How to be a freelance writer people want to use again and again

The Copy Collective's Andrea O'Driscoll knows what it takes to be a good writer.

Be a shining light in the freelance world

Being a good freelancer isn’t just about being a good writer. Sure, having some talent is a great place to start, but there are a lot of gifted writers out there who barely make ends meet. Why? Too often it’s because they don’t have the rig

ht attitude. People don’t want to work with a tortured artist, they want to work with someone who is reliable, honest and professional.

So what exactly does that involve? Here are 10 tips for becoming the kind of freelance writer that everyone wants to work with.

1. Accept feedback

Repeat after me: feedback is my friend. It might not always be what you want to hear, but feedback will make you a better writer. Editors are busy people. If one has taken time out of his or her schedule to discuss your work, it’s a compliment, not a criticism.

2. Don’t take it personally

 Yes, I know you put your heart and soul into every word, but that doesn’t make every criticism a personal attack, or every rejection an insult. Editors make client-focused business decisions more often than they make personal digs.

3. Turn copy around

In other words, get the job done. It’s no good leaving half-written jobs languishing on your laptop while you wait for inspiration. You need to finish what you start.

4. Be available

This can be a tough one. Every freelance writer has a horror story or two about taking on too much or having to work through a family holiday. But the fact is if you turn down too many jobs, people will stop asking.

5. Do what you say

People need to know that you can be relied upon to deliver on your promises. Be a (wo)man of your word.

6. Meet deadlines

It’s not just about you. If you miss a deadline it affects everyone – designers, proofreaders, editors and (God forbid) clients. That’s not going to make you popular.

7. Be flexible

Everyone knows that things can change. It’s a fact of freelance life.

8. Your client has a client – so make them look good

You need to be on their team. If their client makes a last minute change, you need to help accommodate them. If asked, you need to say nice things. And of course you need to maintain consistently high standards.

9. You are precious, but don’t be precious

Once you’ve filed your copy, you need to cut the cord. If an editor decides to change ‘effervescent’ to ‘bubbly’ despite your careful word choice, let it go. They know what they want better than you do.

10. Ask questions, but accept the answer – even when you don’t like it

It’s good to ask questions, but not everything is open for debate. Once a decision has been made, accept it and move on.

What's on your mind?

How I learned to love crappy Facebook statuses

If you’re a regular user of Facebook, you scroll past inane statuses every day. Maybe in the last hour. It might have even been the last one you posted.

If not, you probably know the type. They usually serve no purpose but to alleviate the momentary boredom of someone who has picked up their phone or sat down at their computer. They say nothing, accomplish nothing, and nothing ever really comes of them.

So why are they there?

Recently, a Huffington Post article on this topic posited that: “A Facebook status is annoying if it primarily serves the author and does nothing positive for anyone reading it.” It then proceeded to outline seven different ways in which one could produce such insufferable cries for attention, basically describing my entire news feed.

We’ve gotten to a point where the instant affection and gratification received through Facebook comments and ‘Likes’ have become too sweet to resist. As people explore their own social media space in their own ways, the modern Facebook status can serve a variety of purposes other than simply updating our friends and family about our lives. It can often be a cry for attention, a passive-aggressive opinion, or perhaps an attempt at ‘image crafting’, a practice where we essentially run the PR campaign of our own life stories.

As 2013 hurtles inexorably forward and we start getting our 2014 party hats ready, we are posting the minutiae of our daily lives at unprecedented levels: photographing our food to humbly fish for love hearts on Instagram (throwing off all hint of pretentiousness with an off-beat hashtag in the caption); publicly crying out for attention with an anecdotal humble-brag regarding how we’ve handled a recent crisis; or simply pretending like our mundane afternoon of waiting on hold for three hours is hilarious to anyone – as long as it’s in the form of a passive-aggressive BitStrip.




The fact that ancient peoples never had the means to communicate information to each other at the rate that we modern folks do means the Great Pyramids of Giza, Angkor Wat, Stonehenge and the other great human-built structures of the Earth become a whole lot more impressive, if you really think about it. No ancient Egyptian slave got to gripe about his team’s cinderblock being particularly heavy on social media, even to release just a little bit of stress (or maybe try to score a ‘Like’ or two). It’s probably how the ancient civilisations actually got these monuments built; because those societies weren’t full of citizens pissing about on Facebook.

Though the stream of consciousness people provide when the status bar inquires ‘What’s on your mind?’ may seem at times like a symptom of an over-indulgent, narcissistic and insecure society programmed to behave based on an ever evolving user interface powered by code, then, let me tell you – oh wait, no, that’s actually what it is. Got it in one. However, the point of this blog post is that there is real, intransient, human truth behind the daily inanity of your newsfeed.

The Great Facebook Exodus

People often talk of ‘culling’ their Facebook friends list; removing people who post terribly dreary updates on their life, or people that they no longer associate with or talk to. Some even do the ‘reverse cull’, and leave the website altogether, removing themselves from everyone else’s’ lists.

A recent SMH article explored the growing trend of teenagers leaving for other forms of social media as the user base gradually becomes older with more over-30 users logging on. Just a few days ago, I was greeted by the below survey as I signed into Facebook.





