So what exactly is the difference between a writer and a copy writer? I see lots of strange things scattered around the web regarding this subject. Probably the craziest definition I have seen is that a copy writer only writes sales copy, this is a ridiculous assumption, what about the hacks of bygone days who used to sell copy by the column inch? They were not writing sales focused copy at all.

I think my definition would be somewhat simpler, a copy writer does not have control over the general overall theme and content of his writing, he is a gun for hire, he is given the subject and possibly content of each piece he writes and must stick to his project brief. A writer on the other hand, has much more freedom over his writing, often working on solo, self motivated pieces, usually to be marketed or sold at a later date.

Personally I see myself as something in-between, much of the time I am writing to spec, other times I am writing speculatively. Each has its advantages, finding a happy balance of the two seems to be the safest route.

I have been doing a lot of work for the same client over the last couple of weeks; this is both a good thing and a bad thing. The client in question is a company that specialises in building websites for realtors in the United States. This means that all of the writing I have been asked to produce is very similar.

The upside of this is that it gets easier each day to produce good content, I have a nice rhythm worked out now, first some research, then sketch an outline for the content, go over the research again end then flesh things out, nice and simple.

The downside of course, is that one becomes stagnated by this rhythm, creativity levels drop as you switch to autopilot and everything starts to read very similar. It’s quite a challenge to write sixty or more short pieces about real estate in the USA and make sure each piece reads uniquely.