The problem with “Copywriter”

While I love what I do, my job title has always been a problem: Freelance Copywriter

Few outside of marketing realize I’m saying copywriter, not copyrighter. I then have to explain I’m not a copyright attorney. Always a bummer for the listener.

Another problem with “copywriter” is the word “copy” itself, a vague term for “words.” So, there you go, I’m a words writer. As if there was something else I could be using. The only thing worse is “content writer,” which sounds more like what you stuff in a box.

Freelance is equally problematic. It makes it sound like I bounce around from one project to the next when, in reality, I tend to work with clients on a consistent basis. “Sorry to pop in like this. I’ll be out of your way in no time.”

For me, it’s ironic that I work with words for a living and get two bad ones to describe what I do.

Engineers would never put up with it.