Major Celebrity with Ghostwriter or Major Celebrity as told to Ghostwriter. But you call the shots and can opt to take all the credit.

How much does ghostwriting cost?
Each job is unique and that makes it hard to give more than general guidelines. The length of time the project is likely to take and the amount of research the ghostwriter will be required to do will affect the final cost. Many ghostwriters will charge a small up front fee, followed by payments at each stage of completed work. Unless you’re a major celebrity with an iron-clad publishing contract already signed and sealed, a ghostwriter is unlikely to work for nothing.

What does a ghostwriter’s fee cover?
It covers writing, research and any communication, but not usually travel or accommodation.

How long will it take to ghostwrite my material?
That depends on the material. Anywhere from 2 to 6 months is average depending on the type of book and how much work you’ve already put in. A short article may only take hours while a longer research report may take a year. You’ll be able to discuss this once you’ve hired a ghostwriter.

What about publication?
Some ghostwriters help with publication as well, by sending query letters and so on. This will probably cost you extra. Other ghostwriters see the writing as their job and leave you to find your own publisher. Consider which option you prefer before signing the contract.

How do I know the ghostwriter is experienced?
Ghostwriters generally have to keep clients’ names confidential, but you can look at other examples of their writing. If you enjoy reading these, then chances are that others will enjoy reading your material too.