Let's say I divide all writing activities in two classes:
- Artistic writing
- Non-artistic writing
Artistic writing includes fiction and non-fiction. Its purpose is either to entertain the reader (fiction) or tell them something they don't know (non-fiction).
Non-artistic writing includes writing e-mails, newsletters, blog posts, white papers, landing pages, social media content etc. The purpose of non-artistic writing is to sell something to the reader, either now or later, either to them personally or to someone they influence.
I consider it non-artistic because it is order of magnitudes easier to write a good, say, white paper than a good fiction or non-fiction book (there is much more good copywriters than there are good fiction and non-fiction writers).
What is a better (shorter) word than "artistic writing" that can be used for both fiction and non-fiction?
Possible answer: Journalism and fiction writing
But it's even longer than the term I want to get rid of.
Example of using the sought expression in a sentence:
Before F. Scott Fitzgerald, Joseph Heller, and Steven Pressfield became masters of
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they used to work as copywriters.
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-- better word for "artistic writing".