Bad Writing Skills: A Businesses' Nightmare, a Young Freelancer's Dream.

Online, April 28, 2010 (Newswire.com) - (LONGMEADOW, MA) As reported in The New York Times*, American business is wrestling with the costs of poor writing skills of many of their workers. The May 15, 2005 Times article ("The Fine Art of Getting It Down on Paper" by Brent Staples) pointed out how a competitive business climate is demanding "more high-quality writing from more categories of employees than ever before."

But, that's good news for freelance writers, says Hunter Golden, a Longmeadow-based freelance copywriter; "Good writing is the engine that drives commerce, yet writing skills amongst many American workers are very poor. As companies see the bottom-line costs of this shortfall, it opens up tremendous opportunities for capable freelancers to step in and pick up the slack."

The Times article cited the 2004 report by the National Commission on Writing, which reported that roughly a third of the companies surveyed reported that only one-third or fewer of their employees knew how to write clearly and concisely.

Sweetening the pot even more, says Golden, is the prolific downsizing of the past decade. He explains: "Many companies, of all sizes, are operating leaner than ever, yet good writing is still something that has to get done. Many have steady writing needs and the healthy budgets to outsource those projects - at handsome rates."

"Even with the recent economic downturn, times are good for freelancers," he continued. "Many businesses either can't create an in-house marketing department or can't afford to bring an agency in to help them - but they can afford me."

Sparsely armed with a communications degree, a few dusty samples, and no industry contacts, Golden was paying all his bills through commercial writing in four months. He says, "If you're a decent writer and you dream of getting out of the rat race, working from home and having time for a life, this is a great option."