Words That Sell

But becoming a stay-at-home mother, and then moving abroad, changed all that. With another baby on the way, Mel gave up the advertising world, retrained as a reflexologist, and focused her attention on settling her family into Luxembourg for her husband's expat assignment.

Not actively seeking work abroad, Mel later met a magazine editor in Luxembourg who needed some articles about health food shops (he thought an ex-advertising executive turned alternative therapy practitioner would be perfect for the task) and Mel became a feature writer for his magazine.

Now back in the UK, Mel credits her Luxembourg work experience for motivating her to start Words That Sell (her copywriting business) and to write her first book (Flicks & Clicks: How to Create Websites and Catalogues That Sell More).

Mel: After repatriating, I started to do some ad hoc copywriting jobs – but it was still more of a hobby that I was being paid for, rather than a serious business. That changed however, when in 2005, I went on a course funded by the European Union (EU) to encourage women's enterprise. That course helped me to better visualize how I could turn my hobby into a real business.

Later that year, I set up my own copywriting business – specializing in retail home shopping. In 2008, I hired a team of writers to help me. Now in 2011, I have just put out my first book. It has been an exciting ride.

Expat Women: What do you like about being an entrepreneur now?

Mel: Being an entrepreneur allows me to always try the 'next thing' that seems just slightly out of reach. It means I am never bored. It also means that I can combine satisfying work with the needs of my children. I am loving where I am in my life right now.

Mel: Setting up my business was easy, as it really fell into my lap. I started writing for a magazine, which led to me writing for a new home shopping company, which led to me writing for another one. The difficulties came more when I expanded and got my own team of writers.

With the first two projects I made some of the classic mistakes of start-ups: under pricing and over trading. The first project that I did with my team was for about 600 electrical products. It was huge, and I was dealing with a brand new team of writers. I had no idea about project management, and spent days trying to track down which pieces of copy had been briefed/revised/sent/invoiced and so on. I did not charge enough either – so although it was a lot of work, neither I, nor my writers, made much money from it. They were brilliant and all bar one of them stuck with it, assuring me that they loved the experience despite being so badly paid! I promised them that I would never ask them to work for so little ever again.

Around the same time I took on another project for a prestigious UK home shopping catalogue. I was so over-stretched by trying to run both projects that I was working until 1am, night after night, and the quality of the work suffered. The copy arrived on time, but spelling mistakes slipped through, the tone of voice was not always correct for the brand, and there were too many clichés. I regret that we under-delivered and needless to say, I have not picked up another contract from them. However, I learned a lot from it, and now have the resources and structure to deliver a quality service.

Mel: My writers are all over the world (although mainly in the UK) and they all work remotely. Initially, I placed an advertisement in the local paper and ran a training course for successful applicants who passed a copy test. Three of them are still with me today, three years on, and we meet up once a year for a Christmas celebration meal. Another writer is someone I trained when she worked for one of my clients. She moved to New Zealand and set up her own copywriting business, and occasionally writes for me.

Now I tend to get writers approaching me, and if they pass the copy test, I will always consider them for projects. Different writers have different skills and part of my job is to find the right person for the right project. Everything is done by phone, Skype and email and I have just started using Google Documents – which is perfect for big collaborative team projects. For example, we have just completed a big project writing web content for 250 toys and games for a retail website. I had eight writers working on it over the course of five weeks, and Google Documents really smoothed the project management side and logistics.

Expat Women: Mel, let's switch focus now to the recent successful launch of your first book: Flicks & Clicks: How to Create Websites and Catalogues That Sell More. What inspired you to write your book?

Mel: I wanted to be seen as the expert in my field – and writing a book is one of the best ways to achieve that. Flicks & Clicks was only published in March, and already it has raised my profile as one of the UK's leading copywriters, as well as opened up new opportunities.

But I was also inspired to help people by providing a central resource that would be of real use to large and small Internet retailers. I felt I had some unique things to say about copywriting, and how to make a successful website or catalogue. For example there is a lot of science and psychology behind where photos and captions should be placed. Something as simple as moving a headline or changing the wording can increase sales dramatically, but there was not a textbook showing how to do it. 

Expat Women: How long did you take to write your book?

Mel: The book took nine months to write, and six months to edit and work with the designer – although I had been planning the book for several years. It was a really intense experience and far more all consuming than I could ever have imagined.

When I started writing, I did not have a publisher keeping me accountable, so I had to be very self-motivated to force myself to sit down and write. Then when I had finished my first draft, I thought I was nearly finished, but in reality I was less than half way through – the editing stage seemed to go on forever. I was exhausted when it was done, but I have since spoken to other authors and learned that my experience was "normal".

When I first saw the printed copies it was a very satisfying moment, but what really took me by surprise was the excitement of seeing my book on Amazon. It was such a huge adrenaline rush. I kept typing 'Mel Henson' into the search box again and again just to see the words pop up saying, 'Mel Henson in books'!