Copywriting, rewriting, translating — key differences and where to begin.
What is copywriting
Copywriting is a relatively new term. It comes from the English word "copywriting", which in turn is a combination of the words "copy" — to copy — and "write" — to write. Thus, a synonym for the word "copywriter" could originally be considered "rewriter". However, today this word has a much broader meaning. Copywriters today cannot be considered merely rewriters, and copywriting as a whole is a type of work related to writing texts to order. In addition, copywriting includes several types, and if you wish to engage in this kind of activity, you definitely need to familiarize yourself with each of them.
Rewriting. Most copywriters earn their living from rewriting. Its basic principle is simple — you take a source text and rewrite it in your own words without losing the overall information. In this way, you do not infringe the source's copyright. Rewriting is usually divided into simple and complex. Simple rewriting is, in essence, retelling an article in your own words. Thus you obtain unique content suitable for sale. Complex rewriting is the reworking of several articles into one. Often, experienced copywriters, in order to improve the quality of the text, use several dozen source articles.
Copywriting. This area of work also includes several subtypes: original writing, optimized texts, and exclusive articles. Original writing refers to articles written by their author from scratch. Still, authors of unique articles often use some materials, but unlike rewriting, the authors do not copy those materials; instead, based on their analysis, they write original articles. Optimized text is the creation of an article optimized for search engine queries, that is, with a high density of certain keywords in the text. And finally, writing exclusive articles means creating a unique, authorial text based on one's own experience and materials that have never been published before. Writing such an article requires both analytical abilities and deep knowledge of the chosen topic. This type of copywriting is the most difficult. Prices for unique articles, that is, for copywriting, are higher than for rewriting.
Translation. Well, there's basically nothing to explain here. You take the source material — an article in a foreign language — and translate it. As a result you get a unique article, but in your native language. Prices for translations are lower than for copywriting, but higher than for rewriting.
In conclusion, it should be noted that the optimal approach for a copywriter is a combination of all the types. If you are just starting out, you will need to learn the basic principles and also learn to anticipate what to emphasize when writing a particular article. Copywriting includes many secrets and subtleties; however, that's a topic for another article.