Facebook is losing users, and it knows it. As this blog so eloquently puts it: “Speaking on a stage in front of a mixed audience of family, friends, and acquaintances makes it hard for most of us to be our genuine and authentic selves.”

This survey was an attempt to get me to rate what I wanted to see, but it already eerily knew what friends I interacted with, including who I Chat with (and *gasp* Poke) the most. So I wanted to see pretty much all the survey showed me, even when it was my friends being insufferably self-indulgent. I find in a vacuum, one piece of information, like a tweet or a status, doesn't really tell you about a person. Over a long enough timeline (no Facebook pun intended) a more complete picture starts to form.

For instance, if you Snapchat me a picture of a cup of tea, then I can pretty reasonably deduce that you are probably having a mind-numbingly boring day at work. You’re literally photographing your 3pm beverage to delude yourself into thinking that your Snapchat friends are going to want to see this slice of your day, because well, there’s probably nothing else to do.

But despite that Snap setting me back 10 seconds of my precious time (or less, depending on how long you’ve set it to), I like there is an inherent value in people openly volunteering to share this minute slice of their life with me, whether it be a Snap or a status or a Tweet or a text. It may be narcissistic, sure (‘Look at what a great/shit life I’m having!’) but it often contains deeper meaning about a person than they may have intended.

A window to your social circle's mind

Status exclaiming how excited for a particular event you are ("I’m going to Stereosonic in 4 days!") Like. Scroll down.

Status about the daily activities and momentous epiphanies a person’s child has. Usually a pretty generic epiphany that most people have. ("Little Billy worked out the fire was hot today! Kids, am I right!") Every twenty minutes. Usually accompanied with pictures. Like. Scroll down.

Status checking in at a swanky café in town with friends. (‘Super cute dinner date at the Ivy!’) Like. Scroll down.

Status about a political figure, artist or other such celebrity. Particularly if they died and their movies/music etc. were universally cool and liked. ("RIP Lou Reed. #notsuchaperfectday") Like. Scroll down.

Or, my personal favourite, the ‘indignant open letter’ status, addressed to someone that is never going to read it. (“Dear Arsehole who just splashed my new outfit with muddy water by driving through that puddle – thanks for ruining my job interview.”)

Technophobes often exclaim that this addiction to updating the world on the status of our lives is going to lead to the downfall of civilisation. You only have to walk into a nightclub (a place people ostensibly go to have fun and be social with each other) and gaze around at the throng of makeup-swathed faces being illuminated by the soft light of their smartphones amongst the din, to admit that there perhaps may be merit to this argument.

Digital ‘Likes’ are validation in its purest form. I know I love receiving them. They, retweets, saved snapchats, and polite comments on my Facebook status provide the self-esteem nourishment no parent could hope to provide. (Sorry Mum. Raising and feeding me for 18 years was pretty swell too.) As I have matured along with social media, however, and seen how others use it to connect with the social universe around them, I have come to understand how all the various platforms to share your voice come with one striking similarity: from your perspective, YOU are always at the centre of every interaction. Just like life. And like life, these sites come with a confirmation bias. We present ourselves in the manner in which we see ourselves, and as such getting digitally ‘rewarded’ for being us encourages these behaviours, in turn encouraging us to share more and more with one another.

In our brave new world, we all tend to drown our minds - emotions, thoughts, worries, little wins, conversations we had or want to have and much more - we drown all of it in manufactured emotions (social media, games, TV) which contain interesting, and valuable, but ultimately unnecessary information. The human connection, the stuff behind the status, is still important. It is a human typing a way at those keys, or snapping away at that camera. A fragile, complex, multi-faceted individual human with an almost infinite spectrum of thoughts, beliefs and behaviours. We all wear masks, and social media is just our digital mask -- a self-edited life story.

This blog is not meant to discount or discourage ‘true’ human interaction. When you are physically present with another person, it requires an immediacy of thought or action that communication through Facebook etc. filters out (even though people can see when you’ve ‘seen’ a chat message now). Human contact, even if being in a room with someone requires body language and tonality, even if it is harder to engage all 5 of your reflexive senses at once, is still a billion times better than the detachedness of modern social media communication. It still is. It might not seem like it, but it is. In our new world of millions of light-speed communication connections flying around, try to remember that beneath the inanity, there lies a person who, much like yourself, is trying to navigate around this complex three-dimensional universe full of people and passions and ideals without going insane. And, well, if that doesn’t deserve a ‘Like’, then I don’t know what does.

By WILL SKIS

Writing for the Web

Your digital audience is internet-savvy and time poor. So don't waste their precious time (and yours) with long-winded explanations of why they should buy from you.

• Make it short and sweet.
• Make it visual.
• Give them something, and then
• Go home.

Here's a present for you

If you like our infographic, then download the PDF here

If you like our infographic, then see more work by this talented Chicago-based graphic artist 

What will the results of the Federal election bring you, regardless of who wins government this weekend? The Copy Collective's Pauline Lockie and Jim Butcher consider what opportunities may come your way.

In the world of politics, there is no second place. There’s either winning Government or a long period in limbo. For the rest of us it is pretty much the same: success or oblivion.

