I'm a full-time advertising copywriter. I work for a small firm in Montgomery, AL and I've been here since January of 2002. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

In college, I was an English major. The consensus out there was that the job market for English majors was pretty bleak. Your options were limited to (a) continue you education, get a PhD and teach or (b) memorize your new mantra "Would you like fries with that."

So, when an opportunity opened up with the hotel chain where I was working my way through school, I took it. For the next three years, I averaged a promotion every six months (corporate trainer, regional project manager, regional relief manager, etc.), culminating in a General Manager's position.

However, as George Burns said "I'd rather be a failure at something I love than a success at something I hate." And I hated it. In fact, due to the nature of the business, I'd come to hate people in general. They were whiney, condescending fools.

Then my wife got pregnant. I did not want to raise my son to share my misnthropic views of society, but I knew that, as long as I stayed where I was, I'd come home miserable from work every day...and it would rub off on Joseph. That was unacceptable.

So, I decided I'd make full 180-degree turn from a job I hated to a job I loved. I wanted to write but my first love, fiction, was not an option. You have no idea how difficult it is to create compelling characters when you hate people. However, I knew I had a way with words. And I knew I could write better ads than what I was seeing on TV.

So I did a little research. I took a chance, and today I'm a professional writer. My work in my first year alone has netted me more than a dozen ADDY awards--advertising's answer to the OSCARS--for oustanding creativity and execution. Sure, it's merely the industry congratulating its own, but since I don't get a byline, I'll take it where I can gt it.

I'm not relaying this for my own self-aggrandizement [well, not totally ], but to show that it can be done. Most of the people writing most of the words you see on a daily basis know nothing of the craft, nothing of the art of stringing words together.

Most copywriters today studied marketing or journalism. They know remarkably little about the poetry and nuance of words. Those of us who do, those of us who write because we're drawn to the allure of words, who write simply because we're compelled to write will stand out among those who aren't.

I do have some questions:

1. Are you doing the same thing as Robert Bly? Is his book(s) worthwhile?

2. If one is interested in getting into this field, do they need a portfolio? How should one go about getting this (obviously, fiction won't count).

3. What about freelancing?

Thanks,
Balthasar

I have samples of writing that I can provide when asked by potential clients, mostly clippings of white papers, corporate lessons, articles, and press releases. Before I started in this line of work, I used clippings from college essays and newsletters to which I had contributed.

If you haven't done any business writing in the past, I strongly encourage you to take a course or two before seeking work. Business writing requires political ability as well as a thorough understanding of whatever industry for which you will be writing. Reading the trades for that industry would also be a good idea.

Besides writing skills and a thorough understanding of the business world, you need to be able to market yourself to potential clients (assuming you're going the freelance route). I recommend forming alliances with larger consulting firms and contract houses and getting sub-contract work. That is a great way to build up your resume, clippings, and reputation. Nearly all of my work has come to me this way over the years and it reduces the amount of self-promotion I need to do.

As for the questions raised: Yes, I'm doing the same thing Robert Bly is doing. And, yes, his book is worthwhile. It's what enabled me to get my job. It's about twenty years old and some of the info is outdated, but it is an excellent overview of the job and contains solid advice for would-be copywriters.

True, a fundamental knowledge of business is necessary. A business writing course definitely will not hurt you. However, I think you'd be just as well served by two or three good books on the subject--if you have the discipline to work through them. If not, invest the money in a course.

My second piece of advice is actually an old standard for writers: read. Every piece direct mail letter and postcard, every billboard you pass, every ad in the magazines you read. Also, read magazines like AdWeek, Print and Communication Arts.

Well, to put it bluntly, yes, you'll need a portfolio. How do you go about getting one? Well, if you don't have any experience you'll simply have to make it up.

Actually, you'll make up a portfolio of spec ads-- that is ads that aren't for actual clients. There are two ways to go about this.

The first is to thumb through magazines and newspapers. Find ads that you think you could do better. Cut them out and paste them to a piece of paper. Then re-write the copy for the ad in your own image on the paper below the ad. Or on an index card papercliped to the piece of paper. There are no real conventions.

