Choosing a writer
If you’re planning to pay someone to write some copy, remember that you’re hiring a craftsperson and what matters is their craft skills. CVs are largely irrelevant.
Read their work
Whether or not they’re currently working as a writer matters not; they should be writing.
If your potential writer is already working in the commercial field, take time to read a wide variety of their stuff.
If they’re not currently employed as a writer, read what they’ve written: blogs, stories, song lyrics, whatever.
Writers write. Many really good ones are pretty hopeless at talking about it. Many don’t have degrees in English or anything else.
Judge the words not the waffle.
Give a copy test
Ask them to write a short piece for you. 200 words about what they had for dinner; a Google ad for your firm; a web page about their favourite writer - the subject matters little.
Get them to submit the copy test before you shortlist for interview.
You’ll see quickly who writes most engagingly, and who bothers to invest the effort in doing so.
Check references
If they’re already working as a writer, make a couple of calls just to check that they actually wrote the samples they’re offering you.
If in doubt
Choose the person who’s interested in your business, who asks intelligent questions and who goes out of their way to comment on your existing copy.
Journalists are usually a pretty good bet. They know how to structure a story and they understand the rules covering ‘legal, decent, honest and true’.
They’re also used to being quick and to writing in an environment that’s both noisy and full of interruptions.
Writers who’ve spent time writing ads are often pretty good at being succinct and at summarising a point in an engaging way.
Writing Google ads and direct mail (electronic or paper) are good disciplines for writers. Both enable you to measure instantly just how appealing your words are.