With the finish line of the 47^th Australian federal election in sight, there’s an opportunity, which organisations such as yours may use to your advantage. It’s time to ask yourself if your organisation is ready to make the most of post-election opportunities for campaigning, mobilising supporters and establishing yourself with new audiences.

In the days and weeks after the election, it’s essential for your organisation to communicate its action plan for the future. You need to align yourself with political agendas or position yourself to be the one that acts on issues that peoplecare about regardless of the government’s or shadow cabinet’s advocacy.

Either way, it’s crucial that you communicate your stance, and fast.

It’s not an easy task. Key to your campaign will be how specific you are with your ask. Saying you just want to approach - for example - environmental issues isn’t enough. Which issue? What needs to happen? Why? How? Who’s involved? And most importantly: What do you want your supporters, clients or customers to do about it?

The Asia Pacific arm of Greenpeace runs targeted campaigns that are very successful. Pic: Courtesy Greenpeace AP.

Greenpeace always does this really well and a recent example is their Great Barrier Reef campaigns. They target a specific politician about a specific issue threatening the Reef. They clarify the solutions the MP needs to implement. And they make it 100% clear how their supporters can take action to achieve these goals.

Here are some of the other possible policies (or changes to policy) that could affect you post-election:

·         National Disability Insurance Scheme

·         Education funding (Gonski)

·         Refugees

·         Marriage equality

·         Conservation and the environment

·         Welfare, and

·         Funding for the arts

But it’s all about how you ask for these things. It’s an art form. And if you’re not completely committed to producing perfect, persuasive copy, then your mission may not only fall on deaf ears, it is likely it will fall into silence too.

 It's all about quick response, and you need an expert at writing and designing online projects in short time frames. You need a campaign that is easy for people to respond to, and which may cover eDMs, social media, targeted ads, website copy, fully-integrated digital campaigns, and more.

So the question is not who will win this election, it’s will you be off the blocks and running when it’s through?

The Great Gatsby or just the not-so-great gabby

Thanks to Warner: The Great Gatsby poster

Our Paris-based fashionista Tina Antarakis, manages to get some time off from working for her own business, The Style Bar, and as a talented contributor for The Copy Collective.

I went to see the fabulously over-the-top The Great Gatsby recently.

Loved every elaborate minute of it. Totally fantastical, yet true to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel - at least in its portrayal of a complicated era (extravagant living in the midst of Prohibition). And don’t get me started on the stunning sets and costumes.

The film also left me with an interesting insight into the use of words and language. It struck me each time Leonardo de Caprio, in his wonderfully intense portrayal of Jay Gatsby, utters the words “old sport”. (And if you haven’t seen the movie yet, he says it A LOT).

So what did I see? Well, when spending time in a foreign country as I currently do, you usually want to do your best to blend in with the locals. Part of this process is not only to improve your grasp of the language but to make it sound less textbook, more natural and ‘vernacular’.

To do this, you can start by peppering your speech with commonly used words and phrases. The idea being that you will sound more fluent, demonstrating to native speakers that you have a deeper knowledge of their lingo because you are conversing with them the way they actually speak on a daily basis.

But therein lies the danger, of which Gatsby was apparently acutely unaware.

For the more he bandied about his quaint old English term of endearment, the more he drew attention to the fact that it sounded like an affectation, something he had learnt rather than come by naturally; and it ended up doing him much more harm than good.

And so it is with a foreign language. There you are, standing around at a social gathering, quietly congratulating yourself because you are using argot, or slang - and that could mean the language of a country, a social class, or even an echelon, as in Gatsby’s case. But in reality, your attempts to fit in are only setting you apart.

So my advice? Be careful, and be aware. Take note of to whom you are speaking and the social context. It’s far better to speak slowly and correctly, using a few well-placed - but never vulgar - terms that show you haven’t just learnt in a classroom but at the same time didn’t pick things up on the street.

And be aware that the more familiar language you use, the more your comprehension and fluency will be expected to match. Should you fall short, you run the risk of sounding even more foreign than if you had just stuck with the basics and kept your ‘bah ouah’’s and ‘oh putain’’s to yourself.

If not, you could end up like poor old Gatsby: with a catch-phrase whose jarring presence in an otherwise smooth and seemingly well-bred exterior brought attention and ridicule in the worst possible way. In short: not great at all. 

Tina Antarakis © 2013 The Copy Collective 

Thanks to www.clientsfromhell.net

Maureen Shelley shares what she's learned through redeveloping the company's website

What you can learn from us (well, it was me really; sorry Dominique) being The Client From Hell

As a writer, I spend a lot of my time shaking my head over other people’s grammar or their attention to detail or their basic inability to keep to deadlines. Generally, there is a lot of muttering over all the things that humans do that means we turn to a professional for assistance with writing.

I was determined that, when we set about engaging a website designer, we were going to do all the things that an ideal client does to make the job of redeveloping our website as simple and straightforward as possible. It was going to be a pleasure, really.

You are ahead of me, I know, because you know we did everything that the perfect Client From Hell does.

The Brief

We wrote a beautifully, detailed brief – and then we changed our minds. When we changed our minds we did a 180 and then a 360-degree shift in our thinking. I think we ended up back where we started from but I could be confused. Having a very clear idea of what you want the website to do/be is a very good idea and it is one you should adhere to through thick and thin.

