A great writer is much more than just their writing

This might be an odd thing for a professional writer to say, but here goes:

Being good at writing isn’t particularly valuable as a skill. There are many, many people who can do it. AI can do it. (Sort of. Debatably.)

When I look at how I’m described by clients who’ve been delighted with my work, I see recurring themes, and a lot of them aren’t about writing at all:

1. I dig. I get down into the details of every client and every brief before I get to work. 

“He asks the right questions and digs into the detail to make sure he’s giving clients the best possible results.”

“He asks the right questions, challenges you in all the right ways and really gets under the skin of your brand.”

“He fits our philosophy – always probing, asking questions and wanting to understand the brief before he gets started.”

2. I see feedback as collaboration, not criticism.

“A keen listener, he would ensure he had fully understood what we were looking for and also responded positively to any feedback I had for him.”

“As a writer, he got me immediately, he is totally up for feedback and works around the clock to get you the best content that he can.”

“He also hardly needs any babysitting, and he’s great at taking feedback (although we hardly ever have very much for him).”

3. I make my clients’ and colleagues’ lives easier.

“While at The Writer, you’d hear the project managers rejoicing when they heard he was available for their work. I’d hear fellow writers saying: ‘Oh, yes! I’m working with Matt. This is going to be a breeze!'”

“Always responsive, always delivered. A pleasure to work with.”

“Working with Matt was a breeze.”

4. I keep the big picture in mind and look for ways to deliver more.

“Matt’s no writing-bot; he’ll test the system he’s writing about, ask good questions on calls, and suggest ways to improve quality and save time.”

“He takes a fresh approach to every job; asking intelligent questions, doing some brilliant big-picture thinking and dealing with knock-backs like a duck does water off its back.”

“He makes projects easy by delivering exactly what’s asked of him and usually a lot more.”

5. I’m a social butterfly.

“Pairing total professionalism with a great sense of humour, he’s a pleasure to work with.”

“You couldn’t hope to meet a nicer chap.”

“He’s fast and efficient, and you’re also guaranteed a giggle.”

Here are some projects I’ve worked on in the past

My bigger clients’ names are often confidential, and the end product is often covered by an NDA. But here are some examples I can share:

• I co-created a brand new tone of voice for the London book publisher, Wonderbly. They were making the leap to from kids books to all kinds of books, so their brand needed an overhaul. Co-leading a small team, I dug deep into the brand’s values and virtues with workshops and writing experiments. The result was a new writing style that kept the magic of childhood but also charmed an older audience.
• I wrote and edited an innovation report for KAUST – a Saudi tech and science university with progressive, environmentally conscious values. They had some exciting projects to report on, but the language was all very…sciencey. I interviewed the project leaders to find out about everything from turtle conservation to algae bioengineering. I located the human elements in every project, simplified the language and gave the whole report a unifying theme.
• I created tone of voice guidelines for the housing association, Abri. The organisation had sprung into existence after a merger, and they needed clear, friendly tone with a bit of a twist to make them stand out. As part of a two-consultant team, I got to know them in-depth and crafted the tone of voice their 1,500+ employees now use across the entire organisation. 
• I worked on a massive letter rewrite for the Nursing and Midwifery Council. When I say massive, I mean ‘150,000 words in three months’ massive. I teamed up with Marianne at IdeasEtcetera and worked as senior writer and consultant. Against very intimidating deadlines, we got the whole job done and went on to help NMC with their training and campaigns.
• I wrote packaging and web descriptions for a new range of hair, fragrance and shower products for a huge men’s cosmetics brand. Unless you live in an igloo, you can probably find that very range at your local supermarket.
• I was on a team of three writers that reworked a bid for a £10m per year audit contract with one of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies. Sure enough, our client won that bid. I worked with The Writer on that job, and I’ve got a recommendation from them on my ‘what my clients say’ page. With The Writer, I’ve also written for some of the UK’s biggest banks, utility companies and cosmetics brands.
• I wrote the web copy and tone of voice guidelines for Elysian. They’re the type of consultancy that would’ve previously been called a recruitment firm. But they do so much more than that. They’re brimming with talent, passion and creativity – I crafted the tone of voice to help them get those qualities across in everything they write.
• I did some huge letter rewrites for Arun District Council. The benefits letters they were sending to elderly customers were about as friendly and readable as a metaphysics dissertation. After the MPC treatment though, those letters sound like they were written by a friendly human – with a nice, clear structure and good ol’ plain English.
• I edited a report for City, University of London, reflecting on the achievements of their Centre for Food Policy. It’s 30 pages and 15,000 words long – quite a beast. I worked on this for Fabrik Brands, whose design work is gorgeous.
• I’ve written CVs for an endlessly diverse list of professionals – from content marketers and HR consultants to head chefs and software sellers. Even among top pros, CVs tend to be impersonal, buzzwordy and bland. When you write them with clarity, personality and a sense of story, the results can be pretty spectacular.
• I regularly ghost-wrote blogs for GameAnalytics and JoyPac – two jolly fine groups of people who help mobile game developers reach the top of the app stores.
• I edited an aerospace brochure for one of the world’s biggest aluminium manufacturers. You know you’ve got an awesome job when you get paid to write about spaceships.