We recently connected with Zane York and have shared our conversation below.
Zane, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to start by getting your thoughts on what you are seeing as some the biggest trends emerging in your industry.
Since the turn of the century, there is no industry which as undergone more of a metamorphosis than journalism. From the sensationalism and reality-TV driven news reporting, to the advent of smart phones, social media and new forms of citizens journalism in Reddit, TikTok, etc., the way in which people get their information has completely changed. And now, with Artificial Intelligence entering the fold, the biggest trend I am seeing from my clients is their desire to use AI for a more affordable marketing model. When it comes to corporate writing for example, writing landing pages, social media posts, and SEO style blogs, these used to be the cornerstones of a freelance copywriter’s gig – and after years of working alongside software to boost google keywords and search engine optimization, outlets, brands and corporations are automating these intellectual jobs for a fraction of the price. While, larger journalistic outlets understand true storytelling and the written communication necessary to have an authentic voice comes from real writers, many of the original avenues emerging writers would use to get their foot in the door are dissolving. Why would you pay a writer $100 for an article when you can achieve the same SEO result with ChatGDI for $4? Some writers have taken a cyborg approach and work alongside AI tools to craft better interview questions, better copywriting or even transcription services, but I am worried we have turned the corner on the corporate writing model which will leave less and less space for writers to achieve a livable income.
Zane, 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?
In the past I have left comments on Instagram posts where businesses and brands offer “How To Get Started As A Freelance Writer” with the invitation to message me anytime for free information on how I got started. I still get direct messages to this day and my message over the years is relatively the same. I began by scavenging the pages of Craiglist for paid writing gigs, something I still check to this day, and eventually stumbled upon a website offering a pay-per-click compensation. Essentially, per 1000 clicks on my article, I would be rewarded $7. While the compensation was essentially a scam, I was given free CMS training (content management systems like wordpress) and published 25 articles in two weeks. These articles were from trending google topics, a precursor to SEO, and it taught me the value of a viral article. That being said, what is important here is that I had published articles from a .com website that I could use to build my portfolio. From there, I started to email websites with links to my published work and this got me a few more gigs and more additions to my portfolio. In addition to building my portfolio, I started my own blog surrounding my passion of skateboarding. This is where things really started to click for me, as I knew writing about my passions brought out my best writing. This is something you hear a lot in our industry – find your niche. My niche is skateboarding and eventually I started sending out my skate blog instead of my portfolio to skate outlets until I landed my first full time job writing in skateboarding. Essentially, having my own blog allowed me to really hone my own voice and write without someone looking over my shoulder. It also taught me while corporate writing can be the financial back bone to my writing career, to never stop pursuing writing about the passions that brought out my best work. Today, I can look back on my career and say I am proud I have more than just corporate writing but actual real forms of journalism that have made a difference in people’s lives. I’ve interviewed Palestinian skateboarders on introducing skateboarding to a nation under military occupation, I’ve interviewed BLM protest leaders from the Black Skaters Matter movement in Southside Chicago, I’ve sat down with Olympic Pro Skaters and their mental health battles while guest editing a print magazine – all of these things which behind the scenes are held up by corporate writing work that paid the bills. I am most proud of these pieces that kids have used my name as a cited source in their school papers and I want my potential clients and followers to know I’ve done everything in my power to be authentic and true. Sometimes it’s a trip to remember I’ve had some articles of mine read by thousands even millions of skaters, and one day I hope to be even more a service to those ideas, people, and truths that need a voice to come to light.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
This is a particular interesting question to ask a full time freelance writer because it’s one of those things that sounds obvious and impossible at the same time. For me, every start of the new year of whenever I feel a lull in my clientele, I commit myself to reaching out to 100 people via email. I begin with a google sheet and start copy and pasting emails and their outlet names and craft emails for each one sharing my profile and links to published work. Right now, this has mostly been in skateboarding, art and music, cannabis, beer and wine, and health outlets looking for blogwriting or copywriting. This has been nearly the single most effective way for me to get new clients.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
The single hardest thing that non-creatives would struggle to understand (or even the other side of my spirit) is how I am at my core not motivated by money. Of course I have to survive in a capitalist society and I enjoy the finer lifestyle of eating well, having fun with loved ones and taking care of my friends and family. But I have never been able to comprehend the idea of working for a wage or working for someone else. I am afraid I identify with our founding revolutionist fathers who argued wages were the original form of slave [sic] labor. For how can an hour of my time be worth $8.50? That was the going minimum wage when I turned 16 and was able to work. I spent nearly all my time filming skateboarding as a sponsored skater and then being dedicated to college/skating instead of working. In fact, the whole reason I became a professional writer was because I needed a way to make money in college and I knew I loved to write and was above average at the craft of writing thanks to my Philosophy training. That being said, even if I wasn’t paid to write, I would still write (and I still writing everyday no matter what). I am a writer in my soul, a journalist, a philosopher, artist, photographer, musician. And the only assurance I need is that in order for me to live a happy life, I am compelled to do these things. I don’t need my bank account to affirm or dictate my existence on planet earth.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zaneyorkfly/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zane-foley-a4856a65
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@zaneshredz
- Other: https://www.redbull.com/us-en/tony-hawks-pro-skater-soundtrack
Image Credits
Josie Elle Photography