Comments on: Copify: unprepared to sell cheap copy

By: Laurence Blume

Laurence Blume — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:00:56 +0000

Honestly, Ben. Just don’t worry about them. They are really not going to eat into the relationship between professional clients and good copywriters; nor that between worthwhile but inexperienced clients and good copywriters.

By: Copify and what it means for quality writing « Fine ale and cheap wine

Copify and what it means for quality writing « Fine ale and cheap wine — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:23:10 +0000

[...] blogger Ben Locker puts it, Copify is a business model which tries to get “suckers to write for cheapskates”, which, although not the most accurate description (some would argue that companies not looking to [...]

By: Tom Albrighton

Tom Albrighton — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 10:47:47 +0000

It was strange to see a new firm arguing in public with its potential supplier base, but last week showed how easy it is to get drawn into online debates that might not benefit your brand, particularly if you subscribe to the dubious wisdom of ‘all publicity is good publicity’.

‘Social media’ means engaging with all comers, but you also need to consider what message the engagement itself is sending. Copify clearly took the issues raised by copywriters very seriously, or it wouldn’t have responded. Unfortunately, it didn’t really take the time to strike the right note in its responses, resulting in the need to backtrack – again, a perhaps inevitable consequence of the ‘instant’ nature of SM.

I’d promised myself I wouldn’t post about Copify this week. Ah well, I lasted a couple of hours…

By: Ben Locker

Ben Locker — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 10:27:54 +0000

Yes, but I suspect the backtracking and mea culpas suggest they haven’t properly thought through what they want to achieve. But you’re right – that’s why I said they should have stuck tight if they were confident about their business model.

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 10:24:52 +0000

If I was them, I’d do a Ryanair on the issue. Their target is not copywriters on the web. Why bother responding to people that cannot afford to work for them?

By: Angpang

Angpang — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 10:56:39 +0000

Have just caught up with the debate. Yesterday as I was working hard at a rate that will pay my mortgage and feed my children. Am I being a bit precious, though? Maybe I really should just cut & paste stuff from Wikipedia and remove the hyperlinks.

Anyway, is Copify setting out a global stall? In other countries – India springs to mind – these rates could make sense.

By: Charles Baldwin

Charles Baldwin — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 09:12:12 +0000

A lot of good points in the debate. I get asked to write “cheap” copy for some of my clients…I usually refer them to Elance. Atleast now, I have someone else to refer them to!

I’m sure that most of you would agree with me, in that I have spent thousands on every course or manual out there to improve my craft. At 2 cents per word, I would have to write 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for years to just break even.

As someone said, we all have our slow times, but as John Carlton says, you need to have a nest egg put away as “F.Y.” money, to get through the slow times. No one should work for 2, 4 or even 8 cents per word. There are enough clients out there that really need our services and are willing to pay for them.

By: Copify - The Debate - Unmemorable Title

Copify - The Debate - Unmemorable Title — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:40:33 +0000

[...] Ben weighs in with what could be described as “cheap traffic bait” or “insightful comments on just how Copify have riled people up”. I favour the latter description, but judge for yourself: Copify, Unprepared to sell Cheap Copy? [...]

By: Tweets that mention Copify: unprepared to sell cheap copy | Copywriting Blog -- Topsy.com

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:21:01 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Andrew Nattan, China Blue, Sarah Turner, writerdiehl, Ben Locker and others. Ben Locker said: Positive pro-Copify comment on my blog post. http://is.gd/80QVj <– sadly it came from a proxy IP. Draw what conclusions you will. [...]

By: Larner

Larner — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:22:47 +0000

Re: Falcon, Feb 9th 3:46pm.

No. It doesn’t.

Without being snippy, if you’ve done the time to reach the status of being paid to write, and you’re then happy to carry out jobs that are likened to being better than flipping burgers for an hour, you’re not doing yourself, or your previous achievements any justice whatsoever.