We were lucky to catch up with Hannah Macready recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hannah, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, let’s start with trends – what are some of the largest or more impactful trends you are seeing in the industry?
The biggest trend, by far, in my industry today is AI content creation. A lot of people are wondering if their jobs are about to become obsolete. Writers who are embracing these tools are concerned that their work will be undervalued, and that their clients will want to pay less, simply because they are using a generative tool. Other writers are scared that their “organically” produced work will be less valuable in an over-saturated AI-content market.
Personally, I think a lot of people are still pretty confused about how these AI writing tools work. Yes, in a sense, you can push a button and write a blog post, but that blog post will be terrible. These generative tools can’t make anything on their own. At least, nothing good.
They really work on inputs. Meaning, you have to feed it accurate and relevant information in order for it to give the same quality back to you. This means, if you’re writing an article or blog post, you need to already understand the topic, know your thesis, and have relevant stats and proof points ready to feed to the machine. Most tools even require you to start writing the first sentence and they will simply complete the thought you already have.
Without these high-quality inputs, you’re never going to get anything worth publishing out of these tools. But, if you can harness and learn how to input correctly, they can be incredibly powerful. I think of it like the sentence-completing tools that already exist in applications like Gmail and Google Docs. It’s less “writing for you” and more “finishing your thought,” which, if done correctly, should speed up production without compromising quality.
What this means to me is that you still need a skilled writer to wield these tools. Yes, tools like Jasper and ChatGPT can generate entire sentences, paragraphs, and essays in minutes. But they can’t come up with ideas. Or conduct research and interviews. They also should never be trusted to deliver accurate information if it wasn’t directly inputted by the writer.
I think right now, there’s still a big divide in the writing community about using these tools, and I get that. Writing is a dedicated art form. A learned skill. And a lot of times, it’s the basis of most of the information we get online – and that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Even if you’re just a blog writer, you have an ethical duty to produce accurate and well-researched content. But, in terms of job security, not knowing how to use these tools could work against writers in the future. Do you have to use them to write? No. But you should have an understanding of how they work so you don’t get left behind.
That said, there should be a commitment among writers to use these tools in a way that best benefits society. That means rigorous fact-checking, plagiarism-checking, and scrutinous editing. This would be easy if it were just writers using these tools, but it’s not. It’s corporations, online salespeople, and various types of hungry money-makers. Can we trust these people to wield these tools fairly? Probably not. And I’m still not sure what that means for our craft.
Hannah, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m a freelance writer, journalist, B2B content marketer, and copywriter. I write regularly for The Globe & Mail, mainly in the realm of tech, social media, advertising, and AI. As a copywriter, I’ve worked with clients like Hootsuite, Amazon, Sprout Social, and more. My skill lies in taking complex topics and distilling them down into approachable copy. On the B2B side, I’ve worked with various technical B2B clients, including lithium refining companies, military engineering firms, insurance underwriters, and more.
Outside of my writing business, I also own and run a digital marketing agency, Brandcamp Digital (www.brandcampdigital.com/). Brandcamp was born out of a desire to use marketing as a force for good in the world. We donate 10% of our profits to help local non-profits and charity organizations optimize their marketing strategies. This basically means that, if a company is doing good in the world but doesn’t have the budget for marketing, we’ll do it for them for free, using a pot of profit we keep for these types of donations. It’s really rewarding, and we’ve been able to help amazing organizations like Special Olympics BC, Autism BC, Ocean Wise, and more.
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
The best source of new clients for me has been my website (www.hannahmacready.com/). It’s a simple site, nothing too fancy. I invested a bit in photography and branding. But what I did right was my SEO. Simple things like naming all images with keywords, ensuring every image has alt text, paying attention to SEO in copy, and consistently updating my site have made it a powerful lead machine.
I haven’t had to do any client outreach in three years because my website does it all for me. It’s really incredible what a website can do if you hone in on your optimization.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I think the thing I’m constantly unlearning as a writer is self-doubt. Writing is a field full of rejection. Though it might seem like I have a lot of accolades, I have at least five rejections for every one acceptance. That number might even be low. A lot of times, I can take rejection on the chin. I understand it’s rarely about quality of work, but rather timing, editorial decisions, and subjectivity. But, there are days when it really seeps into my psyche, and I have to work hard not to let myself give up on this career entirely.
As I’ve said before, the last few years have been great because I haven’t had to do any direct outreach to land clients. But my goal for 2023 is to get published in some more prominent magazines, and have my work on a more global stage. This means pitching. And pitching is the most demoralizing thing I’ve ever done. Set aside the fact that it’s incredibly hard to find fully new ideas in a massive sea of content, but putting something together you think is amazing, only to have it torn apart by an editor you admire; it’s painful.
On days when the rejection feels like quicksand, I have to remind myself that there was a time when I dreamed of my life being what it is now. It can be hard, day by day, to see and appreciate what you’ve already done. Wanting more all the time leads to dissatisfaction with the current moment. To combat this, I try to carve out a little time every day to appreciate myself, my work, and my life. That gratitude can really help dig me out of the mud.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hannahmacready.com/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-macready/
- Twitter: @hannahmacready
- Other: My agency: https://www.brandcampdigital.com/
Image Credits
Patrick Latter, Shannon Elmitt, Sid Baar