Buzz On Copywriting – Content Axis

Ostensibly, the difference between a professional writer and a part-time/amateur writer is that of ethic. By most peoples’ accounts, talent and professionalism are essentially different (yet both important) things. One of the main differences between the two, on the surface, is that the professional relies on their writing work as their primary source of income.

Professional writers (like people in all other walks of life), require financial stability, with which they can conduct their lives. Part-time writers on the other hand (by definition) are either undertaking writing as a hobby, or as a form of supplementary income. Whilst the ethic is not a logical consequence of this, it generally does seem to follow that a part-time writer will approach the task of writing much as a part-time pub-team football player may approach their past time; with a sense of the easy going and nonchalance.

The part time writer is able to operate on the basis that, when inspiration comes “I will just know”, and “that’s when the good writing comes”. Again, the mindset is purely symptomatic of the role that the writing plays in the person’s life. Financial dependency on the pursuit is not at the forefront of their mind, so they are able to wait around until the best situation arises.
The professional writer, on the other hand, will have an impending deadline. If inspiration has not blessed them with its presence; too bad. The deadline (and therefore, getting paid!) doesn’t care for inspiration, it cares for yield – measurable output. This, then, acts as an incentive.

There also seems to be a somewhat romanticized idea of “the writer” in wider society, that many part-time writers consciously or otherwise aspire to attain. The image of the debonair (often male) creative soul, sitting for hours in a lonely château, sipping wine from Provence whilst coolly puffing on a blond-branded cigarette whilst the most crystallized epitomisations of existential gravity “reveal themselves” is both untrue and fantastical. Writing, like other jobs, is work. It may come easier to some (thus, we have professional writers that chose writing over, say, carpentry), and some display a quite discernible talent for it, but this in no way displaces the fact that hard work must be put in for money, merit and recognition to come out.

This sense of delusion in many part time writers also links to the next point; that of the willingness to co-operate with others (namely, editors). The professional writer, having had plenty of experience in the field, as well as a quite cemented knowledge of their own ‘calibre’, may well be reluctant to accept changes, but will ultimately (through maturity, self-awareness and perhaps an absence of entitlement and arrogance) accept the suggestions of those whose job is to take their ‘raw’ submitted piece and make it fit into a wider publication.

This is rooted in both a knowledge of the greater workings of the place into which their article has been submitted, as well as a sense of reality that their piece is not flawless or the greatest thing ever written, but a piece of work (of which, of course they can be proud), commissioned for an end-goal. On the other hand (once again linking to an earlier point), the part time writer is often observed to have a somewhat Kerouac-esque idealism, following a rough mantra of “First draft; best draft”. Whilst this is a fine philosophy, first drafts are often substandard for a number of reasons, and this must be accepted as part of the transition to a professional writer.