Ive been doing some research into copywriting. I have found two courses that seem legit for a reasonable fee. Kopy writing Kourses and Filthy Rich Writer. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with these businesses or if there are any copywriters who might be able to give me some advice.
I've not heard of Filthy Rich Writer. While I've not used Kopywriting Kourse, I sort-of know Neville Medhora in a we're-in-a-lot-of-the-same-FB-groups kind of way, and the guy is legit. In terms of advice: freelance copywriting isn't really my main gig any more - pretty much all the sales writing I do these days is for my own company - but it was for several years. Is there anything specific you want to know?
Well, would you say a course would be worth it? I mean if Neville is legit then the only reason it wouldnt I would assume is if I dont put the effort towards it. Which I would. Id work hard at it. I just dont want to be in a sort of 'chasing a pipe dream' sort of situation.
Depends - what do you want the course to do? It won't make you a copywriter, no matter how good it is. That happens through writing things that sell, again and again and again. What a course will do if it's good is give you a grounding in basic principles of persuasion and how to write to sell. There's a lot of transferable skills from fiction writing but you need to unlearn some stuff too. If it's really good, it'll also cover how to research a market, how to develop an offer, and how to interrogate a client. If you're concerned about not being able to make money as a copywriter, it's definitely possible - I was doing six figures in my best years. But you'll need to be willing to write for the right markets for the biggest paycheques. FWIW, I never did any courses like this. I read a couple of books and wrote a lot of ads. But that's just me - the usefulness of a course is as much about your learning style as the content.
I would like to know about portfolios, and groundwork for getting the ball rolling. Get a feel for the type of mindset and day to day of the job. I guess you could learn such from books and general research too. I feel as though I could translate into the actual practice of the proffession well as I would consider myself decent with words and pretty empathetic. In terms of being able to pin point someones needs and write copy that would propose benefits. Its just the business aspect that intimidates me a bit.
The easiest way of developing a portfolio is just to write some spec ads in the area you want to focus on. Do you know specifically what type of copy you want to write? If you're trying to get into direct response, most clients will want you to understand the market, and will want some proof of that from seeing past ads you've written in their niche. They'll also ideally be looking for proven results but if they're going for the cheaper end of the market should understand that they won't always get that. (Anyone who doesn't understand that will be a shit client, avoid them). So for that, choose a couple of niches you think you'd enjoy writing for, find a couple of products in each, bury yourself in the market and write some of your own sales letters for those products. Use those as the starting point for your portfolio. If you're more thinking of website copy, you can often be a bit broader. Small business clients are the easiest ones to find, and will often only want to see that you've written for other small businesses rather than have written for businesses exactly like them. Building a portfolio can use the same tactic - find a couple of random businesses and write your own version of a site for them as examples of what you can do. If you're thinking of branding copy, I think that's mostly done through agencies, but I admit that was far less my thing so I don't have as good an idea of how the business end works. The business side is much the same as any other freelancing. You'll have all the same bullshit with trying to find clients and taking on too much work and then not taking on enough and chasing clients for payment and finding them trying to move the goalposts on you mid-job. But you'll also have all the same freedom, you'll get to work on a wide variety of stuff and can do it from wherever you want.
Okay so you mean just examples sales letters that havent exactly been used by a business or client yet? I really am quite flexible in terms of being able to comprehend a varitey of subject matter pertaining to a business but I would assume that Jack of all trades isnt as sought after or desirable as someone profecient with one subject. If I were to be a bit more realistic in terms of what I know it would fall into the catagory of religion. More specifically Christian theology. I just am not aware if Christian church or organization employs copywriters to help promote say a devotional or something. Might be more reasonable to puruse writing essays or articles for Christian publications. I just really like the opportunity that seems to be afforded to someone who is able to write what a business wants.
Yes, basically. You shouldn't make out that they're actual client work, and you should be looking to swap them out for actual client work after you've got some, but they're a decent way of showing off what you can do before you've got that to fall back on. There can be a lot of money in religious copywriting but you might not like where you have to go to get it - you'd be looking at fundamentalist televangelist begging letters. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if there were Christian-focused businesses that needed copywriting services. Places like this will need website and product copy, and some of them will probably do direct response campaigns; there's probably work available for fundraising drives for local churches. I'd be surprised if you got rich doing it, but I wouldn't be surprised if you could make a living.
I'd be virtually incapable of writing the sort of thing most televangelist would be looking for. Selling is one thing. Preying on people is another. Theres a hefty warning in the bible about people who pettle the Word of God for money. Simply put its not something that can be bought. An honest copy about a service provided or an item of use I can do though. Youve been a temendous help. I really appreciate it. Im going to do more research and start compiling a portfolio. Would you mind if I were to dm you if I had any other questions?
There is also bibles for sale and preachers asking for offerings to the Church because they got bills yo....
Yeah but God takes care of it. Offerings are for God. If your in ministry to make money you chose the wrong profession. Even if you made a ton of money that isnt the point and to go into it for such is slimy to say the least.
Knock it off, both of you. This thread was started to ask about whether a couple of copywriting courses were any good or not. That's a valid question and within the remit of the General Writing subforum. Religious/theological debate is not. All debates belong in the Debate Room.
And adding to what Iain just said this is a writing forum - we exist predominantly to discuss writing. If you have a burning need to discuss theological points there are whole forums out there dedicated to theological discussion.
