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HN post inspired me to quit my job and found my own startup

writeaswell.com

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Re: HN post inspired me to quit my job and found my own startup

#11

Post by scandox »

scoot wrote: post #6
yuuu wrote: post #2

I'm not going to hire a copywriter who confuses "kahunas" with "cojones."

Or who has missing punctuation, or poor formatting, or bad grammar, or incorrect use of idioms, or, or, or... Sure, "everyone's a critic" (and sorry to join the crowd), but if you're going to promote yourself as a professional copywriter you should at least have a grasp of the basics.

In fairness her focus is much more on message and content than on correctness. I do agree that she would benefit from a copy editor but the main challenge a lot of business owners have is with what to say, rather than saying it with perfect grammar.

So I imagine she may well be able to help people who struggle with that. Which in my experience is almost everyone in business.

Re: HN post inspired me to quit my job and found my own startup

#13

Post by tasogare »

scandox wrote: post #11
scoot wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or who has missing punctuation, or poor formatting, or bad grammar, or incorrect use of idioms, or, or, or... Sure, "everyone's a critic" (and sorry to join the crowd), but if you're going to promote yourself as a professional copywriter you should at least have a grasp of the basics.

In fairness her focus is much more on message and content than on correctness. I do agree that she would benefit from a copy editor but the main challenge a lot of business owners have is with what to say, rather than saying it with perfect grammar. So I imagine she may well be able to help people who struggle with that. Which in my experience is almost everyone in business.

At $600+ the prestation it has to be perfect grammar wise, especially for a service focusing on text. I was also annoyed by the wrong use of kahuna and begs the question and I'm not even a native speaker of English.

Re: HN post inspired me to quit my job and found my own startup

#14

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

Good luck.

I had a similar experience, except that it wasn't my choice. I was given no recourse, but to strike out on my own. Since I am fortunate enough to have the means (I believe that it used to be called "f**k you money," but I always thought that I was the one that got to to say "f**K you," not the potential employers), I was able to do it. In the aggregate, it has turned out better than I ever could have imagined.

Re: HN post inspired me to quit my job and found my own startup

#15

Post by scoot »

scandox wrote: post #11
scoot wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or who has missing punctuation, or poor formatting, or bad grammar, or incorrect use of idioms, or, or, or... Sure, "everyone's a critic" (and sorry to join the crowd), but if you're going to promote yourself as a professional copywriter you should at least have a grasp of the basics.

In fairness her focus is much more on message and content than on correctness. I do agree that she would benefit from a copy editor but the main challenge a lot of business owners have is with what to say, rather than saying it with perfect grammar. So I imagine she may well be able to help people who struggle with that. Which in my experience is almost everyone in business.

That's a fair point, as that is the primary role of a copywriter. However the author is targeting startups who are unlikely to have the budget to hire an editor to fix the copy provided by the copywriter. It should be part of the package, but on the basis of the OP's own sales copy, it isn't.

Re: HN post inspired me to quit my job and found my own startup

#16

Post by dghlsakjg »

scandox wrote: post #11
scoot wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or who has missing punctuation, or poor formatting, or bad grammar, or incorrect use of idioms, or, or, or... Sure, "everyone's a critic" (and sorry to join the crowd), but if you're going to promote yourself as a professional copywriter you should at least have a grasp of the basics.

In fairness her focus is much more on message and content than on correctness. I do agree that she would benefit from a copy editor but the main challenge a lot of business owners have is with what to say, rather than saying it with perfect grammar. So I imagine she may well be able to help people who struggle with that. Which in my experience is almost everyone in business.

Grammar and spelling are table stakes for copywriting. A copywriter shouldn't sell themselves on it, or mention it, because it is an assumption that it will be good.

When a copy writer is offering a service with bad copy, it casts into doubt their ability to write or edit copy.

I ran this sentence from the article through google docs:

>There was overwhelm of not knowing how to start a website, what pages to include, and what those pages should even be doing.

Google docs correctly picked up the error, and made the correct suggestion. I expect that a copy editor will NEVER turn in copy that has not been run through a basic automated check.

Re: HN post inspired me to quit my job and found my own startup

#17

Post by metalliqaz »

moritonal wrote: post #9

So, the startup is you offering your services as a contractor? That was the longest ad-read pretending to be a blog ever. Many times you used quotes without an author making attribution very difficult.

sounds like she knows the kind of words you have to use to get the attention of her target demographic (which is kinda her thing, apparently). same bunch that hangs around HN. stable companies and contractors are boring, even though they make the world go 'round. startups are interesting!

Re: HN post inspired me to quit my job and found my own startup

#18

Post by _false »

Good job, I've noticed that copywriting is a major pita when designing a platform with no good solutions atm. Unfortunately, I don't see how your service solves it (please correct me if I don't understand it). After purchasing your service I'll get feedback on my existing copywriting and a copy for one of my sections (how big?).

This doesn't solve my problem, because now I still need to write the copy for the rest of my site based on your feedback.

Re: HN post inspired me to quit my job and found my own startup

#19

Post by jmull »

scoot wrote: post #6
yuuu wrote: post #2

I'm not going to hire a copywriter who confuses "kahunas" with "cojones."

Or who has missing punctuation, or poor formatting, or bad grammar, or incorrect use of idioms, or, or, or... Sure, "everyone's a critic" (and sorry to join the crowd), but if you're going to promote yourself as a professional copywriter you should at least have a grasp of the basics.

Well actually...

It's OK these days, in common vernacular, to use "begs the question" to mean something that prompts or suggests a question. It's really only in the context of "Philosophy 101" (where the meaning is the logical fallacy of the premise assuming the conclusion) that it should not be used that way.

If you're going to get pedantic on the Internets, you better be prepared to go all the way down. :)

Re: HN post inspired me to quit my job and found my own startup

#20

Post by jfk13 »

slg wrote: post #10
scoot wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or who has missing punctuation, or poor formatting, or bad grammar, or incorrect use of idioms, or, or, or... Sure, "everyone's a critic" (and sorry to join the crowd), but if you're going to promote yourself as a professional copywriter you should at least have a grasp of the basics.

Language changes based off usage. Her use of "begs the question" isn't it original meaning, but it is perfectly acceptable today. It is similar to how the dictionary definition of "literally" now includes it meaning "figuratively". Continuing to complain about these things after society has moved on just makes you sound like an old crank.

Although I'm a language traditionalist at heart, this is a reasonable point. Nevertheless, the site does suffer from a number of unquestionable copy-editing errors, which do not inspire confidence in the product -- given that it is entirely focused on website copy.
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