Here is a short piece of imaginary conversation between a writer and his ‘trying-to-be’ client.
So you are a writer. That means you write. Oh, so what in particular?
Err, anything from scribbling thoughts to writing poems, one-liners, creative copy to those large content jobs for companies.
Hmm… That explains very much. I need content for my personal website. You may also manage my blog. I would require one article every day of 350 words each. But I expect absolutely original content. I hate ‘copy and paste’ work. I hope you don’t do that. And yes there’s a press release article which I may ask for every month. May be around 4-5 articles that updates my audience about the company events and other related news. Then there’s also this 24 page company brochure for which I need good writing. You can expect emailers and other stuffs for which I am looking for some really effective and creative content that keeps my audience engaged.
Great Sir.
Hmmm… Just give me an idea of how much would you charge per month?
Can we go for project based charging?
Naah. That irritates me. You just charge me in bulk per month. That would make both yours and my job easy. So tell me, how much.
Ok as you wish. From what you just mentioned, there’s a huge writing job that awaits me. This would cost you around Rs. X0000/month. (Dear Readers, don’t worry about the figure.)
What???? That’s such a huge amount man. And anyways I will be giving you an idea about what to write for everything. For website I already have my company profile ready. All you need to do is polish it a bit and make it ready for the website. For press release, I will be giving you the major points na. You just need to expand it a little more in your words. For blog, I will help you out with links from where you can get an idea of what kind of writing I am expecting from you. You can also do a little bit of ‘copy and paste’ job to lessen your burden. And anyways the website/brochure and mailers will all revolve around the same kind of content. All you need to do is just mix and match.
No sir, it’s not the same. Absolutely not. And you said that you are looking for original content. And I promise you just that. There’s a lot that goes behind even those 4 lines which we write. We do basic research before creating content on any topic.
What are you saying man. Are you telling me that I should spend that much amount for the content alone?
Yes sir.
Hmmmm…. See you may be right. I understand that you writers do hard work and all. But who reads content now-a-days. And I am not asking for too much work. Just the usual website, brochure and all. You guys do this kind of work daily. And you will take only few hours of work. I am not doing it myself because I don’t have time. I look after other things too in the company. Otherwise, I would have done it myself.
Sir, Sorry but I think I am not asking for too much for the work you mentioned.
See young man, it’s not that I don’t have people in my office to write for me. I just wanted to give people like you the opportunity to come out with something good. You people are creative. What they write won’t bring me customers. But you will write it more effectively.
Sir that’s the reason we charge sir. It takes us enough hard work to come out with the content which you want.
See, now you are like being adamant with your rates. Ok do one thing. Start the work. Let’s see how it comes out. I am not going anywhere and you know me. Money is never a problem. Work is important. Let’s start.
Period
[Let’s leave this conversation here.]
How many of you (writers in particular) have gone through such a conversation at one point or the other?
The above one is a random conversation (of course drafted after having experienced it time and again). I have always seen people underestimate the worth of good writing and overlook it.
Even within a creative agency, design is given importance at a certain point which to a degree is not unfair. But when I hear people demanding content but considering it as a ‘anyone-can-do-it’ kind of job, it kind of makes me feel sorry for the writers who have been putting their worth in creating value for someone else’s’ company.
I keep telling people that hey, one-liners are not easy to write. And they think – Oh really!
My brother sometimes tell me, ‘Arre sun tu badi copywriter banti firti hai na, chal mere liye ek acha sa facebook status likh!’ (Listen, you call yourself a writer and all. So just write for me a good facebook status.)
I mean WHATTT??
I know some people who call me up and say, ‘See my brother is starting up a small firm. He wants a name for it. De De na… tu toh ek minute mein kar degi.. Mujhe toh kuch soojh nahi raha.’ (Please give, You will take only one minute. I can’t think of anything good.)
It’s not that I declined their offer to draft a status message or name someone’s brother’s company.
All I ask for is to understand few things:
– It doesn’t take ‘one minute’ to write a one-liner for a copywriter. And even if it takes, it’s because he/she is a damn good writer with a quick thought-process. And of course has a great sense of putting words together. Respect him/her.
– You cannot switch your mood to having ‘not-so-original’ content from ‘original’ content just because you are not ready to pay enough. A true writer would never disappoint you with your copy needs. Be ready to pay. He/She deserves it.
– If you don’t have time to write for your company brochure and you want this writer to do it for you, then also please respect his/her time. They put a lot of that thing (TIME) to write something good for you. And as you already know, ‘Time is Money’.
– No matter what kind of content/line/name branding you want this writer to do for your brother/uncle/yourself/ or anyone else. If you are not willing to pay, that’s fine. But don’t make him/her feel that you are asking him because ‘you don’t have time’, ‘you think it’s a quick job for the writer in question’, or never mention phrases like ‘yaar bas kuch bhi likhde’ (write anything), ‘jyada dimaag mat lagana isme’ (don’t put too much thought into it), etc etc – All because you think saying that would make him/her feel less sorry about not being paid and would make you feel less guilty about not paying him/her. Avoid that strictly. Just be nice & respectful. He/she will do it. (Do we have a choice??)
I am not writing this because I think that writers don’t get paid enough. But I think they don’t get enough respect. Just because anyone can speak and write English doesn’t mean that a writer too is ‘anyone’. For God Sake, he/she is a writer. He sits in front of that computer for hours to come out with words that people would read.
He/She writes things that make a cranky real-estate property appear like a dream palace. A hair dryer look like something you can’t live without. A furniture like a thing for which you waited for years. And a Book like the best thing you would ever read in your whole life.
He/She can create stories around anything and everything. Trust them with words and they will come out with stunning/awesome things for you with it.
Respect. Is all that we ask.