The Deadline

We developed what we thought was a realistic deadline – three months. We’d created that beautifully detailed brief, set out the timeline and milestones, said what we’d provide in that time and when we’d provide it by – and then ignored the lot.

We were late with copy (we didn’t have time to write copy – we are too busy writing for other people, we had to employ a copy writer and, fortunately, we know about 50), we didn’t supply stuff we said we would, we forgot things, we changed our minds on the site architecture plan after we’d signed off on the design and the site architecture plan. Yep, we committed all the cardinal sins that a client could possible commit without being struck by lightning.

We extended the deadline to six months and backtracked to four, back to six and – in the end – it took what it took, which was eight months from concept to “go live”. Be realistic in your deadlines. Don’t fix a date based on a Ministerial launch, the calendar or financial year or any arbitrary nonsense such as when the moon is in the 7th house or Jupiter aligns with Mars.

The Rabbit Holes

In Alice in Wonderland, Alice keeps disappearing down rabbit holes pursuing some fantastic idea or creature and going completely off track[i] from achieving her ultimate purpose. In website redesign, there are an inordinate amount of rabbit holes to tempt you – even for the strong willed.

We decided – mid-way through the process – that we wanted to achieve integration of our customer relationship management (CRM) software with our website’s content management system (CMS). 

We thought it would be a good idea that if we were collecting data from our website, it should funnel that data through into our CRM, so we could serve our customers better. We also wanted to be able to update the site ourselves for minor things without having to go back to the web design company.

Well, it is a nice idea in theory and you can do it if you have a spare $28,000 floating around (and I know by writing this I will be instantly pursued by every web designer/CRM/CMS software sales person in the world with a workable, cheaper solution – big tip, don’t bother; I’ve already spoken to you).

Pursuing this particular rabbit hole delayed our “go live” date by about three months. Decide what is really important for the website to do – from the outset – and stick to that.

The Budget

http://lifehacker.com/5725282/how-to-create-and-stick-to-a-realistic-budget-with-mint

We set a realistic budget, I know we did. We worked out how much time it would take and how much it would cost to write the copy, design, develop and collect all the images and illustrations, film and edit the videos, obtain permissions and testimonials from clients, take the photos of the staff (we had to do that three times because we kept hiring more), purchase the CMS licences and approve the design from the designer. I mean, this is our business; we know these things.

Unless I’d been there, I’d say we plucked some number out of the air that had no reference to anything. In the end, I decided the best way to establish a budget for a website redesign is what I’ve been doing with renovating houses for years. 

You take the biggest, most ridiculous number you can think of (based on what you know of costs through the most expensive builder you have ever met), you then double it and then you add 20 per cent. If it comes out to be less than that, you will be happy. This isn’t to say our website designers were expensive, they weren't. It’s just that, like shopping, when you add up all the different product elements, the total makes you cough a bit.

The Design

Some of our clients instantly become experts in copywriting after they’ve engaged us to do their copywriting. It’s a phenomenon I’ve noticed before.

Well, I suddenly became an expert in web design. It was clever of me really, without any training or experience I became more expert in design than our long-suffering designers. I fiddled, I suggested, I offered specious advice about fonts and positioning, I consulted other designers (who I hadn’t entrusted with my money) about the ‘flaws’ in the design.

After a few tears, too many glasses of wine and wringing my hands a bit, I turned to my very sensible son (he must take after his father) who said: “Don’t listen to other designers, they will always find flaws and faults and they will be negative and you will lose faith in your designers. Go back to the designers and tell them what you would like changed and see if it works. And, realise, that you don’t know everything and what may look ‘wrong’ to you is perfectly fine for your audience because – after all – you’re not an expert in web design” (Well, I did something right). You’re paying for expert advice – take it. 

Thank you Beena and Nupur at Blazing Designs. We made it.

---

[i] http://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/pictures/alice-pictures.html

My favourite punctuation mark

Correct use of colons and semi-colons is good for showing-off. The comma does a fine job separating things. Brackets, dashes and the ellipsis all have a role to play. The exclamation mark adds drama.

Yet my favourite beast in the punctuation zoo is the humble full stop. Or, for Americans, the period. Some call it a dot.

It may be tiny. Sometimes it is hard to spot. On the printed page it uses next to no ink. On your smartphone screen it may be a single pixel.

The smallest punctuation mark is the most powerful. That’s because it ends a sentence. At the other end you’ll find a capital letter. Between the two you should find a group of words that hang – hopefully logically – together.

Better sentences contain a single idea. The best ones are also short.

Academic writing, poetry and literature have their own priorities. Most other types of writing work best when sentences don’t ramble.

This means lots of full stops. They make writing easier to understand. They help get ideas from one person to another quickly and efficiently.

Short sentences are clear. They are more likely to be unambiguous. They don’t need advanced reading skills. Nor do they need English as a first language. If you want to reach the biggest audiences you can’t go wrong with short sentences.

Don’t let people tell you short sentences are patronising. They can be powerful. Take the shortest sentence in the Bible. Jesus wept. Those nine letters pack a hefty punch.

‘Staccato’, ‘tabloid’, ‘simple’. Some say these words as if they are bad things. For me they are a sign of a writer who knows their art. I aim for ‘spare’, ‘tight’, ‘efficient’.

