How do you turn copywriting into a residual income model?

Banned 11 years ago

Originally Posted by fated82

Hi all,

As we all know, copywriting is a active income business. You get a client, write for them and once your project is delivered. You will have to look for a new client to write for again.

I was wondering how can you turn the copywriting business into a residual income business model?

I know, some ways include royalties per mailing. But we aren't Gary Bencivenga. Not all of us can command such pricing.

Please share some residual income model you have or you are using here:

1) Creating copywriting systems for various niches. They will be buying license to use those systems

2) Multivariety testing(split testing)

Multivariety testing? The term is mulivariate, Gomer.

[ 3 ] Thanks

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7920813].message }}

ewenmack

11 years ago

I've set up an agreement with a specialist business funding broker where I get a commission for every loan drawn I send them.

All from my emails I've written.

Minimum commission per deal is $1,000 for me.
I negotiated 30% commission.

You could say it fits into the category of, do the job once and get paid forever.
Still gotta drive it, even if I use software and an assistant to collect email lists and send emails.

Best,
Ewen

[ 3 ] Thanks
1 reply

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7920825].message }}

Jason_V

11 years ago

Originally Posted by ewenmack

I've set up an agreement with a specialist business funding broker where I get a commission for every loan drawn I send them.

All from my emails I've written.

Minimum commission per deal is $1,000 for me.
I negotiated 30% commission.

You could say it fits into the category of, do the job once and get paid forever.
Still gotta drive it, even if I use software and an assistant to collect email lists and send emails.

Best,
Ewen

Can you expand a little more on this, for us "little people" please.

I don't mean give the whole farm away for example, specifically who you're working with.

However, can you please elaborate a bit more on the software and assistant to collect emails and send emails part?

You're not spamming are you?

If you don't want to elaborate more, no hard feelings. I understand.

Thanks,

Jason

Thanks
1 reply

Signature

"When you do something exactly wrong, you always turn up something."
-Andy Warhol

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7925296].message }}

ewenmack 11 years ago

This just came my way yesterday.

My client in the web services field to offliners
is getting 75+ qualified leads contacting his company per day
and can't get an assistant to close these people.

Now nice problem to have many would say!

So we struck a deal where if I recruit a person/persons who closes a good number of these people per day, I get paid also for every closed sale.

So if you expand your thinking as to what is possible, you can build a semi passive income from your writing beyond bringing in customers.

Get you ads working so darn hard in the right places and then write a killer recruitment ad to bring on the right people.

The recruitment ad has to sell the right person to come work for my client.

He can't write it.

There you go, another way to cash in on your writing, long term.

Best,
Ewen
- [ 2 ] Thanks
- 1 reply
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7936936].message }}
- dunkinbbb 11 years ago
  
  If your copy is good enough to generate results (calls)
  
  write ads on craigslist for some niches (contractors, legal, financial, etc) - free
  
  get a callfire # for $3.month and 5 cents a minute
  
  point the calls from the ad to to that number -
  
  point that number to a contractor
  
  call the contractor and work out a deal - $ per call ( Lead)
  
  BAM! = residual income
  
  Rinse and repeat
  
  Hope this helps someone make some money.
  
  Best,
  
  Bill
  
  Thanks
  
  {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7938640].message }}

azjoemartin

11 years ago

Masterful Ewen...just plain masterful!

[ 1 ] Thanks

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7920851].message }}

RogozRazvan

11 years ago

Well, if you take a look at the market, the things are rather simple:
* Royalties for how long the copy is used.
* Creating information products (I think every major copywriter launched at least a "how to write copy" product).
* Sweat equity (like doing the copy, marketing for a business and getting 10% of the stocks).

Thanks
1 reply

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7921092].message }}

SashaLee 11 years ago

Originally Posted by RogozRazvan

(I think every major copywriter launched at least a "how to write copy" product).

Hi there,

If you take a quick look around the forum you'll see every MINOR copywriter has a "how to write copy" or "how to write a copy" product.

All the best,

Sasha
- [ 2 ] Thanks
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7921478].message }}

UtopianWriting

11 years ago

Simple: Negotiate not only a fee, but a percentage of the total sales that result from your copy.

You'll keep earning long after you finish writing.

Thanks
1 reply

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7922247].message }}

Alex Cohen 11 years ago

From time to time, I run into sites on the internet where copywriters have set up e-commerce sites selling whatever.

Just yesterday I was looking at a site that sells survival products. The owner is a well-known copywriter who has positioned himself as an expert on the topic under a fictitious name.

Alex
- Thanks
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7922817].message }}

Raydal

11 years ago

Creating and selling your own products is about the safest
residual income you can create. If you are good enough to
have relationships with a direct marketing company then
practically all those deals are 'royalty' based.

-Ray Edwards

Thanks

Signature

The most powerful and concentrated copywriting training online today bar none! Autoresponder Writing Email SECRETS

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7923353].message }}

Daniel Scott

11 years ago

Originally Posted by fated82

I know, some ways include royalties per mailing. But we aren't Gary Bencivenga. Not all of us can command such pricing.

If you don't believe you can do it, you never will.

Copywriters in the DR world generally fall into 3 tiers...

1) Cubs - who get paid **** all but generally are learning a ton from a good writer...

