Copywriting vs. Journalism

Back home in Phoenix, yes here in sunny Arizona, I’m currently writing copy at NextStudent. It’s a lot different from reporting and writing for magazines and newspapers. I needed a change after many years in journalism and turned to copywriting for the student loan funding company.

At NextStudent, I work with a team of highly qualified copywriters from different work backgrounds. Some were journalists and some did work in marketing or advertisting. Bringing us together to form the copywriting team at NextStudent was a great idea. There’s now a combined effort of different types of writing styles that blend well together. We’re all able to brainstorm and bring forth different ideas and ways of creating important copy to bring it to students and parents looking to fund a college education.

Speaking of college education, to me there’s nothing more important. In this day and age a college education helps in so many varied ways. It allows people to open their minds to new ideas, to learn new subjects, and to basically expand their horizons. It also helps people in the job market.

So my work here at NextStudent truly is different from previous writing and editing positions I had in New York. The deadlines are there, but different. The topic is different and geared toward a different audience: people looking to get to college, which is a good thing. And I get to work with others in a cool and oftentimes fun environment. I also don’t have to work until the wee hours of the morning, and that’s a huge plus.

Loose Slips

Oh, forget the high heels. I remember something way more interesting than walking on high heels under awful conditions while living in New York. Rushing to my editorial job at the publishing company on those heels was a killer.

One day I was walking on one of those pairs of high heels from the subway to my editing job. I had a good 10 blocks to walk. I saw a woman walking ahead of me and she seemed to be having some type of problem. She was walking a bit funny.

Journalists tend to be a curious lot. And, I’m no different. I have to know or investigate everything. So I sped up, as fast as I could walk in those heels, as the blisters started forming on my toes. The woman, although having difficulty, was trying to speed up as well.

As I got closer, the woman, who was wearing a skirt, had a strange look on her face. I eyed her and noticed something was slipping out from under her skirt. At first I couldn’t make out what it was. Then I saw white lace. The woman’s slip was sliding down her legs! She desperately was trying to keep the slip from falling by walking with her legs further and further apart, knees bent.

It’s like, what do you say? “Need some help ma’am?” No, not in that case. I’m always there to offer to help someone in need. But how do you help a woman when her slip is falling right out from under her skirt? Part of me felt awful for her. How embarrassing. And, yes, part of me wanted to laugh.

So, what happened to her? Well, I trailed behind her for a while. And the slip continued slowly to fall. It finally fell to the ground. The woman stepped out of it and kept walking.

I’ll never forget that, and that was a long time ago. Not many women wear slips these days. But one thing is for sure, if I ever do, I’ll make sure the elastic holds.

Sales vs. Editorial

I found out early about the differences between sales and editorial with regard to the publishing world. There sometimes were problems and sometimes not. Things sometimes even got heated.

Obviously the world of sales in publishing means selling the ads, which brings in the money. And the bottom line always is the money in just about every business. On the other hand, editorial typically is about journalists striving to report on and write the best stories they can. Pitching editorial sells ads. But when it comes down to it, sales usually wins. If the ad space isn’t sold, then there’s no magazine. If there’s no magazine, everyone on staff has a big problem.

Things actually can get held up because of advertisers. That oftentimes doesn’t sit well with editorial. Writers, reporters, copy editors, managing editors and editors work on “deadline.” With these people, and I’m one of them, deadline is “king.” Our lives revolve around deadline, and most of us hate to miss a deadline. Many of us live our entire lives, personal and professional, with the word “deadline” hanging over our heads. It’s ingrained in our souls, like a sickness.

I found out pretty early on in my career that deadlines would be missed — not due to errors on my part, but mostly due to sales. Didn’t like that at all. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know our magazine had to make money. But you can’t tell me to be “deadline-oriented,” which I accomplish, then tell me to forget the deadline! That drove me absolutely bonkers.

There were never any actual knock-down, drag-out fights. But we sometimes came close. I think there were quite a few times when I sat at my desk at 10:12 p.m. clenching my teeth in anger. The stress level certainly was high. I guess many of us in the business thrive on that type of stress.

After a lot of late nights, the editorial team closing the issue easily got “punchy.” Laughing for no reason. Typing in a headline after your fingers are on the wrong keys can bring about some funny stuff. Maybe not that funny, but when you’re going on two hours of sleep, you sometimes laugh at just about anything. Heck, you’ll even laugh with the salespeople.

In the end, after an issue closes, everyone makes friends. Then it starts all over again for the next issue.

The Big Move to New York

As a young, “green” and ambitious writer who moved from the surrounding Phoenix area to New York in the 80s, I encountered many different things. First of all, Phoenix was not such a “big town” back then, and moving to the Big Apple was a big deal.

Before I even got to New York, my parents had some reservations about the move. They feared me leaving and going it alone to the big bad city. But go alone I did. I had things to do, places to see, and fun to have.

Phoenix at the time was not the big city it is today. Back then, the way I saw things, it was boring in Arizona. I previously had been to New York on various occasions to visit with family and that is where I wanted to be, wanted to write and wanted to have experiences.

Having graduated from college, I decided to get out of my hum-drum home town and take off on a wild adventure. As my parents bit their fingernails and worried for my safety, I couldn’t be happier. New York, here I come. That’s all I knew and all I wanted.

I wanted to be a writer, a journalist, and New York was the place. There didn’t seem to be many writing opportunities in Phoenix at the time. And didn’t all the great writers start in New York? Weren’t all the big publishing houses in New York? The great newspapers, the best magazines? Everything seemed to be based in New York. So that’s where I had to be. Plus, I knew there were many exciting experiences of which I would get to be a part.

My friends were excited for me. Maybe some were envious. And I was doing this alone. Some of my friends also thought I was brave because of this. Maybe I was, and maybe I was young,  naive and even somewhat stupid. Time would tell.

Well, there were experiences, that’s for sure. Let’s put it this way, when I first got there it was like the farm girl goes to New York. Lots of things I saw…well, some I wish I never encountered, others are great memories. I had to learn not to be so naive, and that would come for sure.