We Need a Speech…

Aside from “how much do you make?” and “how do you find your speaker’s voice?” the question I get most often is “what does it take to become a freelance speechwriter?”

Two starting points to consider

On Craft
When it comes to learning the craft of speech writing the standard advice is to read a lot of speeches. I couldn’t disagree more. You must listen to speeches. Listen to great speeches. You could start by googling famous names in recent history, or “audio clips of famous speeches” and you will find a whole slew of clips. Or you could simply go to the History Channel and poke around there.

And don’t listen just to speeches. Get hooked on audio books. Go to the library and check out CDs of great literature. You get to hear how well crafted sentences sound. You get to hear the music - the rhythm - and the silence between the notes. Don’t read - listen!

On Business
Be a news junkie. Television. Radio. And especially newspapers. They should all be part of your day. As a freelancer you never know what subject you might be writing about next. You need to have a passing knowledge of just about every subject under the sun. It’s ok to be broad but shallow. But you want to be able to ask some reasonably intelligent questions when a potential client phones and wants to talk about a subject you would normally have no clue about. Except that now, news junkie you are, you can do exactly that.

Is this all there is to it? Of course not.

But if you are serious about making a living as a freelance speechwriter, and neither of the two hints above appeal to you, it may be that this is not the best niche for you.

However, if you can see yourself happily listening to audio books now and then, or reading the news every day - or better still you are doing both just for the sheer joy of it - perhaps this peculiar trade might be good fit.

February 20th, 2008
Comments:2 Comments Category: Essential Speechwriter, The Business of...

Some idle thoughts about the freelancing trade we ply.

Those of you who write government speeches are familiar with the term “Check Against Delivery” that goes on the title page of speeches. In the pre-Internet days it was a signal to the media that there might be a difference between the written speech handed out at an event, and the one that was actually delivered. It also allowed the speaker some leeway to deviate from the distributed text as the mood or circumstance might dictate. And there was no electronic version of the speech. Just hard copies handed out to reporters who usually dumped them in the waste basket on their way out the door.

Fast forward to the common practice of government departments, and private sector corporations to post their speeches on their web sites. Question. Which speech is put up on the site? The speech that was signed off on - the one that cleared all the approvals - the safe speech? Or the one that was really given - where the speaker wandered off to unrelated tangents, told inappropriate jokes, or otherwise went off-message?

Sometimes the matter can be of little consequence. But at the very least it can present administrative headaches for the communication team.

On the other hand, it may be that even the speakers themselves don’t want the “as given” speeches up on their web sites. They might have stuck their political feet in their mouths in one fashion or another and in the harsh light of the following day, they might well want the text as-written to go on-line and pray that no one calls them on the difference. Read more…

February 5th, 2008
Comments:1 Comment Category: Dealing with Clients, Essential Speechwriter, The Business of...

If the stock market is crashing and you have no idea of what the American election will do to your bank balance you best give it a little thought. A national election can have unsettling affects on your personal economy, and you just may have to kiss your heretofore established contacts and contracts good bye. Yikes!What we should all be asking ourselves - on a regular basis I might add - is this. How do we avoid becoming road kill on the freelance highway every time a government changes - a multi-national collapses - the Dow Jones dives - or the US dollar takes a beating? Since it is unlikely Lou Dobbs will ever bemoan the outsourcing of speech writing work to India I give you a quick marketing 101 refresher.

Our first dilemma is this. We’ve got a ton of writing samples to show the world as we push our wares anew. But if you have been reading the last few issues of SN, you know the case that has been made for speech writer discretion. In return for good pay, we promise good words and good faith. Faith that we won’t “out” our clients, past or present. So, now what? Read more…

February 5th, 2008
Comments:1 Comment Category: The Business of...

First Ran In 2004
As I listened to the eloquent and elegant words of world leaders in France commemorating the 60th anniversary of D-Day, and to the heart felt eulogies at the passing of President Reagan, I was once again struck by the twilight world that speechwriters live in.

The television pundits waxed poetic on the majesty of the words spoken in tribute - to fallen soldiers and a fallen President. But as is usual, they couldn’t help but make political commentary on how these speeches defined the men or women making them. That’s ok too. But they sometimes talked as if the speakers actually wrote the words themselves. As if they sat down and for hours crafted each turn of phrase, each rhythmic pattern of speech, each uplifting metaphor, and every reference to some time of history past.

Of course that is all stuff and nonsense. Read more…

February 5th, 2008
Comments:No Comment Category: Rants & Raves, The Business of...

Last month I received three very similar e-mails. What they had in common was a disheartened and disheartening plea for advice on how to fix their sagging freelance careers.They were all bright people. They were all more than competent at the services they were offering. Since they had been successful in the past, all had been down the marketing road before and knew the rules. Yet somehow, as their businesses were in a bit of a down period, they were feeling “the fear”. So much so, they were even considering going over to the dark side of corporate employment.

There is not a freelancer alive, yours truly included, who doesn’t go through this from time to time. Every once in a while, a recruiter will approach me, dangling the possibility of a fat paycheck and lifetime benefits, and I am tempted by the siren call of security. Then I think of my stomach. Read more…

February 5th, 2008
Comments:No Comment Category: The Business of...

Pretend for a moment that you were starting over. That you were setting up your writing or consulting business for the very first time. What would you do differently? It’s a brand new world out there. Or is it?If you are slightly fossilized like me, then perhaps when you first hung out your shingle, fax machines were so “de rigueur” that you actually charged your clients for each page you faxed to them. Not for the content, but for the cost of toner! You think I’m joking right? Not so. In the mid-80s I worked for a PR firm that did exactly that. Apparently this was quite common “back in the day” - when email and the Internet were virtually non-existent. And a corporate web site was unheard of, well, because it was unheard of. Read more…

February 5th, 2008
Comments:No Comment Category: Essential Speechwriter, The Business of...