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
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