The second is to just make the ad up completely. Pick a real or imagined client and write an ad that answers a real or imagined need for that client. Robert Bly's book is good for walking you through this sort of thing.

Well, I'm not sure if I'm the person to ask about that as my one freelance gig led directly to a full-time job offer. My freelancing career was obviously a success, but short-lived.

That being said, there are writers that make a good living freelancing. There are others that supplement their income freelancing.

Freelance copywriting is a tricky field to break into. Many successful freelancers are former full-timers who left or were "downsized."

A good way to start is to try freelancing yourself to small marketing and PR firms in your area. That's how I did it.

The first step was research. I spent a couple of days at Books-a-Million and Barnes & Noble and scoured the writing, business sections and magazine stands learning everything I could regarding marketing and advertising. Anything that could give me a feel for what copywriting was all about. I gained lots of valuable information, but in the end, the only book I actually bought was Bly's "The Copywriter's Handbook."

Next, I seached the phone book and internet for every marketing, advertising and PR firm within an hour of my house, plus radio and tv stations. Once I had my list, I called to find out if any of them were hiring. None were, but a couple said they were always on the lookout for talent.

I then researched the handful I had left, eliminating those whose work I just didn't like.

I worked on my portfolio, too, creating 12 solid ads to form the core. Then I created another twenty ads-- tailoring five ads to the style of each firm that remained on my list. Once they were done, I scheduled my interviews.

My first interview landed my a freelance gig, which in turn led to a job offer. The whole process from beginning to end took less than three months

It truly is a primer for the novice copywriter. Early in the book, you'll find this:

"It's only natural for a creative person to avoid formulas, to strive for originality and new, fresh approaches...Certainly, the best copywriters succeed by breaking the rules. But you have to KNOW the rules before you can break them effectively."

He then sets out to provide the "rules" for everthing from creating headlines to writing direct mail letters to creating TV spots that work. He also provides tips for successful freelancing.

In essence, the book is a refresher course in persuasive writing (which is really the essence of copywriting) and a primer on the conventions of advertising, marketing and PR.

(The life of a copywriter, as explained to me by my boss on my first day at work) "It's more than being able to take criticism. Of the truly creative, oustanding work you submit, about 25% of it will be approved by your supervisors. Of those, about 80% will get killed by the client. It's that remainder, that 5% of great work that survives that has to sustain you through the mundane, boring 95% that makes up most of your day. If you can deal with that, you'll be successful."

Writing copy is probably one of the most frustrating writing jobs out there. A lot of it is boring. Your most creative ideas DO get killed, and those that make it through usually get twisted beyond recognition. The deadlines are almost as impossible as the clients themselves. And at the end of the day, when your work is out there before the public... there's no byline.

We are the anonymous. The man behind the curtain. The only recognition we can expect comes once a year, from our peers at the ADDY Awards, and even then there is little fanfare.

We don't get stopped on the street-- "hey, aren't you..." We don't get asked for autographs. We don't have fan-clubs or fan-fiction sites on the web. And except for the unprecedented (and short-lived)case of Baby Bob, there is no talk of movie options for either screen, big or small.

And yet, for better or for worse, we are responsible for some of the most prolific pop-culture icons out there. It all starts with a single concept. From "Where's the beef?" to "Can you hear me now?" the copywriter has had more influence on and less recognition from society at large than any other class of writer in history.

To succeed as a copywriter-- indeed, just to survive, one must have an incredibly strong sense of self-worth. It's not savoring the 5% that survives which sustains me (although, that IS pretty cool); it's the sheer joy in the process of creating the other 95% that makes the job worthwhile.

Plus, it's darn good practice. I'm forced to write 8 hours a day, every day. I'm exposed to new information on a daily basis, which keeps my creativity boiling over. I get proofed and edited several times every day, which has helped tighten up my writing considerably and has helped me learn not to take criticism personally.

I have long dreamt (and still do) of being an author. Of seeing my stories and articles in print. Of giving book signings and workshop lectures. In the meantime, however, I'll gladly settle for simply being a professional writer.