Needless to say, we all have interests that we’d like to concentrate on, whether that’s football, quantum physics or the wheel configuration of classic steam locomotives. For me, it would be a mixture of history and literature, perhaps with some music thrown in for good measure. For a copywriter, the ideal would be to make […]
I consider myself lucky to live and work in the beautiful Lea Valley in Hertfordshire. In spite of urbanisation and some rather questionable architectural choices in the 1960s, we have the nature-rich marshlands on either side of the river, an area apparently prized by bird-watchers (I love seeing birds, but I don’t have the patience
Random Fact #2 Copywriting is a very old profession. Historically, copywriters have tended to be known as scribes and have been employed in a wide range of contexts. Scribes have kept records and accounts in palaces and temples, written correspondence for the great and good (well, the great, anyway), and made the copies of great
I wear two hats as a writer. Figurative hats, that is. I’ve worn some spectacular literal hats in the past, but mostly as a performer, rather than a writer. I’m both Nick Blatchley the copywriter and Nyki Blatchley the fiction writer, and you might assume that there isn’t much connection between the two, except using
Local or global? That’s a question that faces many businesses. Not all, of course: in some cases, the nature of the business will determine the answer. A baker’s shop necessarily has to serve the local community, as does a hairdresser-unless, of course, they’re a hairdresser to the stars and can jet off all over the
Random Fact #1 Like many people with a small business, I’m proud to be called a freelancer, but the word was originally more sinister than it is now. It meant a mercenary. A “freelance” was, quite literally, a knight whose lance was pledged to no lord or cause, and who was therefore free to hire
You know what it’s like when you meet a potential new customer. You smile, shake hands, say a few words of greeting—and, by that time, they’ve already decided what they think of you. Estimates range from three to seven seconds before someone has made a clear, if subconscious, judgement, but it isn’t long, and it’s
So here we are, at the start of my adventure as a freelance copywriter. Not quite the start – I actually started trading last month, but most of that time has involved getting myself set up, including this fine new website, built for me by Tim at Webtexweb Design. A while ago, my job in