Copyediting is a print and online publication on my short list of definitive guides for word and language nerds.

For every question raised on how language should be used, how it evolves, or how it should be edited, Copyediting serves up answers you can bank on.

Readers looking for information on style guides may interested in this Copyediting workshop: How to Learn a Style Guide in 10 Days

What you’ll learn (copied from the Copyediting site):

Whether you’re trying to pick up a new house style or one of the major style guides, Colleen will teach you: 

• Which conventions are always style-guide dependent, including punctuation, formatting, and how to handle first references
• How to find out what points of style come up most frequently in a specific publication
• A few quirks of some major style guides that you may not think to look up

For more resources on style guides, take a look at these posts:

Editorial Style Guides (or Style Sheets)–What Are They?

Editorial Style Guides–Types of Guides and How to Create One

Rita Braun writes and edits B2B publications for people who research, teach, market, and sell. Take a look at her work samples here, and contact her here.

Does setting your fees have you scratching your head? Where do you start?

Robert Half International (RHI) and Editorial Freelance Association (EFA) published a range of rates they found independent contractor (and freelancers) charge. Copyediting.com was kind enough to write about these published rates in a single article:

Tip of the Week: What a Copyeditor Earns by Copyediting
Includes ranges of rates for various types of writing and editing.

Listed below are other rate schedules for a variety of genres and industries. You’ll note the wide range of rates. To help you determine where you "fit" in those ranges, consider the following:

• your years of experience as a writer or editor
• your level of expertise in a particular genre or industry
• what type of writing and editing you do (technical, grant, fiction, nonfiction, journalism, "how to’s"; the greater knowledge required to write or edit, the higher the rate you can set)
• what industry you serve—some pay higher rates (finance, technology, science) than others (gardening, self-help)
• where you live—some areas pay higher rates (large metro areas such as New York, San Francisco) than others (rural areas or those lacking a concentration of finance, technology, science)
• how you provide value (how you deliver more than you promise)

Select a rate that you can comfortably and honestly say reflects what you are worth. Then be done with the search and get to work. Over time you’ll come to better know what your colleagues charge. Accordingly, you can adjust your rates as you take on new projects and clients.

Rate Calculators & Schedules
for Freelance Writers and Editors and Independent Contractors

Strategies for Setting Consulting Fees & Rates by Andréa Coutu at Consultant Journal
This excellent presentation offers several strategies for determining your rate by the hour, day, or project, or rates based on performance or a solution offered. Discusses overhead costs and desired profit margin. Helps you approach fee setting from a standpoint of financial well-being.

Setting Freelance Rates the Right Way by Jennifer Mattern at AllFreelanceWriting.com
Covers charging per word, project, or by the hour; workable hours vs. billable hours; salaries vs. yearly freelance earnings. Similar approach to Andréa Coutu.

Hourly Rate Calculator by Freelance Switch
Takes a similar approach to Andréa Coutu. This calculator asks for your:

• business costs
• personal costs
• how many hours you can actually work
• desired profit

Freelance Statistics Report by Rockable Press
This article introducing the (for-fee) report includes an hourly rate schedule for a variety of writing genres.

Minimum Freelance Writing Rates by American Society of Authors and Writers (AmSAW)
Includes rate schedules for ad copy; editorial writing (for a variety of genres) and editing; and script writing, editing, and analysis.

Grant Writers Survey by ResearchAssociates
Includes a variety of frequently asked grant writing questions.

AskMetaFilter posts tagged with "freelance" and "rates"

Related Reading

Take a look at related posts in contracts: estimating and quoting.

Rita Braun writes and edits B2B publications for people who research, teach, market, and sell. Take a look at her work samples here, and contact her here.

This is a guest post written by medical copywriter, Jere Paulmeno, owner of Healthcare Copy in Denver, CO. After you read his post, you’ll never wonder again what persuasive copy elements to include in your marketing brochure.

I am a medical device copywriter.

