About Me
Hi! Now that you’ve stumbled across The Yellow Typewriter, you’re (hopefully) wondering just what this mysteriously-monikered website is all about! Luckily for you, this is the right place to discover just that…
What, and indeed who, is The Yellow Typewriter?
The Yellow Typewriter is the digital home of Shane Roberts (that’s me!), a content writer and editor with a wealth of experience and a proven track record in the field. That field - crafting and producing copy that works, engages, sells and informs - can sometimes prove a difficult one to plough, but I’m the farmer for your needs. Or something.
Finding my field
Hailing from Spalding, Lincolnshire in the UK (a place of farms, factories and, yep, fields), I made my way to New Zealand armed with an M.A. in Creative Writing and a B.A. in Creative Studies in English, soon landing work as a writer at an international content marketing firm.
It was here that I cut my teeth as a professional writer proper, producing blogs, landing pages, whitepapers, video scripts, and social media posts, for a host of wildly-differing clients.
Subject matter? It’s my job to make it matter.
Health and fitness businesses, sports organisations, motoring firms, finance SMEs - I’ve scribed something for them all. There’s nothing too obscure or unique for my wheelhouse - I’ve even turned my hand to wedding dresses, jewellery firms and childbirth tips (and I’m a 6’ 2’’ bearded Englishman...)
My mum thinks I’m some kind of voodoo magician like Baron Samedi from the Bond film ‘Live and Let Die’, due to the sheer volume I’ve written on such a vast array of subjects - but the truth is, all it takes is dedicated research, a keen will to learn, and the drive to write a piece that people will want to read (so, quite a lot then!). But, no voodoo is involved, you’ll be glad to hear.
Editing everything into the best it can be
I’m also a pretty nifty editor, using the skills and experience honed from writing and researching for 8,378 clients (barely an exaggeration!) to craft any piece of writing into something better. So, if you’ve got a piece of writing you like, but it just needs a little polish, send it my way. Happy to help.
Why I’m really here
Writing and editing are core to my being, and so The Yellow Typewriter was born - in essence, it’s a home for my freelance writing and editing services, short fiction and poetry, blogging, and professional portfolio.
Why The Yellow Typewriter?
Honestly, I went through so many potential names before settling upon this one - ‘The Bean Barn’ and ‘The Word Mechanic’ to name but two. The Yellow Typewriter, though, includes two words that capture my essence as well as any others.
Yellow is my favourite colour, and though that may seem a trite reason to choose it for a professional content writing website, I realised that it’s always my go-to shade when embarking on something life-affirming. My childhood bedroom was painted yellow, my first car (a humble Ford Ka) was banana yellow, my first watch, my first lighter (don’t worry, I quit smoking years ago).
And typewriter? Well, I’m a professional writer, so this was an easy fit. I initially wanted the Yellow Pencil, but that, of course, is already taken by an existing design agency. The Yellow Laptop or Keyboard just sounded a bit rubbish, so Typewriter it was. I’ve always been a bit of a hipster anyway (love a good vinyl or cassette) so I married the two and The Yellow Typewriter was born. Now all I have to do is outrank all the actual yellow typewriters you can buy from Amazon and Etsy…
What else does The Yellow Typewriter do?
The Yellow Typewriter doesn’t just offer copywriting and editing services. It also serves as a home for my fiction (mainly short stories and poetry) and personal blogging, where I’ll chat about all sorts - sports, retro gaming, my attempts at cooking, the lot. I might even try my hand at video at some point down the line...