[shanecleveland]

You could keep an eye on Hacker News for developers showing off their projects and spend some time going over their writing/copy, improve one page or section and the show it to them/offer it for free. They may see some value in having you do more or allow you to use them as an example for a "portfolio" or testimonial.

I assume much of this writing/copy will be online, so SEO knowledge will likely be important or something to emphasize.

Copy is often an afterthought, so you would need to develop concrete examples showing how your service is worthwhile.

[ssylee]

You mentioned the need to develop concrete examples showing how rewriting copy is worthwhile. However, even if you're starting out for free, you won't have examples to show for it. How appropriate do you think it is to show other people's examples before doing for free to gather your own examples?

[shanecleveland]

I'm not sure I understand your question. My suggestion is to seek out copy to rewrite by mining projects posted on HN, take the initiative to rewrite it and then present the new copy to the project owner. The project owner can use it as they see fit or not at all. But it may open up doors for actual paid work or at least provide testimonials, references, examples to show potential paying clients and demonstrate some value. Perhaps it won't work. And it may help to prove whether there is a viable market or not.

[angelaenglund]

I like your idea, it's pretty similar to what I've been thinking. I think I see what ssylee is getting at, that it might be a bit weird or rude to just show up with someone's polished up writing without getting their permission first. I'd rather they come to me.

Again, I think it's a good idea. Execution is key here.

[shanecleveland]

Right. I certainly wasn't suggesting to improve and publish someone else's copy without their permission. I meant for you to polish their copy and then approach them with it. Some may see it as weird or rude, but probably not if you broach the subject correctly. You wouldn't want to come of as a comment troll nitpicking minor grammar mistakes. You are doing them a favor – providing your editing and writing services for free. But hopefully they would agree to provide a reference or testimonial, and maybe they would pay you to do more. Execution is key. If clients just came to you, you probably wouldn't be asking.

[mnicole]

This is a great suggestion. Every day I see a Show HN or two that are probably losing potential users due to the lack of product information or overload of it. Today Tent.io falls in the latter category, way too much going on for me to digest at-a-glance. I just want a paragraph-pitch, if that.