It’s rare: After twenty years as a New York marketing copywriter, I don’t often get asked for freebie copy.
Even in these tough times, my regular clients, bless them, respect professional parameters. I guess newer clients understand—maybe by seeing my client list or my copywriting work—that I write for love and money.
But a few weeks ago, a prospective employer, someone to whom I’d applied for a copywriting job, asked me for “try-out” writing samples. You know, spec copy. A lot of it.
Copywriters aren’t volunteers. Unless they choose to be.
Before I tell you the story, keep in mind I’m not wholly opposed to donating copywriting services. Under certain circumstances, it makes sense to write for free. Say, for your favorite, cash-strapped NGO or the start-up of a good friend or relative.
But the prospective employer mentioned above, owns a very for-profit chain of stores.
Her request for multiple writing samples annoyed me for both its blithe sense of entitlement and lack of common courtesy: She didn’t even address her email with a salutation.
Am I too sensitive? I leave it to you to decide. Below, I’ve reprinted her email to me—and my response to it.
Please note: I changed a few identifying details, including the company name (but yes, it starts with a lower case letter.) With the exception of these tweeks, the following email is pasted in verbatim.
A modest proposal for free copywriting?
The company rep wrote:
(No salutation)
Thank you for your interest in snicker and the copywriter role. If you could, please send me the following:
- Using the construct of the current snicker.com homepage as a template, develop sample copy utilizing products on the website. While the selection of products is not important, a wide variety of product types should be included. Sample will be reviewed based on tone, voice, adherence to structure, and ability to demonstrate snicker authority where applicable.
- Finally, using a Kaboodle Kit from our website, develop a “tips checklist” using that content but translating to a new format while maintaining voice.
- Similarly, develop sample copy for an email using the construct of one of our snicker email templates. Using products selected from snicker.com at your choice, please use the construct below to develop a sample email. You DO NOT have to put the copy into a layout. Simply respond with your email copy in the following format:
Header: Blah, blah, blah
Sub-head: Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
Promo spot #1: Blah, blah, blah, etc.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.
My response
Thank you for your interest in my copywriting work. I’m taking you up on your kind offer and reaching out to you at snicker for help composing the War-and-Peace length writing samples you requested.
I wonder if you could please assist me with the following:
- Free products from snicker stores. I’d like to drop into your brick-and-mortar stores and select a wide variety of products from your shelves. I’ll try out—and keep—the products, reviewing them for design, utility, beauty and durability.
- Complimentary shopping spree on your online ecommerce site. Please forward a code that will allow me to shop for free at snicker.com. After vetting your products, I’ll create a “checklist” to see if they meet my esthetic and utilitarian standards.
- Develop new products just for me. Surprise me with your creativity and innovation! You DO NOT have to send packages via overnight air. Simply respond with three-day delivery.
My dear Ms. X, I’m confident you won’t find my request inappropriate or unprofessional. Because you made the same request of me.
Without so much as addressing me with a salutation, mentioning the many writing samples I sent you or hinting at my prospects of working with snicker, you asked me to write an astonishing amount of valuable copy. For free.
But I don’t give away my products—my copywriting services—any more than you do.
Very occasionally I put hand to keyboard for free. I wrote a blog post about this rarity. You can check it out over at BlogHer—where they paid me to publish the post.
After you read my post, I think you’ll see why snicker’s hiring process doesn’t qualify as an instance in which I write gratis. In your case, I take the position championed by Harlan Ellison. Pay the Writer.
Weird. I just posted on the same topic at my blog and used the same film clip. In the world of fiction, writers tend to not value what they do very much. Therefore people treat them like they’re not valuable.
Love this. More than puppies. Maybe even more than beer. And I like beer. A lot.
Excellent work.
Shelly
@shellykramer
I had this happen to me as a social media strategist once. I, like many pr folks, became a victim of the economy last year. Landed a job interview of which I was asked to created a powerpoint presentation about ideas I had for social media. I would have walked away, except with myself and my spouse on unemployment I didn’t have much of a choice. In any event, I kept my presentation very vague. Good thing too because they PRINTED the whole darn thing, then didn’t hire me. Jerks!
Vanessa
@prpeep
While the “write for free” gig has always been with us, it’s more common now than it was pre-social media. The tech folks have somehow convinced content creators (hate those words) that the platform matters more than the content, so we’re losing ground instead of gaining it.
Good luck. Be interested in seeing their reply.
I did this for a job once–took a whole day off work and wrote spec copy–and still didn’t get the job. Absolutely not worth it. I won’t be doing that again.
And I love your snarky response!