So the next time you put pen to paper aim for the maximum number of full stops. You’ll make me smile. 

‘Nouns’ and ‘verbs’ may shape my words, but typography ‘x-heights’ me

When I first started in the media, it was as a layout editor at the largest Sunday sports section in Australia. 22-year-old me, of course, naïvely thought my few years of attending media communications, journalism and layout courses at university ensured I knew all that there was to know about how a newspaper page worked.

Looking back, the one thing that I took from my layout subjects was that the human eye reads diagonally down and to the right (starting at the top left) subconsciously upon first encounter with say, a newspaper page, an advertisement, a website or blog. With that understanding being pretty much the only thing I knew about layout and design (besides my knack for writing headline puns like the one atop this very blog) I had to learn a few things very quickly concerning exactly how much work goes into making newspapers look the way that they do.

So, in the next few blogs, I’m going to go into a few of the ‘unseen’ elements of a page (or any piece of writing really) and try to clarify a few of the first things I had to learn about reeeeeally quickly in order to keep my job. Let’s get into it, starting with Typography!

One of the unappreciated duties of many professional writers and editors is not only to make sure the content of any piece of copy is top-notch, but also that the way the letters and words are placed together on the page is visually appealing to a wide variety of readers.

I got reprimanded for my awful typesetting skills by one of the older sub-editors at the desk when I was doing both page layout and copy editing in the first few weeks of my job at the newspaper. He was always grumpy and I was sure he hated me always failing to notice widows and orphans on the page. I cracked his craggy exterior one day by exclaiming “leaving an orphan at the end of the column – that’s a paddlin’.” He burst out laughing (evidently he too, was a fan of this scene of the Simpsons), and from then on he was a lot more friendly and forthcoming with advice.

There are a few features of typography that are overlooked by a lot of novice designers. I was going to make a comprehensive list of the most common typography mistakes that I made and saw, but it has already been quite expertly handled. Instead, I’m going to give a brief primer into a few elements of typography that any writer and designer should have an understanding of (plus a few tips that couldn't hurt).

Baseline Typography:  If typography is simply the art and technique of arranging, designing and setting type, baseline typography is its most common form. This blog, and most other text you will read on any given day, uses a baseline (which can be seen running invisibly below all text like a ruler). Often when designing pages, advertisements etc. the opportunity to deviate from the baseline will present itself, but without a good understanding of the principles of baseline typography, you will never be able to understand the presentation of text well enough to adhere to the strict fundamentals of type and design. Even very complicated typographical images like the one below require an understanding of baselines in order to distort and manipulate the text for artistic effect. Some typefaces in other languages than English do not use a baseline, particularly East Asian scripts where each individual character has its own square ‘box’ with no ascenders or descenders.

X-Height: The name-sake of this blog, the concept of an x-height is fairly simple, yet important to a deep understanding of what comprises visually appealing typography. Succinctly put, an x-height is the height of a lowercase ‘x’ in any given alphabet or font. Many regard the x-height as a determining factor in the readability of text, with a larger x-height preferred especially for any copy that is aimed at an older demographic who may have vision issues. The larger the x-height, however, can lead to a bevy of headaches for an inexperienced typographer, with leading and kerning in particular becoming a chore. This leads us to…

Kerning and Tracking: These can be confusing (they definitely stumped 22 y.o. me for a while), but these are two very similar typographic concepts that are often misunderstood. The ‘tracking’ refers to the spacing between letters overall, whereas ‘kerning’ is a selective change in letter spacing which can be used sometimes to make certain pairs of awkward letters look more visually appealing. The common acronym ‘AV’ for instance is often automatically kerned by most computer fonts to remove the unnecessary ‘white space’ between the two letters.

Leading: Similar to Tracking, Leading (pronounced ‘ledding’) is the space between lines of text. Although the space refers to fonts, leading in any kind of design software will always refer to the distance from baseline to baseline, and is usually measured in points, just like the type. Changing the leading also can affect the appearance and readability of the text. When starting a new project involving any amount of copy, a good tip is to always experiment with the amount of leading after choosing the font to establish what looks best on the page.

Serif/Sans Serif: The small decorative ‘strokes’ added to letters are known as ‘serifs’, but not all fonts apply them. The differences between the two fonts are often understated by novice layout editors and graphic designers. A handy tip that is the generally accepted norm is that for printed copy, a serif font like Times New Roman is the most professional looking and easiest to read, yet for digital copy a sans-serif font (or a font without serifs) like Arial is almost universally preferred.

Ascender/Descender: This one is fairly simple, which means it’s fairly simple to overlook when organising copy on the page. A letter’s ascender extends above the x-height, such as the ‘stems’ of the lowercase letters ‘b’, ‘d’, ‘h’, ‘k’, ‘f’ etc., while a descender, you guessed it, descends below the baseline, as in the letters ‘g’, ‘j’, ‘p’,  and ‘q’. While often computer programs will not allow ascenders and descenders to clash by automatically adjusting the leading, a lot of design programs allow a much tighter fit, which can often lead to ascenders crossing paths with descenders, which DRASTICALLY reduces the quality of the text’s readability.

