How To Become A Contract Copywriter: What It Is and Career Path

What is a contract copywriter and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a contract copywriter. For example, did you know that they make an average of $31.82 an hour? That's $66,179 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 5,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreContract CopywriterUS Average

Salary

5.2

Avg. Salary $66,179

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.2

Growth rate 4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.36%

Asian 5.00%

Black or African American 6.07%

Hispanic or Latino 7.80%

Unknown 5.46%

White 75.31%

Gender

female 60.23%

male 39.77%

Age - 41

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 41

Stress level

6.2

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.4

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.5

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a contract copywriter

Explore contract copywriter education requirements

Most common contract copywriter degrees

Bachelor's

80.7 %

Master's

13.3 %

Associate

3.7 %

Start to develop specific contract copywriter skills

Skills	Percentages
Digital Marketing	19.86%
WordPress	14.52%
SEO	10.96%
Web Content	8.85%
Email Marketing	8.10%

Complete relevant contract copywriter training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New contract copywriters learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a contract copywriter based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real contract copywriter resumes.

Research contract copywriter duties and responsibilities

Manage the proposal lifecycle, including RFP analysis, regular communications, proposal development and production consistent with branding strategies.
Lead interactive copywriting efforts to propel award-winning client projects using strategic content and cohesive design.
Provide messaging strategy and on-target copywriting content that directly support the core business objectives of global corporations and ad agency clients.
Compose and edit biographies for Dudnyk's 30-plus employees.

Prepare your contract copywriter resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your contract copywriter resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a contract copywriter resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable contract copywriter resume templates

Build a professional contract copywriter resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your contract copywriter resume.

Apply for contract copywriter jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a contract copywriter job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do contract copywriters rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Contract copywriter reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on May 2019

Pros

Creative freedom (in the right company) to conceptualise ideas and craft clever word pairings.

Cons

Clients tend to bin the greatest ideas and go with something generic Clients think they are copywriters Colleagues think copywriters only deal with words. Not concepts. The advertising landscape is becoming more visual and interactive so words are playing a smaller role.