Free copywriting - but check the conditions

I've often said I'd rather work for nothing than for cheap, and like everyone else in this business I have on occasion given my services for free to a good cause.

Now though, I'm offering to do this for one person or organisation on Twitter. 

What you get is a full half day of my time, which is enough for a campaign letter, a couple of pages of a website, an email or two, a modest flyer, a bit of editing or an ad to go in your local paper. I charge serious professional rates, so this is worth something. Here are the conditions:

1) You're not in it for the money either. You might be a small disability rights group, a campaigning organisation or an animal rescue - that kind of thing.You don't have to be a registered charity but you do have to have a Twitter account.

2) Your budget really is zero. If you have the money to pay a copywriter, please pay a copywriter. We're worth it. 

3) The offer is limited to four hours of my time. Please don't ask me to write an entire website or your annual report.

4) Think of me as a consultant and my work as advice. Don't ask for a re-write if I begin a sentence with 'and'.

That's basically it. You can find out more about me at www.judyolsen.co.uk or follow me on Twitter (@judycopywriter) and requests should be sent to topcopy[at]mac[dot]com. These don't need to be detailed or complicated - just say who you are, what it is you'd like me to write, and whether or not you already have a draft.

Update: There may be a problem with emails triggering Apple's spam filters. So if you send me an email request, please also send me a tweet so I know it's on its way. 

The deadline for requests is being extended so please feel free to apply.

Turning base metal into...more base metal

A recent radio discussion on what to do with all those spare coppers (money, not lazy bizzies) attracted some amazing texts. Apparently, Britain, you simply chuck your surplus pennies in the bin. That's right, there are people who throw away money. Isn't this the ultimate in conspicuous consumption? 'Oh we have all this money, but it doesn't quite suit us so we're going to throw it away.'

It's not hard to imagine. The perfect house. The smudge-free glass doors leading to the sterile garden. The bowl of grubby coinage that poor people may have touched. Nope, just not part of the dream.

True, these are not people who go to the pub, to have crisp notes downgraded into a trouser-full of change. But they don't use public transport and the Daily Mail is delivered, so their opportunities to offload metal money are limited.

Presumably they're also too thick to understand that this is still money, just in its second least appealing form*.

But for the rest of us, help comes from an unexpected quarter. Lord Sainsbury and his ilk have provided us with special machines so we can convert handfuls of smash into acceptable drinking tokens. And here's how.

In the interests of cutting the nation's few remaining jobs, major supermarkets have introduced self-service tills in their smaller outlets. These tills take cash. You can also part-pay in cash and then switch to a card. For small amounts of change, this is the preferred method.

But let's say you want to buy something costing £5, and have accumulated £10 in change. If you have the nerve (and I do) you can feed your £5 into the machine in any combination of coins you happen to have. Then press 'Cancel Payment'. Do you get your rubbish money back in an embarrassing heap of coins that spills on to the floor? You do not. You get proper money, including notes. You can then feed another £5 of change into the machine to complete your purchase.

Unfortunately you are also doing the supermarkets a favour, by giving them loads of change, and saving them the cost of buying it from the bank. But I think we can live with that.

* Rupert Murdoch or George Osborne, your choice.