So there you have it! There’s an introduction to typography elements that might not be immediately apparent when you start manipulating fonts and customising the design of your copy. They should always be at the back of your mind when assessing the presentation of the words you write, because they have many subconscious effects on the brain of readers. Often, a poorly kerned or leaded article will be so subtly hard to read, that readers don’t even understand why they stop reading, only that they don’t want to anymore. It’s our job as writers, editors and designers to ensure that won’t happen.

Stay tuned for next week where I delve a bit deeper into typography as well as a few other design elements. Be sure to hit this week hard, you definitely won’t have any excuses for not producing top quality typography.

Three things to get you through the tough times . . .

They visit us all - they can be personal, work-related, world events and everything in between - they are the tough times.

The Copy Collective is going through a tough time at the moment - all due to our success. Our business is going great, we have clients walking in the door with new jobs every week, we've doubled - and then some - the number of our employees in less than a year.

We are going through an amazing period of growth and we're like little ducks looking serene above the water with our feet going as fast as they can paddle underneath.

So what are our top three tips to getting through?

• The drug of your choice - for me it's lolly bananas
• Find something funny in the chaos - for me that was Jim choking on his tea at my lolly bananas
• Thank God It's Friday - and if it isn't Friday, then stay in bed until it is

I promise, if you apply these three simple steps it will either a) all look better than before or b) if not, you will have left things for too long and so some of them won't matter or c) at least you will have got to scoff a bag or two of lolly bananas. Have a great long weekend!

Seven things you need to do when the media comes calling

As a journalist with News Limited for 12 years ( prior to joining The Copy Collective) including being Business Editor of The Daily Telegraph, the Online Editor of Sydney Confidential and National Technology Writer for News Limited Maureen Shelley knows a thing or two about working with the media and is happy to share her knowledge.

OUR luminous leader Dominique Antarakis features - quite rightly - in a recent edition of The Australian  and we are excited that she's getting the attention that she deserves. That said, what are the seven things you must do when the media comes calling?

Huff Post on Bernanke

Joe Hockey 

1. Say yes - make yourself available within reason when members of the Fourth Estate call
2. Be prepared - if they call you out of the blue, give yourself permission to say "I'll call you right back". Take a deep breath, think about what message you want to get across (it needs to be a 30 second MAX sound bite) and stay on message. Also, have a professionally-taken headshot on hand that you can supply if requested.
3. If they want to take a photograph, ask when the deadline is and make sure that you can be at the shoot with your hair, make up and clothes portraying the way you want your business to be perceived.  If you're in your slippys and trackies, then do you have time to change or can you change the time of the shoot? (Never hurts to ask). If you can't change anything, then go with the picture anyway - a bad picture is better than no picture (unless it's one of these).
4. Be colourful - colourful quotes get up higher in business stories and have less chance of being cut by the sub-editor. So, while being neither flippant nor disrespectful, say "Our business rocks" rather than "When all things are considered, our business is responding well in what is a challenging economic climate".

   

   Shorten in the SMH 

5. Ask for the media person's direct number, email or mobile phone number. That way, the next time you have a story to tell, you can go back to them directly. 
6. Don't cyber stalk them, don't try and be their friend on Facebook (although LinkedIn is fine and so is following them on Twitter) but do contact them with an email and follow up phone call if you have a real story. Don't - and I mean DON'T - insult the journo or media person involved.
7. Know when you have a story - Don't call the media if you've installed a new piece of equipment in your tanning studio. Do call them if you are the owner of a tanning studio and there has been a recent victim of a drive-by shooting at your tanning studio.

You helped us get there. Thanks! Turning 60 is a big deal in most people's lives and hitting the magic 60 mark for The Copy Collective is something we are thankful for. It means that 60 people like what we do - or 1+ it! - and that 60 people are interested enough to make that "liking" public. That's commitment. We promise not to spam you or cyber stalk you. Hopefully, most of what we say will be meaningful and helpful to you - the people who like us. But today - we just want to say THANKS! - and yes, we know that's shouting but we want you to be clear on our message; we are grateful. Thanks.

"Listen to this, it is important."

“This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes, when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals–sounds that say listen to this, it is important.”

- Gary Provost

4 Ways to Get a Reader to Read More Than Just Your Headline

After having been a professional writer for a few years, the hands-down most annoying thing about the job is that whenever you write something, it is extremely unlikely that most readers will give it more attention than a brief glance at the headline, the picture, and if you're lucky, the first paragraph.

That's it, you heard me right. If you're reading this, congratulations! You're one of the elite few who've made it to this second paragraph. After all, we live in a modern fast-paced world, right? I mean, within the time it's taken to read BOTH these paragraphs, you may have even had time to squeeze in reading four or five tweets from famous people.

The 'inverted pyramid' style used in newspaper reports was drummed into me when I was a wee li'l budding journalist. "Give the most important information first, and the least important information last." People were busy, and didn't like having to sift through a load of trivial tripe to get to the actual nitty-gritty of a news story. I was never a big fan of this kind of formulaic writing but I could see that it was nonetheless effective, especially when people are trying to, say, read an entire newspaper on a train trip to work. I, however, didn't want to approach my writing like that.

