I know that the phrase “Content is the King” has gotten very cliché. But in the age of Netflix and Prime, content is the only factor that makes your work stand out. Still, content writing as a profession remains underrated because apparently, anybody can throw a bunch of words and, voila, you have the content for your website or your script. Well, that is your perspective but the work that goes in the process is deeper than the Bermuda Triangle.
“What? How hard could it be? You just have to frame sentences, copy-paste stock photos or shoot a video on an iPhone.” In simpler words, you just proved that you are an amateur.
Let’s try to help you understand the more technical aspect of this profession.
I. Photography-
Be it a script, blog, story, poetry, or a gallery, the visuals that are added have to be authentic and aesthetic. The picture you add can be shot on a smartphone or on a DSLR. It depends on what piece of technology is available or provided to you. It is fair that you don’t need a high-end camera to capture a nice photo but professional shoots require professional equipment.
The cost of such shoots depend on-
- What does the client want?
- What are they willing to pay?
- What format do they want like JPEG?
- Where is it to be published?
- Editing
- What equipment is provided like a Smartphone or a DSLR?
- Models
- Studio Space
II. Video Content-
This includes all aspects of a video- filming, animation, editing, VFX, etc. People find video content similar to photography content but it is more complex because the equipment required is really heavy and expensive. This is just the hardware, but the software required is complicated and charge exorbitant rates. Artists spend a heavy amount of money for learning these skills and purchasing the software.
The factors that affect the cost of creating video content are similar to photography content in addition with-
- Editing Software
- Editing Hardware
- Shooting Equipment
- Actors/Models
- Scripting
- Sound Equipment
- Music
- Animations
- Set Design
III. Blogs-
It’s high time that people understand the difference between a blog and an article. A blog is a short piece of content which is more like an opinion of the person writing it, it is self-published and requires a little or no research. Whereas, an article is a very long piece of content, which is more sophisticated, requires a lot of research and is published by the magazine or the organization you are working for.
Factors affecting the cost of a blog-
- Research
- Proofreading
- Editing
- Drafting
- Paid Images
- Interviews
- Adding authentic quotes
- Accessing Research Papers
IV. Illustrations-
Illustrations are not optional but mandatory for any business or organization. It could be a drawing, sketch, logos, original image, etc. They make your content, whether it is a poster or an advertisement, attractive and intriguing. Since the word sketching has been used, people misinterpret it as a sketch made on paper with a pencil. But the fact is, the more creative a design, the more complex the process and the technology gets.
Yes, we don’t need only a paper and a pen for this; hence the factors that affect the cost are numerous-
- Software
- Hardware like pen tab and mouse
- Graphics tablet
- A scanned version of the sketch
- Storyboarding
- Type of graphics (raster or vector)
- Workshops with the client
- It utilizes one’s intelligence, education and critical-thinking skills
Writing well, however, is a challenging thing to do. Good writing comes from the painstaking process of being a sort of expert in using one’s language. Writing is an augmentation of one’s speech, an ally of communication, one that indicates one’s intelligence. It utilizes one’s ability to contemplate and dissect relevant information for a purpose. It is the result of reading, comprehending and contemplating information and it combines one’s own capacity for retaining information for them to communicate at the most effective level possible.
Let’s stop perceiving these professions as only creative fields but also equally competitive as other nine to five jobs. Let’s be honest and agree that no business can survive without the help of these professionals. And next time if somebody asks you “Oh! What is it that you do professionally because this is not a job but just a hobby?” Send them here.
