Tag Archives: GLENN FISHER

I hope you hate it: A marketing masterclass from Alexander McQueen

Did you hate it?” No, the interviewer replies. “Shame. You’re supposed to,” says McQueen. When it comes to getting someone’s attention, you’ve got to go for emotions. If you don’t at least try, you’re guaranteed to fail. If you’re not thinking about how your audience relates to your writing, you shouldn’t call yourself a copywriter. You’ve […]

Creative paralysis: Don’t let other people’s work stop you creating your own

I get so worried by what other people are doing. It’s the worst kind of anxiety. Right now, I’m reading The War at the End of the World by Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa. It’s great. It’s also massive. 750 pages. And no pictures. I’m halfway through and can’t believe how dense the damn thing is. The […]

37 things I learned about marketing from DIY punk

Before I wandered unwittingly into the world of marketing and became a copywriter, I was a punk. Well, not strictly a punk in the proper sense. I was a little too young for tartan and safety pins. But one element of punk that thrived in the ‘post-punk’ era was the DIY ethic. Driven by record […]

Time management tips for stressed-out copywriters

Copywriting should be fun. It should be challenging too. But if you’re finding it too challenging, it’s wearing you down or it’s taking up too much of your time… You’re probably doing something wrong. So here I want to give you some tips on how to better manage your time as a copywriter. Most of […]

Crazy ideas are cool, but only good ideas work

Before you write any piece of copy, you need to figure out if the idea you’re writing about is any good. If your idea sucks ass, your copy will suck ass too. On the flipside: if your idea is good, writing the copy will be much easier, and faster. And chances are, your copy will be […]

This will upset some copywriters

This will upset some copywriters. But it will cause other copywriters joy. You see this is a piece about how to write more engagingly. But it’s not entitled 15 Tips For Writing More Engagingly. I dislike those pieces. I dislike them immensely. I see them all over the Internet. On Twitter, on LinkedIn, littering my inbox. 10 Rules […]

This one simple number could help you write more clearly

It’s 1938… Very bad things are going down in Europe. Anti-Semitism is rife. The Nazi’s are about to annex Austria. And for a little known university graduate, there’s no choice… He needs to get out of the country. Fast. He flees to America. He’s lucky. He gets a graduate place at Columbia University, where he […]

The most useful word a copywriter can have in their toolbox

Before we get to into this, some great news… I’m writing today from a hotel room in east London, where I’m looking out over the Tower of London. I made the trip down from my usual northern seaside hideout to attend the shortlist reveal event for the Business Book Awards 2019. My book, The Art of the […]

Being a writer is weird, being a copywriter is weirder

I’m in the nurse’s office. What do you do, she asks? A writer, I say. She stops. Gives me the look. We’re looking around a house for sale. What do you do, the estate agent asks? A writer, I say. She stops. Gives me the look. A mortgage advisor comes round to value our house. What do you do, he asks? […]

Sleep more and drink less Red Bull: An interview with Megan Rose Douglas

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” So wrote old Bill Shakes, the frilly-collared play-dude. I’m not a massive Shakespeare fan, but try as I might, I couldn’t get that quote out of my mind whilst writing up the interview I have to share with you here. You see the ‘rose’ we’re […]