I was recently in the hot seat for a monthly live Twitter event organised by ProCopywriters called #ProCopyChat. It’s basically an hour where the guest fields questions about copy. It was pretty intense with chatter flying all over the shop, but it was also a lot of fun. In case you didn’t get to catch the event live, […]
Do you have a swipe file? You hopefully do. And if that is the case, rather than read this email, go read this interesting interview with post-punk legend Ian MacKaye instead. But if you don’t already have a swipe file, or you do have one and you’d like to discover some of my own swipe file secrets… Well, I guess you should keep […]
Though it might look like nonsense right now… I guarantee it will help you shave hours off the time you spend reviewing and editing your copy. And it’ll make your copy a damn sight more effective. It’s almost too simple to follow… And it only takes about five minutes from start to finish. Sound interesting? Good. Let me show you what […]
Imagine you’re living a roguish life as a bank robber in the Wild West… You drift from town to town ‘sticking-up’ the local bank… You’re damn good at it too. Just yesterday you moseyed on in, stuck your gun in the bank teller’s face and delivered your usual “this is a stick-up” line. The teller knew the […]
You know that feeling when you read something you agree with and you start nodding? Even though you’re just reading words on a page, the author has written something that strikes such a chord, you can’t help but crack a wry smile, nod along and think: yeah, I thought that too. Do you ever get that? […]
‘When we tell stories about creativity…we neglect to mention those days when we wanted to quit, when we believed that our problem was impossible. Instead, we skip straight to the breakthrough. We tell the happy ending first. ‘The danger of this scenario is that the act of feeling frustrated is an essential part of the […]
James Altucher and Glenn Fisher. (Original design by @rhinett) I read a book called Choose Yourself. It made me think, which I guess is the best thing a book can do. The author is a chap called James Altucher. As well as being a successful author, he’s also a well-known blogger, a super-intelligent entrepreneur and a well-respected investor […]
Often the first few lines of a direct response sales letter are redundant. Sometimes, even the first few paragraphs are too. Look again at the opening of any sales letter you’re working on and ask if it would not be stronger to start a little further in. You see, when we start writing we are […]
I’ve just published a new book for Kindle… Buy This Now: A Beginner’s Guide to Direct Response Copywriting. Inside I’ve brought together ten simple rules that I recommend you follow when it comes to starting out in your copywriting career. This isn’t abstract stuff. It’s specific advice that you can apply to any copy you’re […]
So this is a trick I teach any copywriter or editor I work with… It isn’t difficult. It isn’t time consuming. And it certainly isn’t fancy. In fact, it’s a very simple and purely technical change you make to your word processor each time you’re writing copy that will be read via email. It’s particularly […]