For Businesses: Why hire a writer?
(And how to do it.)

By Jerry Karp

Many of us received a B+ in English class, so we can write OK. A memo, a letter, an email—we can do it well enough to get the point across when we need to. Or if we can't, someone in our office can. So what's the point of hiring a professional writer to manage written communications—letters, brochures, web content, proposals? After all, you might say, my message is relatively simple, or perhaps relatively technical, in nature. A slick turn of a phrase or fancy vocabulary isn't what I need for this message.

When you bring in a professional copywriter, you're not just hiring someone to deliver delicate wording and literate metaphors (although those can certainly be helpful in the proper context). You're hiring expert knowledge in the technical aspects of communicating via the written word.

• Audience: Have you expressed yourself in a way that your customers, your employees, your investors or even your bosses can understand? And have you given them all of the information they need to fully understand, appreciate and act on the information you wish to convey? Remember, it's what they need that's important. Are you objective enough to consider your material from their point of view?
• Organization: have you communicated the most important points of your message in the most logical, effective sequence to help your readers understand your ideas.
• Paragraph development: have you given enough detail, explained yourself fully enough, so that your audience will be able to follow what you’re describing? Do your ideas flow logically?
• Sentence clarity: do your sentences express in the clearest and most effective manner possible the ideas you’re trying to convey?

These are issues of craft, construction and articulation that people who have made an in-depth study of the use of the written word can help you develop in your own written material.

How can an outsider gain enough knowledge about my business or my project to write about it effectively? Why shouldn't I let my in-house people, people who know all about the subject, do the writing?

Think about it this way: Very few people would consider designing their own business web site. Why would they trust an outsider, someone who may at first know very little about their business, to do it for them? Because most people acknowledge that they do not possess the technical knowledge that would allow them construct a site that will be pleasant to the eye, be easy to use, and most effectively present the information they need to get across.

Yet many people will not hesitate to let someone who does not have the skill or technical knowledge to maximize the effectiveness of the written word to do their writing for them, even though in most cases the written word represents the ultimate interface between themselves and their audience, the ultimate medium across which their message will travel.

A final question: Suppose you had an employee who possesses a great deal of knowledge about your business but is only a mediocre writer, and a person who has excellent, experienced, broad-based writing skills but knows very little about your business. Which do you think would take longer? For the writer to learn enough about your business to apply his skills effectively to the job at hand, or for the knowledgeable employee to become an excellent writer?

Some things to look for when hiring a writer
If you're taking the step of hiring a professional, you want to make sure you get the best writer for your project. Here are some rules of thumb:

• Check out their experience. Obviously, you're not hiring anyone until you've seen their work. Check out portfolios. See if their style fits your music and your audience, or if they seem versatile enough to handle any style. Check to see if the writer is able to articulate everything that's unique about each client in a way that excites the reader. And of course, you want someone who's written about music, or at least about the arts.
• Consider personality. You may be working with this person for a while. Look for a writer you think will be easy to work with. Be sure you're getting someone who understands that the bottom line is giving you what you need and delivering your message.
• Ask about their process. How do they handle their projects? If all they want to do is look at the material you're already using and rewrite that, be wary. How do they know that everything you need to say is included in your old releases? Look for someone who will spend time with you, interviewing you and your band members in depth and finding about as much as possible about your inspirations and influences. Someone like that may think of things to say about you, and ways to say it, that you'd never have thought of yourself. That's a big part of what you're paying for.
• Ask about rewrites. Most professional writers have some sort of a satisfaction guarantee. You shouldn't have to pay more for a round or two of rewrites, assuming you're not changing what you're asking for in the middle of the process.
• How do they charge? There are many different opinions on this, but it often makes more sense to pay by the project rather than by the hour. That way, everyone's clear up front on what the costs are going to be. If the writer is going to be spending significant research and/or interviewing time, he or she will figure that into the fees.
• Get a written agreement. Another way to be sure everyone's on the same page regarding the cost and scope of the project is to ask the writer for a written agreement outlining exactly the work that's going to be done, the timelines, and the fees that will be paid. This gives all concerned an efficient blueprint to work from.

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