I agree with Shelly… I love this post, but not more than beer (I’m not crazy). The way you handled this ridiculous request was epic. I feel privileged to know you!
#FTW
@chadschomber
If you get a chance, check out John Jantsch’s latest post at his Duct Tape Marketing blog. He raised some interesting points about how every product, service or idea can be acquired for free these days.
I tend to be with you: “Pay the writer.” But I also give away a lot of my own ideas to attract traffic and leads and establish credibility. That includes speaking for free (not as much anymore).
But, yeah, this example seems a tad egregious. Love the reply!
@Marjon Unfortunately, I think it’s the same the world over: Some people take advantage.
@Bob: Yes. I think the idea is that creative people are supposed to be grateful to showcase their talent. For free. My first career was in theater: Off-off Broadway, the set designer got paid. The carpenters got paid. The light man got paid. But we actors were supposed to work for subway fare…
@Vanessa: I’m fuming over the would-be employers who printed your work. It’s hard to know the appropriate response in these unprecedented economic times.
@Shelly: More than puppies and beer?! I’m deeply flattered. Sending you a virtual Newcastle–and hoping you like ale. : >
@Copywriter Underground: Yes, the free gig has always been with us. But I’ve never had anyone ask for quite this much spec copy. BTW, haven’t heard any response yet.
@Gigi: Gosh, I thought my response was pretty polite–compared to the truck drivers’ language bouncing around in my head. ; >
@Chad: Feel likewise, Chad, i.e. privileged to know you–though not as crazy over beer as you.
@Scott: Thanks for the link. I agree. Today, content marketing is a huge part of all businesses’ self-promotion and relationship-building. I post regularly with how-tos on copywriting, marketing and social media that I think will be useful to clients and prospects. I send a quarterly newsletter with useful, unique content and aggregated links to others’ content. I tweet useful links to others’ posts and articles. But asking me to create a ton of unique marketing materials on spec when I have zero relationship with the company is another animal. : >
Brilliant, Lorraine! I think you were spot on. I’d have reached out, handed her a tightly rolled construct and advised her to add it to her kaboodle. Many thanks for the laughs! The video was ace too. Best regards, P. 🙂
@Paul: Haha! I like the Down Under method for handling inappropriate spec copy requests.
Touche! Nyuk nyuk nyuk … 🙂
What a spectacular response! And exactly what was deserved.
I had a similar experience reviewing for a popular online magazine. They requested I compete a “sample” review and if they were happy with that, paid work would be forthcoming. After completing the first sample review, another even larger “sample” review followed. Clearly I was supposed to complete untold “samples” in my own time from the goodness of my heart.
I pointed out they had accepted the first completed review and any further jobs would be invoiced at the agreed rate. Haven’t heard a thing since! Really don’t expect to….
Nice post, Lorraine.
Not much to add other than beware the promise of “future work”. I get that a lot.
“Well, we can’t pay you now…but there will be MOUNTAINS of work coming your way in the INDETERMINATE FUTURE for amounts that may or may not be MORE THAN ZERO!”
You were much nicer than I have been when dealing with this kind of situation. I may never get this–vet your freaking writer before you hire them… then hire them. Duh!
@Anna: Way to stand up for yourself. For more examples of outrageous client requests–and lots of laughs–check out The Irreverent Freelancers blog, Screw You!: http://irreverentfreelancer.blogspot.com/.
@Paul: Thanks for “crossing the pond” to comment. Love to hear war stories from copywriting colleagues around the world. Agree: When I hear promises of “future work”–but only after copious sample copy is produced–I try to exit the conversation as soon as humanly possible…
@Yo: Absolutely. I sent loads of sample copy and links. I seriously doubt she looked at a single one of them.
Hi Lorraine:
Excellent post. Thank you for sharing this. I think we can all relate!
I doubt this would have made a difference in your situation, but an option to “smoke out” genuine interest in similar situations is to use an “assumptive close,” something along the lines of: “Thank you for your interest. I assume by your request for custom content that you would like to move forward with me. Is this correct? If so, I’d be happy to put together a document defining scope and terms (outlining ownership rights of the copy, payment terms, etc.) and pricing. This way, we can make sure there are no surprises for either party as we work together. Sound fair? ”
While the vast majority won’t respond because they’re not serious players, the ones who are will respond along the lines of: “Oh. Ok. Yes, let’s talk.”
What I’ve seen happen is that the person sending the “form response” is NOT the decision-maker. This person is often inexperienced with hiring copywriters and, as a result, makes inappropriate requests, largely out of ignorance. Your post is a useful tool to educate these “buyers” that copywriters are indeed professionals who deserve and expect to be paid…well.