What's the Scoop on Copywriting (in Taiwan)?

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
#1

The reason why I’m asking these questions is I participated in a market research test yesterday and when it was done the tester thought I should be introduced to the Marketing Manager for the company (a large electronics company.) The manager said she saw my blog (… :laughing:) and asked me if I would be interested in being a copywriter.

My first question is, “What does a copywriter do?” I understand that they write “copy” design to eventually sell a product, but how does this process unfold (anywhere, not necessarily Taiwan specific.)

My second question is “What kind of working environment would a copywriter have in Taiwan?”

My third question is “What is the pay like?”

This is strange to me as, in my youther youth, English was the class I dreaded most. Perhaps nothing will come of this, but I thought it might be an interesting topic anyway.

#2

I read that you could make millions, no, trillions of dollars doing copywriting from the comfort of your own home, without ever having to leave. You could just sit there in your underwear and eat Doritos and play Tekken all day and do a little copywriting every once in awhile. Occasionally you could shift your weight to scratch your netheregions.

It’s the fastest growing, easiest and most lucrative job in the world.

It’s true. I read it somewhere.

#3

Take the job, MTK. Please. I for one will buy ANY product whose documentation uses “FUCK” and “PIMP” in every sentence. :stuck_out_tongue:

#4

Even a pimp like me can’t fucking use the words “fuck” and “pimp” in every sentence. It might average out that way though. :ponder:

#5

Even a pimp like me can’t fucking use the words “fuck” and “pimp” in every sentence. It might average out that way though. :ponder:[/quote]

It’s a fuck of a lot easier than you might think.
Pimp.

#6

Back to the OP’s questions…
Short version is, since there is little competition, it shouldn’t be too tough. No tougher than, say, writing English language teaching stories for magazines. While there might possibly (possibly) be a competent, native-English speaking advertising professional involved, I doubt it; more likely you’d end up reporting to a Taiwanese manager who wouldn’t understand half the English you wrote anyway and who would change your ads to describe all the products as “bringing a precious happy to your life” or something like that. But the pay should be only a bit lower than teaching English, if you don’t take into account that you’d be stuck in an office all day long. Unless you aren’t, that is.

Seriously. People go to university and grad school to become good ad writers in their native languages and countries…the same job advertised by word-of-mouth in Taiwan? :roflmao:

#7

I saw a link on Wikipedia’s copywriter article to a Hong Kong based copywriter. http://mikecatherall.blogspot.com/2006/11/what-does-expat-english-copywriter-do.html He makes it seem like copywriting is all work and no play. Could it really be?