Comments on: History – The Copywriter’s Degree?

By: Copywriter

Copywriter — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 09:39:04 +0000

Awesome post. I think if one has keen interest in reading and writing and is eager to know about new things then it is a better career for him.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 26 May 2010 17:47:40 +0000

Brilliant.

By: mb

mb — Sat, 22 May 2010 20:19:17 +0000

the only ting you need to be a good copywriter is the ability to read + write and a great deal of creative instinct. nought else.

By: Is Safe Copy the Safest Plan? - Unmemorable Title

Is Safe Copy the Safest Plan? - Unmemorable Title — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:08:22 +0000

[...] Just my cup of tea. So I set to work and crafted my sample. I went to town. Sound effects, wailing sirens. The lot. Something that I thought would at least demonstrate to the client that we knew where they were coming from. [...]

By: Matt Pattinson (copywriter)

Matt Pattinson (copywriter) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:57:42 +0000

As with all creative endeavours, a degree isn’t a prerequisite to becoming a copywriter. Sure, if you want to work for a company then it may help, but for those of us walking the freelance path it’s not a necessity.

I agree that life experience, adaptability, understanding your sector, and an ability to express yourself through words, can be studied at the ‘school of self’; you don’t need a degree for that.

Perhaps great art can’t be taught – of this, I’m not sure.

That said, a degree really doesn’t hurt and in many cases it can help.

It really depends on what type of person you are. Some respond to education better while others benefit from a more hands-on approach; for my part, I’ve traversed both paths.

Either way, the magic is in the words.

thanks for the post!!
.-= Matt Pattinson (copywriter)´s last blog ..Writing for the web: 03 Tailor your Tone =-.

By: Craig

Craig — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 14:27:13 +0000

Interesting, a possible career with a creative outlet once I have finished pissing away my life working in a casino.

By: sarahcopywriter

sarahcopywriter — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 13:07:10 +0000

I’m Classics. To be exact: Ancient History, Archeology & Greek – & it’s been crap all use at any point ever in my entire life apart from to get a 100 per cent mortgage back in the early 1990s.

A degree is only as useful as you want it to be. It can open some doors but it shuts just as many. Mainly because a degree funnels us down a certain path – which in my case (I was a Whitehall Civil Servant) took me 11 damn miserable years to escape from. Perhaps if I’d had no degree I’d have found business, self-employment & copywriting sooner than I did.

I agree with the others – exposure to good books at an early age is the best grounding for all writers. After that it’s all about hard work, learning from others, ambition, good commercial sense and ditching your ego so you can admit, that at the end of the day, you know crap all.

By: Steve Dempsey

Steve Dempsey — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:26:11 +0000

Not sure if academia is much of a help with copywriting. I was a Philosophy, then computing science graduate, having first dropped out of architecture.

I think a love of words n’ reading instilled at an early age is the basis. But that needs to be tempered into something more sturdy, preferably under the watchful eye of a perfectionist, as mentioned by Ben. My own apprenticeship was served amongst the cynical hacks of the features dept. of Dublin’s Evening Herald.
.-= Steve Dempsey´s last blog ..Who would live in a lie like this? =-.

By: Ben Locker

Ben Locker — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:58:42 +0000

Yes, I’m with Tom – reading shed loads as a kid was important. The experience that made my prose more disciplined was 18 months on a history mag, spent under a perfectionist editor.

Tom – what happened to your paper sounds exactly like what’s now happened to the Telegraph et al.
.-= Ben Locker´s last blog ..Now you can join our online copywriting page on Facebook =-.

By: Tom Albrighton

Tom Albrighton — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 11:44:08 +0000

I did English Lit with minor in Linguistics. I’m not sure it really helped my career at all, other than being able to say I had a degree. If I have any writing skill it’s come from doing loads of reading (when younger) and my time in trade publishing.

Between my 2nd and 3rd years I had a job in the display ad dept of the Birmingham Evening News. I often think I’d have been better off dropping out at that point and sticking with the paper. Back then, smoking, swearing and heated arguments (progressively more heated as midnight approached) were all part of the job. Then they fired everybody and took them back on as temps.
.-= Tom Albrighton´s last blog ..Customer ratings and the tyranny of democracy =-.