My job is to write persuasively for my clients. My writing helps clients sell to decision-makers responsible for purchasing medical devices used to treat patients in doctor’s offices, hospitals, and clinics. Decisions to purchase medical devices are always influenced, if not always driven, by an institution’s medical professionals.

There’s no grand mystery in how I try to persuade medical professionals, such as a physician, nurse, or pharmacist. As would any B-to-B copywriter, I succeed when I build my story upon a good understanding of the market, the product, and the customer.

What Makes Medical Copywriting Different?

Still, it’s a different beast, the medical device market.

For one, those I would persuade belong to a unique work culture. They are highly-educated, technically, while also dedicated to a simple human ideal—a mission of caring where the stakes can be life itself. Medicine is compassionate, but also science-based, with a focus on objective results. It is a business, too, at the core of an astonishingly-complex bureaucratic system.

Also unique in this market is that product marketing is regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It makes my job easier when I learn upfront what I can and cannot write in promoting a specific product. Otherwise, I may face an epic rewrite after weeks of work due to the red marks of an attorney.

Basic Principles Still Apply

Once armed with knowledge of the market, product, and customer, I then focus on applying the fundamentals of persuasion, as Rita Braun has presented so well in this blog post. These fundamentals apply as well to my writing, or to any other copywriting, because they arise from knowledge of human nature. No matter our station in life, each of us responds pretty much alike to arguments aimed at convincing our heart and mind of a product or cause or idea.

Guided Tour of a Medical Device Brochure

Here is an example of a brochure I wrote to help promote the NeoFeed® drug infusion pump that delivers nutritional solutions into patients unable to be fed any other way. It is used to treat ill or extremely premature babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) of hospitals. The pump’s use is prescribed by a physician, but it is typically operated by the NICU nursing staff.

Brochure Audience
The NICU nursing supervisor or NICU nurse responsible for specifying infusion pumps and participating in the institution’s purchase decision. (Once the physician has embraced the generic technology, the nurse generally leads in specifying the actual pump models or brands to purchase.)

Brochure Purpose
To inform and motivate the nurse to contact a sales representative to learn more about the pump. Decision-making often involves additional learning about the product and may include an equipment trial.

Brochure Format
A standard four-page design in which:

• the Front Page serves as a product message platform to gain reader attention;
• the two Inside Pages develop the message into a product story, through a narrative and listing of key features; and
• the Back Page summarizing product specifications, and identifying the product manufacturer and how to contact it.

Persuasive Copy Elements
Note: If you haven’t done so alreay, download the NeoFeed® brochure, then open and view or print it. Each highlighted letter below corresponds to a persuasive copy element listed on the brochure.

Front Page (page 1)
A: Most prominently visible at upper left is the product brand and generic name. If nothing else, you want the reader to remember this.

B: What does not appear up here, but I always try to include it near the product name, is the word “New.” It is a proven attention-getter! But in this case, the client chose not to use it because the pump was not “new” in the sense of being “just introduced”; they had just not promoted it much before.

C: This headline is written to signal the clinical problem (tubing misconnects) and the solution (connect to the pump instead). The problem is addressed in direct speech as an imperative to “Avoid IV Misconnections.”

D: Also important, but less so than the other important things on the front page, and placed at lower right, is the manufacturer’s name. (If the company were large with an instantly-recognizable name, it could be a reasonable strategy to place it on top above the product name.)

Inside Pages (page 2)
E: The product name continues to display prominently to build brand awareness.

F: The inside headline reverses the front page message and in parallel structure urges in an imperative phrase to “Connect to the NeoFeed Pump.” This is the lead-in to the product story.

G: The product story first relates the existing method of nutritional infusion, and then identifies the safety problem posed by this practice. The language used acknowledges that readers are aware of existing feeding practices, equipment and issues, but points out, and then emphasizes, the risk caused by existing practice.

