Friday, July 05, 2013

[Guest Post] Hiring a Professional Copywriter

Hey, guys! Ivy Delfin contacted me about doing a post on professional copywriters, and since I’ve never looked into that, I figured why not. Here’s her take on the subject. :)

How a professional copywriter can benefit the promotion of your book


So you're working on a book, but you need help promoting it and you're not quite sure how to do it. It’s hard to know what marketing strategy will work best for you but with a little help it's surprising how quickly you can gain exposure and get your name out there.

People often underestimate the importance of the written word. Obviously as a writer, this may seem like a ridiculous statement, but to those who don’t think about the significance of words, it is easy to over look. The secret to promoting yourself and your novel could very well be words. Obvious, but some may find it surprising! Hiring a professional copywriter can help add some personality to your brand (yes you are a brand now), they can effectively improve your communication with your readers by writing better, more informative content for your site or even improve the quality of your own PR copy, impacting on your exposure dramatically. Even if you think you are quite a good writer (and if you're on this blog, then you probably are!), putting together the right words for your website, newsletter, or promotional material can take a while. Writing about yourself and for yourself is a skill that even the best writers can struggle with, so it can be worthwhile outsourcing this important branding function to professional copywriters. Hiring a copywriter who can create quality copy quickly will save you time and allow you to focus on what you need to do to, writing!

When trying to promote yourself, it’s easy to get caught up in wordy descriptions of your work. A good copywriter, however, has the knack of distilling your work into more attractive bits of information, using language that is relevant to your customers. Empathising with your customers and showing them that you understand their interests is key to establishing trust and building relationships. A good copywriter will observe your readers, mimic their language and can adapt your voice to the voice of your target reader.

In addition to the benefits of direct communication, these days, good copywriting isn’t limited to helping you sell more books. It’s about making sure you’re visible online. A good copywriter can optimise your content, using strong keywords and writing quality content that will be recognised well by search engines. They can quickly adapt their writing skills to different subject related to your brand providing you with varied and interesting content. Maybe you write in the genre of Sci-Fi and you want some extra content on recent technologies that mimic famous Sci-Fi inventions, good copywriters are well read and can speak well on a broad range of topics because it is part of their job to take the time to research what it is that you want.

There are a bunch of ways you can access copywriting services. Some copywriters advertise their services by freelancing and focus on smaller, more directed jobs. While others work for agencies, like GAPS Copywriting Services, where they have the support to work on an ongoing campaign for your brand, spending more time on your content and vision.


Ivy Delfin is a copywriter working with GAPS. A team composed of professional writers boasting considerable skill and experience in the media, government, commercial and human resources industries. We help business and organizations take their written communication to the next level by delivering clear and powerful content and making a significant difference in the perception and clarity of key messages. When Ivy's not writing content she enjoys swimming, shopping and taking her dogs for a walk.

14 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Never thought about using one. All right, never even knew what a copywriter did!

Melissa said...

Very interesting post. Thanks! :)

Carrie Butler said...

I never thought about using one either. Interesting stuff!

Carrie Butler said...

Thanks for stopping by, Melissa! :)

Sheena-kay Graham said...

Wonderful information. I might just hire one.

Steven W said...

I've thought about using one for back cover copies of my books, but interesting idea about using them to help with branding... that's really good idea. Thanks for sharing!

Carrie Butler said...

It couldn't hurt to try! :)

Carrie Butler said...

Steven! Long time no type, my friend. ;) Glad to see you're still around and well!

Nancy Thompson said...

I didn't CW did that. Hmm. Food for thought.

Carrie Butler said...

Neither did I!

Michael Di Gesu said...

Hi, Carrie,

Terrific point about copy writers.... I may be throwing my hat into that arena soon. Several bloggers have suggested it to me. You know from the cover and book intros I have done.

I am on board to help you in any way I can... Just let me know. I feel another super intro coming on.. LOL

I hope you're having a bit of fun this weekend.

Nick Wilford said...

Very interesting. I've just taken on some freelance copywriting, for a travel website, but of course I like to think I can turn my hand to anything and I'd feel very at home working for authors. And thanks for the reminder that we need to treat this like a business!

Carrie Butler said...

Hi Michael,

You should! It couldn't hurt to try. People love what you create for them. :)

Thank you. LOL Hey, I'm all for that!

You too!

Carrie Butler said...

Absolutely, Nick! I think you should give it a try. :)