Recently I visited with a prospective client and after describing my work as a publicist, she asked me what other types of writing I do?  This marketing director in a small company said that she was looking for one person who could do every type of writing for her.  I responded by explaining that her wish was one of convenience, that one person doesn’t exist who can do all her writing.

With that statement, she acknowledged having interviewed several writers and couldn’t find one who could do it all.  Her boss, the founder and president of the company, interjected on the topic of product publicity, “maybe you can find one person who can do technical writing, website copy and press releases, but I doubt they’ll be successful at the press releases.  He knew from a previous engagement with me, many years ago, the results of my work.  In fact, he said that I had created so many sales opportunities for him at the time that he wasn’t prepared to handle them all!  Needless to say, this prospective client is now a client!

This situation reminded me of a quote from S.I. Hiakowa, the semanticist and former Senator.  He said, “A cow is not a cow, is not a cow.” In other words, not all cows are the same, even though they are all cows.  So it is true with writers.  Not all writers are the same, even though they are all writers.  A writer is not a writer is not a writer.

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