Note that the language also assumes the vocabulary and jargon in common usage among the brochure’s readers. My aim is always to speak directly and clearly, while using the appropriate language and respecting the readers’ knowledge of the subject. The challenge is to infuse drive and urgency into an argument while maintaining an authentic professional voice that mirrors the reader.

H: The problem statement is capped by reference to a hospital regulatory authority’s report that is given in actual quotations. This provides:
     a. credible supporting evidence of the problem, and
     b. a technical recommendation for avoiding the problem that justifies the design
         of the NeoFeed pump.

I:  Sub-headers are used to:
    a. spotlight the brochure’s story through a series of messages that highlight it, and
    b. help the reader navigate the information structure of the brochure.

J: The second sub-header signals the part of the story that introduces the solution to the problem summarized in G above. Here, the pump is described and it’s most important features and benefits are previewed.

K: The reference to the professional report quoted in H above is given here to demonstrate its credibility in the argument.

Inside Pages (page 3)
L: Moving on to the inside second page, here is where all of the pump’s noteworthy safety, simplicity, and convenience features are detailed. The section header expresses that the story has now expanded to show all of how the pump is specially designed for the NICU. The list of short bolded phrases makes it easy to scan pump features and their resulting benefits.

M: This sub-header recalls the headline in order to wrap up the argument for the pump. The brief paragraph consists of a summation statement of benefit and a call to action.

Back Page
N: This list of product specifications gives the reader the chance to scan a technical profile of the pump, in terms of common categories of data that can be compared to those of other pumps with which they are familiar.

O: Ordering and corporate information, with corporate ID element repeated, round out the brochure’s presentation.

I hope these suggestions kick-start or help you improve your marketing brochure project.

If you would like to discuss your project, review my work samples and references, or receive a project cost estimate, please contact me at jere@healthcarecopy.com or 303.452.7732.

****
Rita Braun writes and edits B2B publications for people who research, teach, market, and sell. Take a look at her work samples here, and contact her here.

Real-world insights from today’s successful marketers working in an always-on world.

You’re putting together a new marketing program, and you want it to produce better results than your previous one. You know which program elements that need improvement. But are there others? 

From program idea to post-partum analysis, four basic practices comprise a well-crafted B2B marketing program:

• build your strategy
• develop content
• implement your plan
• measure success

The book Advice from the Top: The Expert Guide to B2B Marketing, published by the Colorado Chapter of the Business Marketing Association (BMA), describes each practice and offers easy-to-understand strategies and techniques you can incorporate into your marketing program.

The three main reasons I like this book are:

1. It provides practical advice I can learn today and do tomorrow.
2. Each chapter is written by a recognized expert in the field and in plain language. 
3. It helps me think differently about my business.

Even if you know everything in this book–you likely may–for me, the book’s advice constantly reminds me of what to do.

"Write believable copy."
"Show your prospects you feel their pain."
"Write meaningful marketing messages."

For each piece of advice offered, an example follows, such as what it means to write "believable" copy, or how to show you understand a prospect’s "pain," or why a message is "meaningful."

If you want to recharge your marketing efforts, reading this book and implementing some of its advice may get you going.

Full Disclosure: I am a member of Colorado BMA. I receive no in-kind or cash payment for this promotion. I am simply proud of my chapter and the authors of this book.

Rita Braun writes and edits B2B publications for people who research, teach, market, and sell. Take a look at her work samples here, and contact her here.

I am always in search of targeted questions to ask new clients so I can do two things: 

1. Properly scope a client’s project needs to write a meaningful project proposal and do great work while avoiding scope creep.
2. Determine how I can build value into the project and into my services in general.

It’s no secret that the more you know about a client and his or her industry, project, and target market, the better service you provide. Asking targeted questions reveals not only the big project picture, but the most important details you must tend to. As the devil might be in the details, surely that’s where great client experiences begin.

I recently read two articles containing targeted questions I will add to my client intake form. I thought you’d like to know about them.

Five Questions to Ask Every New Client
Excellent big-picture questions that will help you craft your writing and align your services to your client’s most urgent needs.