2) Mid-tier - generally between $5,000 - $15,000 with between 1 - 3% royalties

3) A-listers - $20k+ with 4 - 5% royalties

Point being, if you can write good copy, you should be able to get royalties. Even if it's only at a couple of %.

This doesn't even take into account deals with entrepreneurs as opposed to major mailers. I've gotten royalties as high as 20% (though that was for an infoproduct where costs are lower).

A friend of mine nailed 10% gross on a supplement product, which I though was pretty impressive.

Ultimately, royalties is a good thing for clients. It means you don't get paid unless your promos are kicking ass.

I haven't done a deal without royalties in quite some time now, and most copywriters I know are the same.

-Daniel

P.S. To charge royalties (and have it pan out for you), you have to be good at what you do. That means working your butt off... devouring every control you can find (my swipe is over 16 GB at this point)... and constantly pushing yourself to do your absolute best with ever letter.

Go hard or go home, I say.

[ 2 ] Thanks
1 reply

Signature

Always looking for badass direct-response copywriters. PM me if we don't know each other and you're looking for work.

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7923530].message }}

Jeremey

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Daniel Scott

Point being, if you can write good copy, you should be able to get royalties. Even if it's only at a couple of %.

This doesn't even take into account deals with entrepreneurs as opposed to major mailers. I've gotten royalties as high as 20% (though that was for an infoproduct where costs are lower).

A friend of mine nailed 10% gross on a supplement product, which I though was pretty impressive.

Ultimately, royalties is a good thing for clients. It means you don't get paid unless your promos are kicking ass.

Hey Daniel!

I've seen "royalties" and "commission" or "percentage of sales" kind of used interchangeably around these parts...all meaning the writer gets a percentage of the gross sales of a product...

That's what you mean by "royalty," right?

In my background, "royalty" means something completely different - if you are truly getting a "royalty" from your writing, that means like a song or a TV performance, you are getting paid a fixed amount every time your work is used (regardless of sales).

A "commission" deal would be a % of gross sales on the back-end, which is what I assumed this kind of arrangement would be.

I only ask because I always assumed when Bencivenga talked about "royalties" with regard to direct mail, he meant literally, he was paid a certain statutory amount for every copy of the piece that was sent out. Now I am not sure if he really meant that he structured deals to get paid "true" royalties, or if he actually meant that he got paid a commission-type deal for his work.

Anyone who's familiar with Bencivenga's work that can clarify?

Sorry if that seems needlessly complex...

Thanks
2 replies

Signature

Is Your Copy Jumpin', Jack?

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7923675].message }}

ewenmack 11 years ago

Here's an example that's still being mailed from 2009.

In which case Carline Anglade Cole is still getting paid for every
piece sent.

If you look at her portfolio and see how long the mailings have been running,
you could say she is doing very nicely thank you very much!

Best,
Ewen
- Thanks
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7923970].message }}

Daniel Scott

11 years ago

Jeremey,

Yeah, I meant gross sales.

AFAIK Bencivenga was paid "commissions", though I could be wrong.

Some copywriters have "licensing" deals, where they're paid per piece sent out... generally (I believe) 1 - 3 cents a piece. Doesn't sound like much until you realize 1% of 500k pieces is 5k, and major mailers can mail to millions of names...

Having said that, it's a little different in the music industry because there are lots of ways music's used that doesn't directly generate revenue. Hence why they're paid every time the work is used.

In our profession, ever time our work is used, we should be making sales... because it's direct response advertising.

If you were a brand manager or something it might be different.

-Daniel

Originally Posted by Jeremey

Hey Daniel!

I've seen "royalties" and "commission" or "percentage of sales" kind of used interchangeably around these parts...all meaning the writer gets a percentage of the gross sales of a product...

That's what you mean by "royalty," right?

In my background, "royalty" means something completely different - if you are truly getting a "royalty" from your writing, that means like a song or a TV performance, you are getting paid a fixed amount every time your work is used (regardless of sales).

A "commission" deal would be a % of gross sales on the back-end, which is what I assumed this kind of arrangement would be.

I only ask because I always assumed when Bencivenga talked about "royalties" with regard to direct mail, he meant literally, he was paid a certain statutory amount for every copy of the piece that was sent out. Now I am not sure if he really meant that he structured deals to get paid "true" royalties, or if he actually meant that he got paid a commission-type deal for his work.

Anyone who's familiar with Bencivenga's work that can clarify?

Sorry if that seems needlessly complex...

And BTW... Carline is a freaking genius. Her knowledge of supplement writing has been a freaking goldmine for me. Definitely worth checking out her stuff if anyone hasn't already.

Thanks

Signature

Always looking for badass direct-response copywriters. PM me if we don't know each other and you're looking for work.

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7924005].message }}

moreymcmb

11 years ago

Why don`t you try Fiverr or other Freelance websites!?

Thanks

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7938981].message }}

How do you turn copywriting into a residual income model?

Trending Topics

Any thoughts on golf's latest phenom...Scottie Scheffler??

Infographic: How B2B marketers on LinkedIn can maximise their efforts for better audience reach

What's the Best IM-Related Skill to Learn Today That Can Help in the Future?

best high quality crypto traffic.

Some interesting stats about brand comms