Who hires a writer? What does a writer do? Why are they needed?
Writing is more than just saying things creatively. It’s more than correct punctuation and spelling, more than words on a page.
A good writer understands other people and can honestly communicate their message to any type of audience. Real writing is about intention, understanding and communication. It’s about getting at the heart of the matter, distilling its basic essence and then conveying that to another human being.
In order to be a good writer you have to be able to understand another’s hopes, dreams and plans. You’ve got to have insight into what makes people tick and what they’re trying to achieve. You need to be able to put yourself in their shoes and speak on their behalf.
Why Hire A Writer?
The most basic reason people hire a writer is because they don’t feel comfortable with their command of the English language (spelling, punctuation, grammar) and it’s a hassle for them have to deal with the mechanics of the written word. Others hire a writer because they just can’t seem to get their thoughts down on paper; they’re not confident they’ll be able to think of “the right way to say something.” Many hire a writer because they don’t have time to do the writing themselves. They have a business to run or are working on multiple projects and just don’t have the hours in the day to sit down and churn out the wordage.
However valid these reasons are, they honestly aren’t where a top-notch writer really shines. A truly good writer is all about communication. They’re about capturing the essence of a thought and really getting it across to others–perhaps even more clearly than it was originally conceived. The core of excellent writing is truly understanding the subject you’re writing about; if you don’t do that then you’re just putting marks on a page (or pixels on a screen, as the case may be).
A writer has to be able to conceptually understand what he’s writing about–be that a person, a company or an idea–because only after he honestly understands it can he adequately convey it to another.
Writing Is a Skill
Just like carpentry, computer programming or graphic design, writing is a skill. It’s got its own tools and techniques, rules and methodologies. If a person isn’t familiar with these it can take a LONG time to produce a product and, at the end, he might not end up with exactly what he was looking for.
Just as you would hire a graphic designer to create a logo or a plumber to fix your sink, people hire writers when they need to create the text in anything that they’re going to need to give to another such as a brochure, website or mission statement.
A good writer can get your exact message across, exactly as you intended it, quickly and smoothly.
What Types of Things Do People Hire Writers For?
All sorts of people hire writers–publishers, corporate executives, small business owners, professionals, etc. Anyone who’s got a need to get something across to another person is a candidate to hire a writer.
Examples of things writers are hired for:
- Working out what the plan of a website should be and then writing the content for it
- Ghostwriting books for professionals such as doctors, accountants or business owners who want to be seen as an authority in their industry, thus making it easier to sell their product or grow their business.
- Co-authoring books with another who is trying to get a message across but doesn’t have the technical skills to do so.
- Writing articles or blogs for another to promote their business or website.
- Creating custom projects like mission statements, proposals, PowerPoint presentations, corporate communications or anything else which needs to really get a message across.
- Writing the text of brochures, printed promotional pieces, advertisements, postcards and any number of other promotional materials.
The Bottom Line
The essence of the situation is that no matter how cool something looks, no matter how impressive it is, if it doesn’t truly get your message across, it didn’t work.
It’s like the old James Brown song: talking loud and saying nothing. At the end of the day, message is all that matters.