Writing for Money

We live in a complex world. We have gadgets and gizmos and things that click, and whirr, and spin. We have complex lives. We want to know how to do things faster, better, cheaper, easier, and with less stress.

If you can write a simple how-to instruction, you can get paid for that writing. Publications, from local newspapers to national and international magazines, are always looking for well-written pieces that tell someone how to do something.

Everyone knows Martha Stewart. Do you know that she often describes herself as a "journalist"? She created a billion dollar empire telling and showing people how to do things.

Anything that you know well, or that you can research thoroughly until you DO know it well, can be the topic for a great how-to article.

The field of copywriting is one of the best-paid areas of professional writing. As a copywriter, you write text that becomes part of advertisements, direct mail pieces, promotional material, marketing collateral, and web sites.

Copywriters need to be able to write clearly and concisely. They need to be creative, and yet understand the important aspects of writing a winning formula. They also need to be able to understand a product or service, and how best to represent that product or service in words.

Copywriters work for marketing deparments and ad agencies, and may also work on their own as independent consultants.

Learn to be a copywriter by studying the masters currently working in the field, as well as those who established the genre from the beginning of print advertising. Study marketing and corporate communication, and advertising.