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Coffee and a Writer

An interview with Gurtis Foreman

Dana Bidnall, OP Contributor

hen I contact Curtis Foreman

to set up an interview, he tells

me he’s pretty much making
his own hours these days, and should be
able to spare an hour or so away from the
office. When we meet mid-afternoon at a
downtown coffee shop, he’s wearing jeans
and a fleece sweater. When I ask if this is
his regular business attire he says, “Oh,
yeah,” sounding a bit surprised that I
asked. His latte arrives at the bar first, its
foam artistically shaped into a heart. “Too
pretty to drink,” he says, and pulls out his
cell phone to take a picture of the steam-
ing cup.

Foreman is a writer with an internet
marketing company called, ironically, The
Internet Marketing Center (IMC). We met
through email almost a year ago when he
was doing some freelance writing for a
local magazine, and I was interning as an
editor. Through small talk, he told me
about his day job as an editor. He had
then been at IMC for about six months,
and told me the company seemed to be
hiring writers and editors every few
months. Sensing my interest, he suggested
I keep in touch.

Foreman grew up in Powell River, BC.
His mom is a teacher and his dad, a librar-
ian. “It was a pretty literate house,” he
says. “There were piles of books every-
where.” Although interested in writing, it
never occurred to him to pursue it. He
went to UBC and got a BA in English and
a B.Ed. “My needs were being met at the
time. I was reading and writing.” He got a
job teaching high-school English, but
soon found the job consumed his life—
lots of marking and preparing lesson
plans. Describing the job, Foreman says,
“Too much talking, not enough writing.”
About a year and a half into the job, he

got out.

At The Word On The Street Book &
Magazine Fair, he saw a booth for the
Editors’ Association of Canada (EAC).
He quickly joined the organization, and
didn’t waste any time. He volunteered as
Public Relations/Industry Liaison and
for the EAC
newsletter. He says he met tons of people,
and through the EAC, who email their

wrote several articles

got the job at IMC, the first editor the
company had hired. “I pretty much edited
anything. They’d just hand me stuff and
say, “Here, edit this.”” Only a few months
later,

after an unsuccessful product
launch, Foreman and a handful of others
were let go. He’d gotten a job as a techni-
cal writer at the Future Shop when about
three months later his old boss at IMC
called and asked if he’d like to come back.

Its obvious Foreman loves his job. When I
ask about his future, he says he sees himself
right where he is

 

members job opportunities, he picked up
a few book-editing jobs. He took advan-
tage of a number of EAC workshops to
hone his editing skills and also offered to
do writing and editing pro bono to build
up his experience.

It was through the EAC that a
posting for a full-time, in-house copyedi-
tor/proofreader came up. He applied and

He did, and hasn’t looked back. He
moved from an editing to a writing posi-
tion within six months.

Describing what IMC does, Foreman
says, “It’s basically the used-car salesman
approach to buying online.” The company
helps small home-based businesses mar-
ket themselves online. Often, these
companies have little to no marketing

 

experience or background, and low budg-
ets. IMC has three newsletters with a
half-million subscribers. “That way, no
one’s getting spam,” he says. IMC sells
courses, seminars, an online magazine,
and other marketing-related materials.
This is where Foreman comes in. He
writes the “content” while different writ-
ers write the sales copy. “The writers that
haven’t survived at IMC are the ones who
can’t get the tone right,’ says Foreman.
“You have to write at, say, a grade-nine
level, without talking down to your audi-
ence.”

Interestingly, some of the writing
Foreman develops is teaching the owners
of small businesses how to write their
own copy. Most things are written to
appear as if the CKO, an American who
started the company out of his basement
in 1994, writes them. While the company
has a small office in Seattle and the CEO
lives in San Diego, the head office is in
With
employees, they have grown incredibly

Vancouver. currently over 80
over the last two years, and show no signs
of slowing down.

It’s obvious Foreman loves his job.
When I ask about his future, he says he
sees himself right where he is. He likes his
co-workers, and they often get together
outside work. This Friday, the company is
going snow tubing at Cypress Mountain.
“Ah, the corporate life,’ he jokes, but
Foreman is not arrogant. Easygoing, pas-
sionate about his job, and feeling lucky to
have been given his “break” almost two
years ago, Foreman is happy to talk to an
aspiring writer. With our coffees long
gone and the afternoon sun fading, he
heads back to his office, and I, to catch
my bus.

 

  

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18 | www.theotherpress.ca

 

FACIAL
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No Drugs!
No Cream!

 

 

March 2/2005