Don’t*. (*Caveat’s below).
Writing is like cake. If it's good, people will tell you it's good. If it's bad, people will still smile and tell you it's good... with a pause.
Between the AI hellscape ruining Black Friday and eCommerce and the misunderstanding from peers that we can write 30+ articles per month, it’s not a pretty career prospect. Writing is always going to be one of the first things that’s cut from any budget because everyone writes and communicates in some medium, and the craft turns into a ‘how hard can it be?’ question. This is where we see low-information ramblings from over-involved small-business owners or product managers start to pop up. I research a lot of smaller businesses for my day job, and I’ve seen some very entertaining blog posts and nuggets throughout those websites. Of course, those instances add value to our roles and why the position of 'content writer' is going to continue to be a safe (if not unpredictable) career.
In more recent news, the Sports Illustrated (SI) Writers Union is up in arms over the alleged use of AI-generated writers and articles popping up in one of Sports Illustrated’s domains. The basics are this: an affiliate marketing group pays SI (or the owners of SI) a ton of money to run their articles on one of SI’s websites. These articles are cheap, SEO-heavy “Best xyz of 2023” articles that are loaded with affiliate Amazon links. When a customer buys something from the link, the affiliate group can take home 20% or more of the sale. A talented journalist from the website ‘Futurism’ discovered that this affiliate group was publishing articles using AI-generated words and writers. The news got back to the SI Writers Union, and they are not happy. If you’re interested in reading more about how AI can and will impact content creation and the eCommerce marketplace (and if you find AI threatening to your career, like me), I recommend browsing through Maggie’s articles. She’s a prolific and talented journalist who keeps her finger on the pulse of a (currently) niche spot in the industry.
I find the SI story fascinating relative to my own work. I use AI to generate the basics of articles I publish on a corporate blog, and although I do my due diligence in making sure the AI is inoffensive and factual, it’s not exactly compelling writing. There are no opinions presented, no new news, nothing that would make a reader go ‘huh’ (unless there’s an obvious mistake). It’s boring. Bland. It’s like pouring a cup of distilled water into the ocean. Different? Sure. Noteworthy or impactful? Absolutely not. It’s a huge reason why I write this personal blog, so I can add a little spice during my work week. I do like my job and my peers, though, I promise.
Do I expect I’ll be writing my entire career? Yes. Do I expect to be paid for it for the rest of my life? Not exactly.
What I don’t want to get lost in this blog is the worthwhile dedication to good writing. Decent writing is a joy to read. I don’t want to claim to be putting out great content on every personal or professional blog, but I do try to make my writing as good as possible so that my paycheck and LinkedIn can continue to say ‘copywriter.’ Honing your writing, like being good at anything, takes serious time and a fantastic and patient mentor. And although my current role has me a little too reliant on AI software to review and edit my words, in past jobs, I was lucky enough to spend time with honest and patient human editors. These editors delivered the first few professional jabs to my writing, giving credence to the phrase 'A mistake is only a mistake if you don’t learn from it. ' I’ve got a lot of negative (constructive) feedback behind me, and I’m sure to have lots ahead of me. It comes with the territory.
I recently started paying for Grammarly (a move I regret, their ‘premium’ suggestions clutter my document and aren’t very good), they finally got me after years of offering various discounts. Grammarly says I run ~12k words per week through its software, a large majority of those being published on a corporate blog or website and the others being published to my personal blog (you are here 😊). I feel a little conflicted about relying on an AI to do so much editor work for me, but at the same time, I recognize that it’s made me a better writer. I wouldn’t recommend any aspiring writer use Grammarly to completely craft their words, but it will deliver more precise, lower-level content that is easy for just about anyone to read.
It’s hard to have a strong opinion on AI involvement in my work. On one hand, I see it as a crutch I can lean on to create copy for topics that are as bland as a Mormon’s oatmeal. On the other, I see it squeezing the professional writer’s market even further, allowing a single person to do the work of 3 or 4 (without a ton of extra effort) in addition to removing some of the creative process from content professional’s work. Most of my creative writing happened with Backcountry.com and Eddie Bauer, where I was tasked with coming up with new, organic words to describe products to our customers. Though I like to think most of it was good, a lot of what I wrote was clunky, bad, and sometimes factually incorrect. An AI system won’t do the latter (usually), but it won’t do the former, either. Give it a shot, write a 75-word product description about a technical piece of clothing or footwear you own, and then ask ChatGPT to do the same thing. Feel the lifeless (but not incorrect) words flowing from the content generator, then notice the same words all over the internet, on everything you touch or click. Next time you see some good, potentially mistake-laden writing on the internet, I think you’ll appreciate it. Try to avoid the “best xyz…” articles outside of the discovery phase for product purchases, and instead search for reviews from reputable websites with real creators doing valuable work on specific, niche products. It’s a little harder than clicking and buying the ‘best budget option’ from the affiliate website Google sent you to, but giving yourself some extra time and thought can prevent buyers’ remorse or uniformed decision making. Just my $.02.
So, what I’m really saying is that if you’re trying to write for a living, be an investigative journalist. I want your opinions (along with good, organic writing), and AI can’t report on news that hasn’t been opinionated yet.
*If you are currently trying to find a content writing gig, please don't be disheartened (like me). Your unique work and words are and will be increasingly valuable as more and more uninspired content is pushed into the ether.
Comments