Pricing Strategy for Creatives
This article obviously covers pricing your services. It also contains the section "Establish a client intake process." In it you’ll find great questions that will help you add value to your work. Even though this article is written for web developers, any service provider can apply the advice shared.

Related Reading
How to Analyze Your Audience
Writing & Editing Projects–Budget Time for These Tasks

Rita Braun writes and edits B2B publications for people who research, teach, market, and sell. Take a look at her work samples here, and contact her here.

In exchange for some information about your business, HubSpot, an inbound marketing software company, provides free marketing whitepapers. Well-written with practical information you can apply immediately, I thought you might want to know about these high-quality freebies.

About HubSpot: For a monthly fee, HubSpot’s inbound marketing software essentially becomes the nerve center for your social media marketing efforts. The software helps you develop content, conduct SEO, communicate throughout your social media platforms, generate leads, and analyze your aforementioned efforts.

I’ve not used HubSpot’s marketing software, but enjoy downloading its free whitepapers. Take a look. You might find something that will take your marketing project from "What should I do next?" to finished.

Rita Braun writes and edits B2B publications for people who research, teach, market, and sell. Take a look at her work samples here, and contact her here.

Stumped over what to blog about?

The internet is loaded with ideas for blog posts. Not wanting to feel left out, I created a list of my own.

Take a look. If something here inspires, get writing!

• What will make your readers smarter? What will make their lives easier? Write about that.
• Announce industry events you attended and the changes you made in your services as a result.
• Announce a new tool, software, or online subscription you use for your business. Explain how it helped you and whether it improved your service in any way.
• Announce events (workshops, seminars, etc.) your blog readers might be interested in attending. Explain why they would be interested.
• Provide a thoughtful point of view on an article about your or your readers’ industries or services.
• Refer readers to a helpful resource. Explain why you like it and how it might help your blog readers.
• Announce new industry rules or trends, or new public policies that might affect your blog readers. Explain the potential effects.
• Quote a thought leader. Explain the quote’s significance as it relates to you, your product or service, or target market.
• Post an interesting industry fact and the significance of it.
• Lighten it up. Post a funny industry-related story.

Related Reading
From problogger.com
5 Ways to Never Run Out of Blog Post Ideas
Monthly Trends + How to Instantly Triple Your Post Ideas
12 Essential Tips for Revitalising Your Blog in 2012

 Rita Braun writes and edits B2B publications for people who research, teach, market, and sell. Take a look at her work samples here, and contact her here.

You’re an expert at writing persuasively. But how you manage your social media apps and what calls to action you make can help you be persuasive.

Read all about it at mashable.com.

6 Ways to Be More Persuasive with Social Media

Neil Patel, the author of that mashable post, creatively took Robert Cialdini’s six principles of persuasion presented in his book Influence—The Psychology of Persuasion and applied them to social media. (I just ordered read the book. Wildly fascinating.)

Great post.

Related Reading
B2B Persuasive Writing—Objectives, Techniques & Publications

Rita Braun writes and edits B2B publications for people who research, teach, market, and sell. Take a look at her work samples here, and contact her here.

When every word you publish is scrutinized by regulatory agencies, how can you go about writing persuasively without feeling like you need to constantly look over your shoulder?

By first developing a Key Message Copy Platform.

Medical copywriter Casey Demchak carefully words the marketing and sales publications he writes for his clients. Every product claim his clients make must first be substantiated by facts, figures, and clinical evidence. The more technical the claim and number of marketing outputs, the bigger the challenge.

In developing a Key Message Copy Platform prior to publishing any marketing copy, Casey helps his clients carefully substantiate all product claims in writing, then develops marketing messages around those claims. Those messages become the basis of a client’s Key Message Copy Platform.

The convenience of working from a Key Message Copy Platform is that no matter the marketing output—web, collateral, sales support documentation—the message behind each product claim remains consistent throughout. So once those key messages are decided upon, Casey moves on to writing persuasive product copy for his clients.

