Happy suckers, in some cases.<\/p>\n
Content suckers, in probably most cases.<\/p>\n
Maybe even rich suckers, in a scant few cases.<\/p>\n
But suckers they are.<\/p>\n
And I\u2019ll tell you a story that perfectly illustrates why:<\/p>\n
In the book Backstory 2 there is an interview with an absolutely brilliant screenwriter (but also a total sucker \u2014 and he basically all but admits it) from the 40\u2019s and 50\u2019s named Curt Siodmak. You may not be familiar with that name. But I can almost guarantee most have at least heard of some of the movies he wrote \u2014 like The Wolf Man, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, House of Frankenstein, Son of Dracula, The Invisible Man Returns, The Invisible Woman, and a whole bunch more.<\/p>\n
His scripts made hundreds of millions for the studio.<\/p>\n
(He only got $500 per week, if that gives you an idea of his suckernessness)<\/p>\n
Anyway, he drops a zinger I think every freelance copywriter should hear.<\/p>\n
Even if you don\u2019t \u201cwant\u201d to hear it.<\/p>\n
Frankly, freelancers should read it especially if they don\u2019t want to hear it.<\/p>\n
Here is what he said:<\/p>\n
\u201cIrving Thalberg once said: \u2018The most important man in the motion picture business is the writer. Don\u2019t ever give him any power!\u2019 Even today the writers are oppressed. Even today a writer gets little appreciation. That\u2019s why good writers become writer-directors, or writer-producers, to get more standing, and of course to make more money. I haven\u2019t met a writer yet who owns a yacht like producers or directors. But don\u2019t let them kid you. Where would they be without writers?\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Now swap out \u201cwriter\u201d with \u201ccopywriter.<\/p>\n
And \u201cmotion picture\u201d with \u201cdirect response marketing.\u201d<\/p>\n
And \u201cwriter-director\u201d & \u201cwriter-producers\u201d with \u201cclientless-copywriter.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why I say freelance copywriters are total suckers.<\/p>\n
Oh, it\u2019s not personal, nor meant as an insult. We\u2019re all suckers in some ways. I certainly am, for example, when it comes to all the time and effort I waste writing fiction that will, in all likelihood, never make back anything more than the cost to have the covers created.<\/p>\n
We all have our vices\u2026<\/p>\n
But freelance copywriters are a special breed of sucker.<\/p>\n
At least the ones who think they\u2019re anything more than high-paid employees. Absolutely nothing \u201cwrong\u201d with that, btw. If that\u2019s your bag, and you like it, and I know some who love it, do it. Just like I write fiction for the love of it. But don\u2019t for a single nanosecond think you\u2019re not a sucker.<\/p>\n
After all:<\/p>\n
You are literally creating a better lifestyle for your clients than you are for yourself \u2014 and doing it all while creating some of the most important work and while getting little or any of the real payout and\/or glory. And even if you do eek out and get recognized with a bit \u2018o glory, you\u2019ll never make but a fraction of what they do.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s okay.<\/p>\n
That is really how it should be.<\/p>\n
The clients are doing the hard work of building the lists, building the brands, building the followings, and building the world, the offers, the infrastructure, and the business as a whole \u2014 at their risk, with their own money, and using their own resources.<\/p>\n
As a freelancer you are basically a parasite who, hopefully, makes the host healthier.<\/p>\n
But that makes you no less a parasite.<\/p>\n
Thus they – the host – absolutely should make the lion\u2019s share of the money.<\/p>\n
And the freelancer – the parasite – absolutely should get paid peanuts compared to that.<\/p>\n
But, that makes a freelancer who fancies themselves an entrepreneur no less a sucker.<\/p>\n
Entrepreneur implies risk.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s very little real risk for most freelancers.<\/p>\n
If an ad they write bombs, they may take a hit to their reputation. But they presumably still got paid. If the copy they wrote pisses off someone at the FTC (or an exec at a competitor who has the FTC in their hip pocket \u2014 which happens especially in the health niches) the client gets fined, sued, blinded with paperwork, possibly even tossed in the slammer. If the product sold gets overrun with refunds the client has to deal with the merchant account fallout, bad PR, and customer service hassles.<\/p>\n
And so on, and so forth.<\/p>\n
The freelancer doesn\u2019t really have to worry about that.<\/p>\n
They get paid either way, unless they are absolute noobs at making deals.<\/p>\n
Especially as so many have to keep hustling for more work, having to keep putting up with a lot of disrespect, keep putting up with clients who are both ignorant & arrogant (as the great Bob Bly once quoted someone as saying, those are the worst kind \u2014 and it\u2019s a fact), keep having to play the game, keep spending all your time working on someone else\u2019s fortune, and keep putting long hours into someone else\u2019s world and nest egg while getting crumbs compared to what you have actually contributed\u2026 and the list goes on.<\/p>\n
I fully expect a bunch of freelancers living in cognitive dissonance to balk at this.<\/p>\n
I can already imagine what the dumb Facebook thread will look like if someone complains about this there, with all the usual fluffpreneurs rationalization hamster-spinning everything I’m writing about, throwing out anecdotes that don\u2019t apply to the whole, and missing both the big picture and nuance.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n
This message ain\u2019t for them.<\/p>\n
And, frankly, the vast majority of freelance copywriters should do client work. They should be taking orders and doing as they\u2019re told. And they probably should chase that secure fee, if such a thing even exists. Although the ones I keep hearing from worried about A.I. \u2026 I dunno.<\/p>\n
Them boys & ghouls are truly a special kind of sucker.<\/p>\n
The kind I certainly can\u2019t help.<\/p>\n
But, there\u2019s also a small handful of freelancers reading this who know I speak the truth.<\/p>\n
They can\u2019t stand kissing client booty.<\/p>\n
They hate having to constantly wonder where their next gig is coming from.<\/p>\n
Or, they wish they were their own client (i.e., an Alt-copywriter – which is a term I invented about 5 years ago to describe a copywriter who either does client work in conjunction with selling their own stuff like a Gene Schwartz, or just sells their own stuff like a Bill Bonner) and making the same \u2014 or hopefully more \u2014 money they do at freelancing\u2026 but are so entrenched in the game, they don\u2019t know how to leave it. I\u2019ve had more than a few copywriters working in the financial niche especially tell me this is their plight \u2014 since they get paid just enough in fees & royalties, despite knowing they are selling utter crap or info that is too old to truly be useful to the market by the time they are writing about, to stick around and not do their own thing.<\/p>\n
Those are the ones this message is for.<\/p>\n
And, if it does nothing but light a fire under their arses I\u2019ve done my job.<\/p>\n
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