Question

Topic: Copywriting

How Long Does It Take You To Write Good Copy?

Posted by Anonymous on 3/17/2006 at 12:12 PM ET 50 Points
I’m trying to gauge whether or not it takes me longer than the average writer to write good copy. I’m a marketing manager responsible for writing copy for everything from media kits, brochures and direct mailers to banner and print ads, sales letters, collateral and the website. I work for a B2B publishing company that produces trade magazines so basically I’m selling advertising.

I know that some people are slow writers and some are fairly quick but I guess I’m looking for any input on the average time it takes for you and your colleagues to write copy. For instance, it may take me all morning to write copy for one datasheet/piece of collateral. Is that too long or about average?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by telemoxie on 3/18/2006 at 10:44 AM Member
    I agree with the above posts, but I'm also trying to read between the lines of your post to see if there is an underlying issue here. Do you feel you are under pressure to get more work done - or are you under pressure to deliver more results?

    There are two kinds of time - the time it takes you to write the letter, e.g. "billable hours", and the elapsed time it takes you to complete a task, from assignment to completion. I know that in my business, when working on multiple tasks, my clients are (much) more concerned with the second issue than the first.

    This may be a project managment issue as much as a writing issue. If delivering work on time is a concern, it may be that you can increase efficiency and keep co-workers happy by breaking down the letter writing into stages (e.g. have creative brief in hand before writing, see above) and preparing some sort of report on project status (which will be my task for my clients this weekend, by the way). Good luck.
  • Posted by Frank Hurtte on 3/19/2006 at 2:59 PM Member
    I have found that dictation on the first and very rough draft saves me hours...
    I typically write 1000-1500 word articles...

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