Things people ask

As a writer, I am a one-man show. I am partner in a marketing and media firm, so if a project needs more resources or a different skillset–or bodies or hands—I can draw on my team. Nobody ghost rights for me, however. While I can do things like web design, social media management, and technical writing, I have people in-house that do it more efficiently, so I collaborate with them to make the best possible product.

That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it? Well, not million dollar in the literal sense. There are two ways I get paid. One, we can establish a weekly or monthly schedule in which I write content or ads on an hourly basis. Traditionally, this is called a retainer agreement. It’s about half of my typical workload.

The other way is on a per-project basis. I do not do content mill-style pay-by-the-word projects. Well, at least not in the $.02-$.05 range that you will see imills. You get what you pay for, and I don’t sell that. Let’s discuss the project and I can give you a quote.

Depending on the day, I wear a bunch of different hats. More than anything else, I write. But I am also a marketing and branding consultant, and that takes several different forms. As a branding specialist, I work with companies to establish a new brand or rebrand an existing one, by developinmg positioning statements and create value propositions. I can help establish marketing programs, systems, and client-facing operations that support the brand mission. This is, at its core, content marketing. It’s all related.While I’m a strategist, I also have a creative focus. I’m a trained graphic designer, and do a fair amount of identity work and print design.

It wasn’t my intention, really, but it sort of just happened that way. The plan was to be a famous painter, or possibly bike racer. Or discoverer of lost Inca cities. One of those, anyway. But, I studied writing for advertising and broadcast in college, which sort of steered me away from those other things and toward, not surprisingly, writing.

Somehow (I honestly don’t remember how) I became a stringer reporter for a newspaper in North Carolina, and also launched my first business—a writing and editing service geared toward graduate students completing masters theses and PhD dissertations. That was where I learned to become a lightning-fast expert in various, often highly specific fields. Like Mockingbird Calls in Reaction to Environmental Stimuli or The Evolution of Spanish Language in Literature or Pediatric Physical Therapy in Pediatric Spina Bifida Populations.

After that, I moved to New York where I worked as a freelance graphic designer and staff public relations writer, before moving to  Florida to help launch Florida Gulf Coast Univerity as its first marketing director. Once again was a newspaper stringer and then a sports columnist, and kicked off a career as a copywriter and creative director in a marketing firm. I won lots of awards for copywriting, scripts, and advertisements. Personally, I don’t think awards mean all that much, but they look really cool on my wall.

My first writing involved crayons in what I like to think of as performance art. It was on the paneled living room wall, behind the couch. I disclaimed that work, attributing it to my sister. My mom caught me off guard by asking why my sister, nine years older than me and in high school, would write “RICHARD” with the D backwards. “I hired her as a ghostwriter. I had no idea she is dyslexic.” 

Always thinking on my feet. I was precocious for a 5 year-old. 

Okay, the real answer is since age 19. I graduated from crayons by then and had a typewriter. I replaced it with a Commodore 64 computer, with which I actually paid for college. 

Not really. FAQs are a content marketing trick. It’s an easy way to put important content in your website. I’ve had clients tell me that they don’t actually get many questions from B2B or B2C customers. Of course they don’t! Here’s why:

Most consumers visit a website to find out about a company or product. If they don’t find what they are looking for, they don’t typically take time to ask questions. Why would they? There is probably another site with the same or similar products or services, so why not go there? It’s a lot easier for visitors to read than finding the contact page, filling out and submitting a clunky form, then waiting for a response. It’s a lot easier for visitors to read than finding the contact page, filling out and submitting a clunky form, then waiting for a response.

Those other sites? Those are your competitors.

You are better off putting the info you want people to see in your FAQ and several other places on your site and plan your copywriting around a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. That way, people will come to the site, be delighted with the content they find there, and sing up to your email list, thereby becoming part of your marketing funnel.

Note that this little section includes these keywords: content marketing, marketing funnel, B2B, B2C, consumer, client, copywriting, search engine optimization, SEO, strategy. Google finds those, you search for those, you find me! Pretty cool, huh?

I can but I probably won’t! I really like my office. It’s large and airy and light. I can bring my dog. Or two of my dogs. I have a photo studio attached, a voiceover video studio, and a big conference area. It’s fabulous. Also, writers are notoriously reclusive and have weird habits. Better to let them stay where we are happy.

That said, I am available for short-term on-site work, meetings, or consulting sessions. I just won’t work there indefinitely! 

I did! At my first college, I majored in advertising writing and graphic design. I later double majored in fine art and English with a focus on creative writing. Over the years, I’ve taught copywriting and design. Full circle. 

Some projects are really discreetly packaged, like an ad. Add copy is fairly straightforward in structure and simple to look at from a building standpoint. While ads require consummate wordcraft, they don’t usually require a lot of research. Emails and press releases are the same. I can give you a flat rate for those pretty easily.

Blogs and web content usually and white papers and case studies always require research and/or data compilation or analysis. That’s an hourly issue. I’m fast and efficient, so you get your money’s worth, but there is no shortcut for research. Sometimes projects require more research than others. Some blogs require that I find graphics for photos to go with the words. That just adds time. As with any project, it can be viewed from a number of different standpoints and I’m willing to discuss those with you in our initial consultation.

No, and you shouldn’t ask anyone to copy anyone’s work. Originality is best for you and your project and for me as a creator.

Ask me about specific types of work. I guarantee you I’ve done most everything in the writing field, I just don’t necessarily promote certain aspects of my portfolio. That doesn’t mean I don’t or won’t do them…but it might…so ask!

I don’t write about politics, religion, or whether your clothes make you look fat. I will say that I don’t write supporting a political view that I don’t believe in simply because I am 100% certain that I couldn’t do the subject justice. There are others out there who can, I am certain.

Yes! I do content, blogging, speeches, infomercial, blogging, advertorial and editorial work for clients. For longer form pieces, I edit for authors writing books, I also write from scratch for clients with a great story but who aren’t writers themselves. I have package pricing for some long-form pieces but also work on an hourly rate, depending on the project.

I’ve been a teacher in classrooms and online for years. I can do specialized training for individuals or for groups. If you have a specific need, let’s talk about it!