Despite this technologically imposed attention deficit disorder that seems to be infecting us from the teenagers up, I'm here to tell you not to lose hope! We may be getting more easily distracted, and we may be sick of the torrents of articles and information surrounding us in day-to-day life, but I have a few tips and tricks I've picked up over the years to keep the attention of that elusive audience. It may seem simple to some, but if you want more people to read your words, here are a few handy hints:

1. Come for the picture, stay for the wit.

Look at this goddamn polar bear. He is adorable. Do you even remember the point of this blog? How are you even reading this right now with him crawling toward your screen like that? I'll tell you how. 

Try not to let this baby polar bear distract you from the blog.

Well, your brain is pretty powerful. Before you get too flattered, I'm talking about the fact that we can perceive many symbols, images, text and external stimuli at once, and so once you've seen the polar bear once, cocked your head and said "naww", you have cognitively processed this image and can return to reading the words around it. That's why the Page 3 of most tabloid newspapers almost always include a very attention-grabbing image -- it's a proven psychological effect that sells papers and makes the articles surrounding the image seem more interesting by proxy. I mean, realistically I could write any old rubbish, and it will still probably read like Chaucer next to this cuddly little guy.

2. Everyone loves a list.

"10. Discover why humanity loves lists so much."

Admit it. You love them. Even popular humour website Cracked.com makes hilarious list-based articles part of their blockbuster formula, and there's a pretty obvious reason why. Humans without exception have a compulsive need to find out what's on a list. Scientists don't know why, we just do. (...Citation Needed)

 Even if we don't read list based articles, some people will just skim down and focus on the bullet points. To them, that feels like they've accomplished something. 

Apart from making your articles visually delicious to the human eye, the use of a list allows you to organise your thoughts when you're writing it and break down that burning mess of ideas in that  noodle of yours and translate it into something on the page that's actually readable.

3. Have something to say.

"HEY EVERYBODY CHECK OUT THIS PHOTO OF MY DINNER"
#instagram #foodie #howdidpeopleeatbeforeinstagramlol

You would think this one would be obvious. You would think. But what do we hear in mainstream and social media alike? A cacophony of voices and opinions, usually not researched, and usually broadcast for the sole purpose of hearing one's own voice (or reading one's own status waiting for the Likes to roll in...) We, the readers of the world, are used to it, but we are sick of it. It is simply another worthless piece of non-information that we have to scroll past. Educate yourselves, inform your opinion, and make your point quickly. Readers will thank you for it.

4. When in doubt, wrap it up.

It's not rocket science. You know you hate to read when you don't have to, and so does everyone else. It's the Achilles heel of many a writer to outstay their welcome, over-explaining a point when in reality there's nothing left to say. Less is more. In fact, that reminds me of this one story...

What Can Britney Teach My Charity About Marketing?

What could single mother Britney Spears, who has admitted to “dabbling” in drugs and is renowned for going out without her knickers, have to teach the charity sector about fundraising?

1. Baby One More Time - Britney knows her product really well; it is herself. A talented singer, she was a teen icon who defined pop music in the late ‘90s. Baby One More Time sold 1.4 million physical copies and more than half a million digital copies for the 16 year old. Lesson one is – be very good at what you do.
2. Oops, I Did It Again – Still rocking her “sweet 16” persona, Britney shows with her second album that she could pull off the same stunt – twice. So lesson two is – just because you’ve used a tactic once doesn’t mean you have to “refresh the brand” straight away. You can have success doing the same thing - again.
3. I’m A Slave For You – Britney decides – after turning 19 and three headline-laden years in the industry –to show that she’s an adult and a strong, mature singer with real ability. So lesson three is – if you have used the same formula for a while, consider how you can branch out and make the most of what you have.
4. Toxic –Britney’s 2004 hit showed that she could deliver a seriously good tune, which became a dance anthem – reassuring her fans that she had what it takes to be a star and not just a diva. So lesson four is – despite your challenges and failings/failures pick yourself up and do what you are good at – now is not the time to be a fundraising diva, it’s time to deliver.
5. Gimme More –That’s a fundraising tagline that you probably won’t be using – at least put as baldly as that. However, Britney was ramping up her raunch factor in 2007 and capitalising on her strengths. So lesson five is – now is the time to turn up the dial on your fundraising efforts. If you need more, ask for it.
6. Piece of Me – December 2006 was disastrous for Britney – her parenting was questioned, her fan site closed, she was voted worst dog owner, and she broke up with Paris Hilton. Apart from that she kept forgetting her knickers. Britney turned to music in 2007 and she made lots of money. So lesson six is – ensure your donors know you don’t just want a piece of them – let them know that you value them. It’s time for some donor care.
7. Womanizer – a naked Britney in a steam room? Seriously, I can learn from this? “I know just what you are,” Britney sings – she gets it in one. So lesson seven – do you know just what and who your donors are? Segmentation –also known as ‘community building’ –works.
8. 3 (That's the name of the song, just '3') – After 11 years in the top searches on Google and with more than 4 million followers on Twitter (in 2009), Brittany decides to go back to basics - 1,2,3.

1. The focus is on her
2. She sings a catchy tune, and
3. She puts her best ‘foot’ forward. 

So lesson eight – what are your charity’s three basics in fundraising? Identify them, stick to them and promote them.

