Samantha Garner, Freelance Web Writer & Editor

The post title comes from a question I came across on LinkedIn a few months ago, and it’s been knocking around in my head ever since. I suppose the only way to really answer this question is subjectively. There isn’t, as far as I know (and if there is, I bet I’m in trouble), a governing body for copywriters that calls us to a copywriting bar or something.

So. What education is needed to become a copywriter? My subjective answer is: absolutely none. And here is why I say this: I am a copywriter and I have no education.

Well, not no education. I did graduate high school, but that’s about it. I know now that I can hold some out-of-date opinions about how to move through the world. This was evidenced when, upon graduating high school, I decided it would be more logical to spend my post-high school years in the working world. I would enter at the lowest level and work my way up, just like in the wholesome ’50s! At the time, I dreamed of working in publishing. I sent my wee resume along to every publisher in Toronto, with a cheeky letter saying, essentially, “I love books and will sweep floors if I have to.” I was surprised at the time that nobody took me up on this too-good-to-miss offer.

I ended up working in restaurants, pursuing web and magazine writing opportunities as they arose in my free time. As always, I read a lot and wrote as much as I could, getting used to adapting my voice and tone to the subject matter. After a few years I moved to Calgary and began working office jobs, including my first marketing & communications job, which I held for five years. The rest, if I may be cheesy, is history.

Now, I’m not advocating shunning post-secondary education in the least. In fact, by rights I shouldn’t have even got that job I just mentioned – the posting called for someone with a BA. It was just luck that they overlooked that. I’m merely saying that, with copywriting, all you really need to succeed is a good grasp of spelling and grammar and a way with words. I have those things naturally (tooting my own horn, yes). I like to think that early employers took a chance on me because they liked my writing (I still hold the record for best speller at the aforementioned marketing & communications job), and sensed how much I love writing.  As a freelance copywriter, I’ve not had a single prospective client ask about my education. They only care about how awesome I can make their project sound. In the end, experience spoke louder for me than any degree I could get.

What do you think? Is higher education necessary to become a copywriter?

(Image courtesy of stock.xchng user tsunei.)

Yup, this is another end-of-2009 blog post!

A paid-for URL, a few redesigns and some hilarious spam – this blog’s seen a lot in 2009! I took a quick look back at some of my earlier posts and thought I’d share some of my personal highlights from Wordscience. Here are the blog posts I liked the most in 2009:

• My Life With Robertson Davies
• Office Culture for the Self-Employed
• Three Ways my Mother Can Help you be a Better Freelancer
• How the Web Has Changed Since “My Day”
• Three Ways to Find Writing Motivation When You Just Don’t Care
• Quotes on Writing and Art

Oh, this one’s not a post of mine, but I kind of wish it was, given my Spelling Thing: Ten Words You Need to Stop Misspelling from The Oatmeal.

I hope everyone has/is having a great New Year’s Eve!

(Photo from stock.xchng user Staszkinse)

So, this is turning out to be a very geeky, “I love the internet!” week! It’s true – the internet can be pretty great. I do all kinds of freelance writing and related activities like editing and proofreading, but writing for the web is my favourite. Here’s why.

It’s fluid

For the most part, web writing is always in motion. I’m not just talking about the fact that you can usually edit things while they’re live (this can get you in trouble depending on what you’re writing), but also about how quickly web writing is informed by other things that happen online. Comments, blog posts, even new thoughts you had after you posted – these make web writing ever-changing and fluid. It’s a constant dialogue.

It’s immediate and trackable

Yes, I like the fairly instant gratification of web writing. I also like how much more trackable it is than other forms of writing. I’m not gonna lie, if I work on a web writing project that has stats available, I check those stats a lot. It’s fun to see what people respond to and search for and it helps me improve. I’m all about things that are fun and educational!

It’s fun

I know I’ve used the word “fun” about 20 times in this post, but I really do find web writing fun. I have experience writing content for all kinds of projects like brochures and newsletters and, while I enjoy these, I find my style of writing is very well-suited to the web. With web writing you have to be concise and entertaining. You’re allowed to be more relaxed and a bit funny, which is great. You can’t help but love a format that encourages this!

Yesterday, when on my way home from Gail’s seminar, I started thinking about the way the web has changed since “my day.” I know that’s kind of a silly phrase, because A) It’s still “my day,” and B) Only 75-year-olds say “my day.” Either way, it really amazes me how different things are online since 1997 when I first started being active on the web.

It’s okay to use your real name now

I can’t count the number of aliases I had in the ’90s. Back then, it’s kind of what you did. There were a few people that blogged under their real names, but most of us didn’t. If your “real life” friends found out you were active online, you would be labelled a freak! It was about as socially acceptable as whooping cough. Thankfully, we can now spend less time thinking up clever aliases and more time building blogging communities as real people.

There were no “bloggers” then

When I started blogging, it wasn’t blogging – it was “online journalling.” I remember when Blogger started and slowly started moving through the ranks of online personal writers. Back then, hand-coding your site in Notepad was a badge of honour – some of us even proudly displayed icons on our sites bragging about it. Blogger was kind of divisive back then and yes, I was one of the purists who decried it as too simple, a tool for de-personalization. Now, thankfully, I am wrong. Yes, it’s a bit more bite-sized now, but blogging is just as personal and community-building as “the old way.”

Blogging is more credible now

Blogs turning into books? Being cited as sources on the news? These were impossible dreams in 1997! Then, lots of people didn’t see the appeal of personal websites. It was much more than “this is what I ate for lunch” – it was sharing experiences and ideas and discussing them with people all over the world who felt the same way (or didn’t). It’s been truly remarkable to see the world at large slowly come around to this idea, making blogging more powerful than it ever was.

Image courtesy of stock.xchng user PocketAces.