Hi all,

I've been copywriting for a while now, and have had some success, but I still can't seem to get in front of the money.

I would like to write print sales letters, as well as online sales letters and landing pages for Internet marketers, but I just can't make the jump. I can't figure out which ones hire copywriters and what I can offer them to get them to hire someone like me.

I've written copy for Early to Rise, Contrarian Profits, ebooks for Bob Bly, and I'm ghostwriting a book for another well-known client, but the money doesn't correspond to all the hours I'm putting in, and I'd really like to quit my day job and do this full time.

I know I can do this stuff, but I'm untested. I wrote a sales letter and autoresponder series for a writing agency, so I have no direct contact with the end client and don't know how well it did (the money was good in this case, but that's the only one like it I've had).

Any thoughts or advice?

Thanks,

James

James

I think landing gigs with IMers in particular is all about who you know.

So, are you getting testimonials from these names you've worked with?

Have you asked them directly for an introduction to someone you'd like to work for? Or, alternatively, can they give you some leads?

Do you have a direct marketing campaign (preferably offline) where you are contacting your prospects? If so, working a testimonial or two into the body of the copy works very well.

I think you pretty much have to decide whom you want to work with--and then customize a mailing campaign based on that.

In my experience (but it all depends on your market)--one peasly letter won't cut it. You are going to have to drip on these folks.

But if you can get an introduction from one of the names you've worked with, I'd go that route.

I think the most successful people here got where they are by schmoozing with the right people.

Write for yourself

Why write for an IM guru for $15k when he is going to pull in a cool Million?

You can spend the same amount of time writing for yourself and pull in $15k a month on autopilot. Rinse and repeat and your day job is a distant memory.

I'd imagine you would need your own product.

What type of products have the highest margins that won't take you a year to make.

Suzanne,

If you've worked only with cheapskate marketers till now, then in all likelihood they can only introduce you to more cheapskate marketers. This type of introductions are worthless, IMHO.

Offline mailing to prospects would be a much better idea though.

I remember some of the present copywriting greats stating in their interviews that they started by offering copy for cheap as a WSO...and then went back and did more projects for the same clients.

I don't think it's that simple these days.

a) First off, I don't think many big guys take up copywriting WSO's these days.
b) There's just too many copywriting WSO's being run these days, most of them by people who know nothing about writing copy.
c) Clients are becoming more and more skeptical about the quality of copy obtained thru these WSO's.
d) It's meaningless to write copy at the prices you find in these WSO's(unless if you've got no copywriting experience at all). I know one guy who runs $197 sales copy WSO's all thru the year.

So I guess copywriters have to find better ways of getting high-paying clients now.

Didn't Brian Keith Voiles run a copywriting WSO for $35k?

The WSO section is just like any other advertising medium, you write good copy and you make money. If you're any good you'll stand out above those other guys and be able to charge whatever you're worth.

That won't ever change.

A product helps

Info products (books, audio products, video etc) have the highest margins and you can knock out a simple one in a day, or just outsource it for a few hundred dollars.

I'm all for the "do it for yourself" "work for yourself" attitude.

I've been my own boss most of my adult life.

If someone were to take that approach, how would someone research what topics are profitable and who would be a good person/company to outsource it to?

James, hello! How are you?

To get in front of the money, as you put it, I believe a great way to do that is ... the more strangers who know your name, website and what you can offer them, the better!

Contact online companies - via email is best, less interruptive. Two sentences max - keeping it short will command their attention.

Good luck!

I'll add in...

You also need to learn how to be a marketer. This is also a requirement (usually) if you are going to write copy for the big guys or if you want to make big bucks..

It doesn't do any good if you can write killer copy if you can't present it in a way that makes a profit...

In addition, if you're just a "good" marketer then you can make as much or more money than if you are an excellent copywriter.

Look at all the big name copywriters... they all market their own products... not just write copy for others.