What is the difference between copywriting for marketing communications and copywriting for other fields (such as book copy)?
I specialize in “marketing communications,” which is a specific field, separate from other forms of communications in the marketplace. It includes advertising, sales promotion, direct mail, and many Web sites in short, media where the marketer pays for the space and controls the message. Often, all these are just lumped together as “advertising.” Public relations is arguably a “marketing” communication, but in the practical world they’re separate and have their own specialists. (Small ad agencies may do both, but sophisticated PR takes a specialist.) And then there are corporate communication, technical writing, book publishing, editorial copy, and so on. Many of the same skills are involved, but they are essentially different professions, with different needs and viewpoints.