Q: Is a commercial writer responsible for doing the layout and graphic design as well?
A: ONLY the writing. As I tell people all the time, I’m living proof that you really need to know very little about design to make it as a writer. In my nearly 13 years in the business, I’ve run into, maybe, two people, who did both well. Clients don’t expect it.
Sure, if you know you’re only going to be dealing with small and relatively undemanding (aesthetically speaking) clients, and you want to learn some basic design to be able to lay out simple brochures, newsletters, and ads, fine. Knock yourself out. If, however, you’re planning on playing in a larger market, with bigger clients, don’t bother. You’d be much better off forging alliances with good, established graphic designers, and working together to bring “turnkey” (a.k.a. “end-to-end”) solutions to your prospects than trying (futilely, I might add…) to compete with these often-20-year-plus veterans.
I recently mentored a couple starting a commercial writing business and they excitedly told me that were planning on getting up to speed on graphic design (which they‘d be learning from scratch) so they could be a total solution for their clients. And my response was, “Why? Why would you want to put yourself through this?”