Since going freelance five years ago, I’ve struggled to give myself a title. I usually say I’m a “freelance content writer and editor,” which I hope conveys:
- I work on project-by-project basis
- I write content, AKA online stuff, not books. If I just say “I’m a writer,” people always ask: ooh, like novels?
- I also edit things.
But even if I called myself a copywriter or digital marketer or other titles that overlap with my work, they wouldn’t quite be right. When you hire me to write a blog post, newsletter, or even a grant application, I’m not just offering a writing service.
There’s more writing than writing, so I’ll outline that here.
3 extra services your content writer provides
Writing is really just thinking with a pen. Ink to paper, fingers to keys, when you’re writing, you are thinking. You are clarifying thoughts and ideas, making them digestible for the person who’s eventually going to read them.
It’s why writing is such an involved process, and why the content writer you hired is really doing a lot more than just stringing words together. Here’s what else they offer:
1. Research & fact-checking
“But can’t AI also research?”
No, it can’t. Because it just pulls things from the Internet without verifying the legitimacy of the source. It hallucinates things and makes it up. It does not ensure numbers are backed up by verified studies and stats.
Case study: I was writing an article about the state of dental care across the world. Someone sent me some information generated by ChatGPT about the “10 countries with the worst oral health,” showing that we were operating in half of them. I went to dig deeper into the stats that supported this and found nothing to support those specific 10 countries. I found other data published by the WHO that let me create a new list based on real data to showcase the need for our work. The ChatGPT info was helpful to get started, but not sufficient to publish a document with real information.
Writers also research. Good writers research well.
2. Editing & proofreading
“But can’t AI also edit and proofread?”
Kind of. I’ve previously talked about why Grammarly was a good, but not always good enough, tool for editing and proofreading. Since writing that, AI has grown and developed, and there are even more tools to use.
The truth remains: AI writes and edits like AI, no matter how well you prompt it to write in your voice. It cannot make the subjective decisions of when to break grammar rules for sake of style, tone, and voice.
For big projects, I definitely recommend hiring an editor or proofreader to really polish your work, but writers are also able to self-edit their work, making sure it’s clean, correct, and — most importantly — sounds like you.
3. Feedback & experience
“But can’t AI give me feedback?”
Yeah, it can.
I think it’s just about who you want feedback from. AI is a robot that’s been fed information about what it’s like to be a human and told “this is how humans write, think, and create.” It gives you feedback in two seconds based on what its developers have algorithmized it to say.
I’m a human. I care about the clients I work with, I care about what I’m writing for them. I think about what I want to communicate before I do. I want a collaborative long-term relationship, so I’m motivated to do my best work for them. I give feedback on what I think will and won’t work for a piece of writing based on what I know about them, the industry, the online landscape, and writing best practices. I bring not just my writing experience, but my living experience to inform a piece of writing.
It’s not that MY specific feedback and experience is right for all clients, but our collective feedback and experience as humans offers a lot more than AI ever could.
But it’s truly your choice.
If you have a writing project or think you could use a content writer on your team, but aren’t sure how that would work, let’s chat.
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