Learn more about creating a Key Message Copy Platform from Casey himself:

Rita Braun writes and edits B2B publications for people who research, teach, market, and sell. Take a look at her work samples here, and contact her here.

At the root of persuasive writing is connecting with your readers on intellectual and emotional levels.

That’s the hook. Then you need to demonstrate how you will meet business needs. Buried in them is the cry: Please, make my life easier and better!

In front of your persuasive publications sit people who make decisions. What to buy. Whom to buy from. How to change a behavior. How to break off a relationship.

These people also make decisions about you, the writer. Do you connect with their sensibilities? Do you understand the subtext of the problems they must solve? Are you BS-ing them in any way?

We all have basic needs to connect with others, be understood, and be told the truth. As you write your publications that teach, market, or sell, you can meet these basic needs by appealing to your readers’ sensibilities (emotions) and intellect (facts and data).

Objectives of Persuasive Writing

You want your readers to act—to request your free report, make a purchase, sign up for your workshop—so you need to convince them it will be worth their while. You can begin by demonstrating that you:

• clearly understand their needs, issues, or problems
• can competently address them
• are different than your competitors
• are the clear choice

How do you do all that?

Listed below are some persuasive writing techniques you can use to motivate your readers to act—to demonstrate that you are the clear choice, the one who will make lives easier or better. 

Pinpoint the Definition of Success
Know what will be different when everything is going right. Finding out what that is reveals the subtext of your readers’ needs—the real value your product or service could bring: What else your target audience wants and needs in addition to your solving the "business problem."

Speak Your Target Audience’s Language
As you demonstrate what it is that your product or service is really good at doing, speak to your readers in a vernacular that resonates with their life experiences.

Say it with Numbers
A financial planner successful at helping people retire sooner than thought possible might state that each day, 8,000 Americans turn 65 years old^[1], yet 36 percent of them expect to retire after age 65, compared with 25 percent in 2006^[2], then go on to explain how she helps clients beat the odds.

Using numbers can also demonstrate tangible evidence of a benefit, such as dollars or time saved, or availability of a tax credit or tax incentive.

Be Real by Being Relevant
Tell the truth. Of course you’ll point out the features and benefits of your product or service, acknowledge also weaknesses and how clients might overcome them. How completely does your product or service fulfill a client’s need? In what circumstances does it not fulfill a need at all? State these things, clearly! Your client will appreciate instantly understanding whether or not your product or service can fill a need.

Quote Thought Leaders and Experts
The retirement statistics cited above are from leading organizations addressing challenging retirement issues: AARP and the Employee Benefits Retirement Institute (EBRI). Connecting your business case to thought leaders’ and experts’ research, insight, and commentary is persuasive.

See also the Related Reading section below for expanded presentations of persuasive writing techniques.

Types of Print or Digital Publications that Require Persuasive Writing 

Learning how to write persuasively and then practicing the craft takes time. Or maybe you’re a natural! But the persuasive writing techniques presented here and in the other publications listed below have long been used successfully in these types of publications:

• blog posts
• business plans
• case studies
• direct mail
• emails and letters
• feature articles
• grant applications
• how-to articles and books
• press release
• proposals
• product and service sales guides
• web copy
• white papers

^[1] AARP: Boomers Turning 65
^[2] Money.com: Most workers have saved just $25,000 for retirement

Related Reading

"Mastering Persuasive B2B Sales Writing Techniques" by Casey Demchak in Advice from the Top: The Expert Guide to B2B Marketing

Seven Simple Steps to Persuasive Writing by Elizabeth Evans Fryer

B-to-B Insights: A Perfect ’10′—Achieve success by adhering to the fundamentals

Ten Timeless Persuasive Writing Techniques by Brian Clark, CopyBlogger.com

Rita Braun writes and edits B2B publications for people who research, teach, market, and sell. Take a look at her work samples here, and contact her here.