Freelance journalists can sometimes envy the world of copy writing with its significantly higher day rates and greater scope for regular work.
But issues of poor communication, last-minute decision changes and clueless clients can drive a journalist to distraction as FFJ co-director Lily Canter found out…
Towards the end of 2021 I inadvertently picked up a series of copywriting work. I didn’t go seeking these jobs but due to my journalism specialism of personal finance I was contacted directly by some PR agencies.
I have done bits and pieces of copywriting over the years but nothing as big as these potential projects. I was asked to name my price and since they came to me, I pretty much doubled my journalism rate. Neither client batted at eyelid at the price I mentioned and I was kicking myself for not asking for more.
The first project came about after someone spotted my profile on LinkedIn. They were looking for content for a new money product website and saw I had written about related topics for the likes of Yahoo! Finance UK, the Guardian and Metro.
They rang me directly on my mobile and we chatted about what they wanted before setting up a Zoom meeting a couple of weeks later. They was a bit of back and forth via email in the meantime and the meeting was rearranged a couple of times but I didn't think much of it.
The first meeting went well and we agreed pricing for a second ‘consultation’ meeting to discuss story ideas and then a rate for articles.
Several weeks later we had a second meeting, which once more was moved around many times. The meeting was with the agent who said the client would be joining us, but they didn't and it wasn’t even mentioned.
They also said once more that the finance team would be in touch to get the ball rolling with the consultation fee. I never heard from them.
To cut a long story short - I suspect I was diddled.
We had a brainstorm for a couple of hours and came up with lots of story ideas. Then nothing. Silence.
The third meeting to finalise the commissions never happened and my messages have been ghosted. I have not been paid for the consultation. I am not particularly bothered because it was only a couple of hours and gave me ideas for things to follow-up myself but it is annoying not knowing whether they were simply disorganised or were just stealing my ideas.
My second big copywriting project around the same time was equally high paying and even more perplexing. I was contacted via email by an agency and then shortlisted before being selected. At least this time I had a contract though.
They wanted me to write a 5,000 word document based on data they were giving me. Every time they said they would get information to me it was late. Weeks and weeks late. I kept moving my schedule to accommodate their deadlines and then the information would never materialise. The client kept changing their mind about what they wanted and to me none of it made sense. They wanted to target journalists with a ‘discussion piece’ but as I kept saying, journalists want a headline and an angle, not a vague discussion.
After I completely rewrote the document a second time, (I did successfully negotiate a bit more money for this), they then changed the goalposts once more, and asked if I could do a third completely different document. At this point I said no and sent in my invoice.
To be fair to the agency they were very polite and were happy to pay what we agreed, including the increase, without me doing the third version. Although it does beg the question why were they asking me to do it for nothing? I am yet to be paid but don't anticipate any problems since we had a contract which I fulfilled and the payment is not (at this point) late.
But the whole experience has completely put me off copywriting. I have no idea whether this is a typical experience or I have been unlucky, but it has definitely made me appreciate editors more. Yes they may be terrible at answering emails and yes they may ask you to do something really quickly then sit on it for months, but at least you kind of know where you are with them. They don’t tend to change the goalposts and they don’t send you down the garden path.
The only exception to all of this is a lovely independent business I have started writing blog posts for who I deal with directly. No agency in the middle, just me and the client. This suits me just fine and is the only copywriting I will be doing for the foreseeable future.
What’s your experience of copywriting? We would love to hear! Simply reply to this newsletter and tell us your thoughts.
What’s coming up
Our popular Journalism Work Experience Initiative is opening again in March. All you have to do is sign up to our webinar that provides advice on how it works and tips on how to get the most out of it and then you get one year of access to a database of 50 freelance journalists willing to offer remote work experience opportunities.
There is a wide variety of specialisms and interests on our database across print and broadcast. Once we start promoting the initiative places tend to go very quickly. The webinar fee covers the admin involved in the scheme but there are bursary places available so please do contact us at freelancingforjournalists@gmail.com if you need more information.
The January sale on all our Quick Guides will be ending soon - at the moment they’re just £3.50 each and our downloadable webinar on podcasting is £7. If you want one, be quick! There are several topics including Branding and networking, Developing ideas and finding sources and of course Pitching.
Triumph of the week
Getting paid within a week for an article with a tight turnaround and for which the editor increased the fee after seeing what work had gone into it.
That feeling when
You have a helpful 20-minute chat with an expert only for them to turn around and say you can’t quote any of it.
We love to hear your feedback on everything we do, so feel free to drop us an email anytime at freelancingforjournalists@gmail.com
Bye for now!