ATTN: Copywriters...

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Lavern08

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How much money are you guys actually making doing this?

I registered @ 5 different sites at the beginning of this year, and so far, I've made $520.

I work a full-time job, so this extra income is just gravy. :D
 

rhymegirl

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I really hope that people don't jump onboard with this. You all deserve to know you'll be paid for your creative juices. It's really not reward enough to simply enjoy doing the work.
Even worse, have you considered how participating in that kind of forum contributes to job instability within the entire industry?

I have to agree with Gale: I don't work for free, ever. It devalues the work of writers.

I have something to say about this. Have either of you ever written for greeting card companies? Because I have written for greeting card companies for over 30 years. The standard way it works is you submit your ideas "on spec". Therefore, quite often the writer is basically working for free if she is unable to sell her ideas. There is no guarantee of a sale.

So why do it? Because it's enjoyable. And if you're good at it, you make sales on a regular basis. Plus, it doesn't take a whole lot of time to come up with a batch of ideas and send them in. I've written humorous copy that took me five minutes to write and been paid $200 for a couple of lines.

So I would imagine the same holds true for writing slogans
 

veinglory

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One difference is that you are posting the on spec work for hundreds, possibly thousands, of people to see--another is that unlike greeting cards it is material only a very specific client would be able to use (e.g. a tag line for a Scottish bicycle shop).
 

rhymegirl

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Yes, but I was taking issue with the "working for free" thing.

Quite often I work for free when I don't sell my greeting card ideas. When you think about it, the same thing holds true when someone writes an entire manuscript, sends it out to publishers and can't land a publishing contract. You still did the work and didn't get paid for it.

That's the way it (sometimes) is with writing.
 

Gale Haut

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I work for free all the time as well. I've done it here on the forums to help people with their designs or edits. I've done it for interviews that I recognized as legitimate opportunities. I've even participated in contests simply because I felt inspired by them.

I simply feel an obligation to my fellow writers and professional artistic types to point out when I see shady intent and misleading language on the part of those who benefit financially from their time and effort. If the beneficiary is being honest and upfront about it, I don't see a problem.

However, the red flags I like to point out are piles of turds dressed in fancy language along the lines of...

Come do spec work with us in order to:
• Build your portfolio
• Learn the ropes of the industry
• Make business connections
• Become a professional in the field

Because with a little extra effort and gusto, there are much more productive ways to actually reap these benefits without someone cashing in on your happy accidents. And participating in less than efficient ways or fumbling into misleading scams can be counterproductive to those awesome goals.

So, yes I agree you should work for free if you personally feel a benefit from it. But if you've been fed promises like those in the above quote, and those promises have turned into your real expectations—go no further!

If there really is someone reading this feeling a bit lost and confused about how you can get a real job in copywriting, send me a PM and I will point you in the right direction without any expectation for your time or your money.

Seriously. Don't waste your energy! There are better opportunities for you.
 

gingerwoman

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People in focus groups tend to get paid or at least receive a perk for participating.



I understand how it works. I'll acknowledge that these sites could be helpful for someone who needs to develop their portfolio or learn to engage in the creative process. Someone who already excels at business or advertising would be a lot better off finding a solid income with benefits over participating in crowdsourcing their ideas for cherry picking.

There are some red flags in this kind of business model that make my eye twitch. People who like to take these risks will continue to participate. Suum cuique.
On one level I agree with you, but "finding a solid income with benefit" is something that's thin on the ground everywhere you look, since 2008.
 

Pestilence

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I've made a decent bit of pocket money from chucking the occasional few slogans on some of the slogan competition websites, but CopyShoppy I'm tending to stay away from, these days.

The clients there are getting, quite frankly, insane. I noticed one went up today asking people to write an entire landing page for their product. For $200. So that's time spent researching the product, market, doing everything you should as a competent copywriter, basically, then writing the landing page... for the mere chance of some cash that would be a drop in the water for what that company could make from your efforts.

Yeah... no thanks. CopyShoppy's getting really quite bad for it now. I guess, in theory, it could be somewhat useful for people who are just practicing but meh... slogans only for me when I've got a few spare, bored minutes. The big work goes to the clients who know what it's worth.

EDIT: Looked deeper into it and that contest is more of a Product Description page than it is a sales landing page, so not too bad I suppose.
 
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CatchVonnegut

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EDIT: Looked deeper into it and that contest is more of a Product Description page than it is a sales landing page, so not too bad I suppose.

$200 for a landing page still seems pretty low to me. Maybe if it's a sentence or two, but any more than that... nope.

Also, as someone who makes his living in the ad/marketing world (I know, I know. I'm not proud of it... C'mon query letters!) I second whoever above said that the listed "benefits" this site is offering are dubious at best.
 
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Angie

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For $200, that would have to be a SHORT description page.

For an actual, honest-to-goodness landing page, my freelance rate STARTS at $800.

If you've got the spare time and are enjoying yourself, go for it. To each his/her own. But there are much better ways to actually make a buck.
 

Pestilence

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Absolutely agreed with both of you. I totally forgot about this thread!

Turned out it was for a circa 500-word landing page "style" description, when I looked at it.

Still, normal freelance rates for actual copy that will sell something in that space?

Yeah... worth far more than $200.

As you say, Angie, if you're farting about in your spare time and fancy the chance of landing some pocket money then by all means.

Otherwise... forget it.

Mind you, I got an email from the site earlier today and they had a competition go up with an (I think it was) $1005 prize for a television ad script that had to be turned around TODAY.

I dread to think what they've ended up with. :D
 

brad77

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This site seems interesting. I found a similar site but a little different and seems a little more lucrative for writers. I won a contest on copyshoppy and half the prize amount was taken from me. Seems like this new site is a startup but hopefully will provide some decent projects. I am looking at all my options!

https://copycontest.com/
 
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