Britney Spears on a downward trend

9. Hold It Against Me – Britney has two personas by 2011 – the sweet innocent that fans loved when she was 16 and the raunchy diva of 2011. She offers up both in the lyrics and music video with this hit. She has also learned the art of merchandising and cross promotion and the video features her perfume and make up. So lesson nine is – are you merchandising, do you cross promote and are your charity’s personas tailored to each community?
10. Till (sic) The World Ends – even Britney needs a good copywriter, as the title of this song shows (it should be ‘Til as in ‘until’, not Till – which is a either a cash register or something farmers do to soil). In this post-apocalypse anthem Britney is still singing and, with more than 113 million hits on this December 2012 video, why wouldn’t she be? So lesson 10 is – while your hits might be trending downward (just like Britney’s), it’s not over until the world ends. See what a good copywriter can do; let us help you trend upwards again. Come visit us here or there or what about this place?, or even somewhere else or maybe, even here.

As The Copy Collective heads towards achieving 50 "likes" on Facebook, it put managing editor Maureen in reflective mood.

I remember turning fifty. I asked my husband to organise an event with my friends – a weekend away at Duralong on the NSW Central Coast. It was wonderful to spend time with dear friends, family and in a beautiful setting. My sister, Helen, baked fifty cupcakes and decorated them with fifty pink candy flowers. I had more than fifty reasons to smile – I don’t think I stopped smiling all weekend. I remember turning fifty, it seems like yesterday.

Paris

At The Copy Collective, when we want fashion advice or retail marketing copy we turn to our resident fashionista, Athina ‘Tina’ Antarakis. This young lovely has relocated from Barcelona to Paris, just in time for the frenzy that is Paris Fashion Week. Tina tells us:

“Contrary to popular belief, life in Paris is not an endless loop of fashion shows and sunset drinks sipped within alarming proximity to a shimmering Eiffel Tower.

Oh wait. That’s right. Actually, it is, but perhaps not quite in the way that you might think.

Yes, there are the famous, high profile fashions shows- and wondrously inspiring ones at that - but since Fashion Week turned into a crazy circus, where celebrity bloggers and stylish attendees have become almost as important as the show itself, those of us who like our fashion  less frenzied tend to look to our local street or neighbourhood bistro.

The paparazzi may be nowhere in sight, but back in the real world the Paris fashion show is very much a daily occurrence. Whether the ensembles are bright and blingy, chic yet conservative, or - believe it or not, sometimes even a little dull and dowdy - totally depends on which part of town you happen to be in or the metro line you hop on that day, such is the diversity of cultures and fashion creeds here in the world’s fashion capital.

Spending time in Paris certainly reminds you that there are still plenty of people out there in our increasingly-homogenised world who are not afraid to make an effort or to express themselves a little differently. I love to be taken by surprise by someone sporting a sequinned top, sky-high heels, or bright red lipstick in the middle of the day - anything goes and why shouldn’t it? We are in Paris after all!

Surely, there are still plenty of French people dressed in their uniform of monochromes and neutrals but that can be lovely too, especially when you are close enough to notice the little details. I love to see contrast stitching on the reverse side of a coat lapel or the care with which a tie has been matched to a pair of socks.

And while some may say that Parisian women are generally rather boyish in their style of dress, all slim pants, loose-fitting tops, and flat shoes and boots, they are almost always supremely fashionable and very nicely put together indeed.

And as for that view? Well, I have been lucky enough to find one, as my current abode has a most fortuitous aspect of a certain Parisian monument. I don’t know about you, but I think that makes it almost obligatory to raise a glass or two of something bubbly of an evening, in honour of discovering that there is still plenty of opportunity to stand out in the City of Lights, it’s just a matter of finding your corner to shine in."

Now that’s what I call F for Fabulous. 

If you want to read more about the adventures of Tina in Paris, visit her here .

In the beginning, there was the Word

The word is a powerful tool, especially when placed in order from left to right (or in some cultures, from right to left) with a bunch of other words. The word is SO powerful, so subtle a tool; that men and civilisations have risen and fallen throughout history often with only words to hold their sanity in a world of questionable morals.

Words are steadfast. They remain. They can be thought or spoken or written, but something about the way they attempt to capture and narrate the transience that is a human life has led to words being the focus of our modern society. From the earliest humans grunting and gesturing, intoning their voice to indicate caution or amusement or love, words sprang forth into the lives of humans and they have held our social fabric together ever since.

Some people believe in one particular book with a lot of particular words, and choose to live their personal lives by these words written by others; dictating their behaviour and potentially predisposing their destiny. Some choose instead to see words as a toy, a peculiar plaything to be picked apart and scrutinised, with meaning and reinterpretations reverberating from every particular choice of prose.

A word, bare of context, is just a word, and can only mean itself.

Text within context springs to life and you as the reader can choose to make sense of it as best you can. The more contexts, the easier the meaning of any given word becomes to ascertain.

Despite some flowery words in the prior paragraphs, (as well as some subtle alliterations and admittedly aggressive assonance), my point has remained simple.

Words are powerful.

Will Longfield, writer

© 2013 The Copy Collective.

And words are all I have to take your heart away . . .