This is the third article in a three-part series of articles I have written this week on writing tips. On Sept. 25, I wrote an article on "Writing Press Releases About People." On Sept. 26, I wrote an article on "News Articles Vs. Blog Posts."
This article is an effort to help ex-journalists make the transition to content writing, if they have to. We shouldn't have to, but the business isn't very good right now and you do what you have to do.
The characters played by Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell in "His Girl Friday" never had to make the transition because 1940 was a better time for journalists, but back then Russell's character was under pressure to make the transition to being a housewife. It's always something.
By the way, I've never watched a movie where the characters talked as fast as they did in "His Girl Friday." It was like listening to Spanish.
Writing Tips Blog No. 3: Transitioning From Journalism To Content Writing
My transition from journalism to content writing was dictated by the collapse of the journalism business.
What’s a content writer? While researching this blog, I had trouble finding a satisfactory definition. John Halas, who has written dozens of columns on writing, wrote in a column entitled "Content Writer" that "a content writer is a freelancer hired to write online content for business" and their articles "are used to attract more traffic to the company’s websites."
My perspective is that journalists are more committed to finding the best information possible, while content writers get enough information to lure people into their stories and then move on to the next story.
I will always be a journalist, but I like a few things about content writing, including the greater number and greater variety of assignments, getting assignments via an online list rather than pitching editors, and the fact that I write stories via online research rather than interviewing people who are often hard to reach.
On the other hand, I hate that content writing rates are about one-quarter 20th century journalists' writing rates and the quality standards are significantly lower.
My advice on making the transition to content writing includes:
* Less Research: Stop looking for the best research possible. This is advice I often don’t follow myself because I’m an "old dog" who has had trouble learning "new tricks." Extensive research is time-consuming and not good for the pocketbook.
* Less Thinking: Keep writing instead of thinking about quality when you have writer’s block. I’m not saying you shouldn’t write quality articles; I am saying, for example, just write a lead when you’re stuck on a good lead for more than 15 minutes. As a journalist, I often spent more than an hour thinking about the perfect lead.
* More Clients: Journalism is precarious nowadays, but content writing clients are less stable. You need five or six clients because your primary source of income could have no available assignments tomorrow.
* Lower Grades: I was astonished in my early days of content writing that companies graded articles. I spent way……………….too much time raising my grades. I soon had high grades, but earned less money than writers with lower grades, according to colleagues on writers’ forums.
* Higher Standards: You need to draw a line. Writing 500-word articles that pay $3 isn’t worth it. You should use that hour to seek better assignments.
* Use Info Better: As a journalist, I made a living updating news stories that required far less work than the original story. Content writers should also use their research for several stories -- and look for stories that will enable them to use that research.
I haven’t completely made the transition to content writing so I will end this blog by sharing information I found while behaving like a journalist -- an excellent column entitled "12 Tips for Writing Better Content."
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