Copywriter/ journalists - how long would it take you to research, plan & write c. 700 words?

[fluffyhamster]

I mostly work as a business consultant (marketing in a fairly specialist area), however have been contributing to a client-side industry website as a blogger/ occasional contributor. It helps me as it keeps my name at the top of Google in my field, and directs people to my website.

I used to do it on an occasional basis for free, but the company have asked me to do a monthly piece of about 700 words, for which they would pay me.

I suspect that as I've not trained as a journo/copywriter I am somewhat inefficient, and would need to brush up my skills/speed.

Can you tell me how you go about getting ideas/ planning/ drafting and writing up articles on a regular basis, and how long would it take you to knock out 700 words do you reckon?

depends what it was about but 700 words is not a lot.

If it was an interview with maybe one or two people and then writing it up I would say about half an hour to do the interviews and about 2-3 hours to write it.

That's generous for me but then I am used to writing with quick turnaround (ie for newspapers).

700 words is not very much, no.

If it was not an interview ie I had to research it... well... depends really.

If I needed to write an opinion piece (ie my opinions) of 700 words it would probably take me an hour or two.

If I needed to read up on t'web etc to get the info then at least a day.
HTH

Thanks for these.

They would be opinion pieces, but based on some facts/research rather than just conjecture, so I'd need to have an idea then develop it, so yes, do some extra research.

I think I would probably faff about and it would take me longer than half a day.... that's why I need to speed up!

How do you plan/ arrange your ideas? Do you use anything like mind maps or just mull over scribbled notes for a few days and then write up etc?

Use whatever technique works for you. You shouldn't feel you have to adopt someone else's approach but do plan your ideas and information according to what is going to be of most interest and greatest relevance to the readers. If you were the reader, what would you want to read?

You'll be surprised how quickly you use up 700 words so you need to be very clear about what you want to achieve with each article? For each one, begin with the end in mind and that will help you organise your thoughts and decide what to put in and what to leave out. This applies whether you are aiming to be informative, entertaining or controversial.

Good luck. I'm sure you will find each month's piece is easier and quicker to plan and write than the last.