Expert: Sean Trapani - 7/31/2008

Question
Hi,

I am an American living in the Gulf. I am a professional journalist and always have had a passion for copywriting. I was just offered a job and prepared a dozen awesome ideas for print ads. But when I went to the interview the HR Mngr said that he would hold off on ads for now.

Instead he showed me the current , I guess you would say brochure but its and inch think, and said he wants me to redo it so that it sleek and classy. He wants me to not only write it but design it. Add photos. He says I will be in charge of other employees to get the job done.

This is a billion dollar company. And a once in a lifetime opportunity. But I worry whether I can do the job or not.

So here is my question. As a copywriter, what do I have to do when I rewrite the book?? SImply fix the grammer and pucntuation or what??  Thanks!


Answer
Hi, Allison


It's beyond the capacity of this medium to tell you everything you need to know to become a copywriter - which is vastly different from a journalist.

As a copywriter, you're taught how to break the rules - how to use natural speech instead of formal grammar. You'll start sentences with prepositions. Have one sentence paragraphs. Use fragments. Essentially, you'll have to unlearn much of what you've been taught in J school.

Think it of it as if you're writing a screenplay - and an actor will read your words verbatim from your copy.

First, you have to imagine the actor who will be "speaking" your copy. Who is this person? Male? Female? Young? Hip?

Then you write (or in this case, edit) the existing copy to sound like something that resembles dialogue. Lastly, after you have written a few pages stop, take a break, and then read everything you've written aloud. And I don't mean mumble it.

You'll feel foolish. But it makes a big difference.

This is all I can share with you to get you started. There is a lot more to know, so I suggest you search some of my previous answers for ideas on books to read.

Best of luck,

Sean Trapani