for people who write

Be off with you…. today I’d like to send you elsewhere for enlightenment and instruction on the important issues of keywords, courses, money and time.

But before you go, my vote count over in the left hand column (’My favourite writing style is…’) has been stuck on 248 all week and has finally got to 249. Once it’s over 250, I’ll do a round-up and start a new poll. So, if you haven’t voted yet, now’s your last chance.

Crack keywords
Brian Clark at Copyblogger has a series of posts on the importance of keyword research when creating online content.

Blogs are famous for ranking well in search engines thanks to their structure and frequently-updated content, but if you don’t use the words people are actually interested in and actively searching for, you’re missing a lot of traffic.

Keyword Research for Bloggers: A Comprehensive Guide is an enlightening and practical introduction to the subject, so if you have a blog, or have plans to blog, it’s well worth a read. (It’s long though, at nearly 8,000 words, so set some time aside.)

Get serious about finance
John Scalzi on his blog Whatever has some highly useful advice specifically for writers on the tricky subject of money. His post Unasked-For Advice to New Writers About Money includes such sage advice as “prepare to be broke”; “don’t quit your day job”; and “writing is a business. Act like it”.

Why am I offering this entirely unsolicited advice about money to new writers? Because it very often appears to me that regardless of how smart and clever and interesting and fun my fellow writers are on every other imaginable subject, when it comes to money — and specifically their own money — writers have as much sense as chimps on crack.

Be more productive
Lifehacker has a piece on how to get more done each day, which is aimed at just about anyone but which has advice relevant to anyone with a writing task to get done. The post on the Top 10 Smart and Lazy Ways to Save Your Workday inlcudes advice on how to avoid distractions, create motivating deadlines for yourself, and jump-start creativity.

Block out distractions and set a timer.
When your brain is frozen in a solid block of paralyzed procrastination around a task and you’re letting yourself get carried away by distractions like email and instant messenger, it’s time to take out the big guns. Turn off your email and IM client, grab a kitchen timer, set it for 10 minutes, and work until the beep. Then, take a break. Wash, rinse, and repeat. I swear by this technique, which got me through writing 400 pages of the Lifehacker book when all I wanted to do was crawl under the bed and hide.

Take an online course

There are links to 50 online writing courses listed at colledegree.com:

Whether you want to learn how to write for business or just brush up on grammar, you’re sure to find what you’re looking for. We’ve compiled more than 50 of these classes, and they’re open for anyone to take.

Do you find these useful, or not? Please let me know.

So you’ve written an advert, a direct marketing piece, a sales spiel. How good is it? Will it work? These are seven questions to ask before you show it to the client or publish it:

1. Is it on strategy?
It may be brilliantly creative, it might be downright clever, but is your advert or marketing copy communicating the right messages?

2. Does it talk to the right people?
Who is the audience for the product (or service)? You did know this before you started work, right? Now, is it clear that you are talking to these people? Does the copy get this across, does it haul them in?

3. Is it compelling?
Is the idea interesting enough? Is the copy? Or is it, in truth, just a bit dull? Be ruthless with your own work.

4. Is it instant?
People don’t linger long over adverts, so you’d better get your idea and message across pretty fast. Remember that if the headline doesn’t grab them, then they will never read that finely crafted body copy.

5. Is it credible?
Are you making claims that people will believe? If they don’t believe you, they are unlikely to buy from you. It’s always tempting to make promises about the huge benefits a product will deliver. But simply changing your underarm deodorant won’t really make you irresistible to beautiful young women. It won’t really turn them into slavering sex slaves. And deep down, everyone knows it.

6. Is it striking?
Has your idea and copy got punch and pizzazz? Is it unexpected? Does it stand out from the ads and marketing of the competition? If not, then it isn”t really good enough, is it?

7. Have your proved your sales argument?
You are trying to persuade someone to part with their hard-earned. You have made big claims for your product. Have you convinced them? Is there any proof? Or will they be left feeling flat at the end of it, still unsure? If that’s the case, you still have more work to do.

Providing your copy passes these seven tests, then using these criteria can be a good way of defending your work when you have to show it to clients or account executive types, designers and so on.

It shows that you are not just being creative for the sake of it, but that you are working hard, and thinking clearly. That there is method to your creative madness.

These seven rules of effective copy were adapted from the book The craft of copywriting: How to write great copy that sells by Alastair Crompton. It’s highly recommended (although somewhat hard to get hold of, these days).

There’s a fascinating piece on a blog site called Study Hacks, which I discovered today because it popped up high in Del.icio.us. It’s aimed at students who need to write papers, but as the article itself points out, the advice applies to just about any form of writing.

The author has dug out a series of interviews with “masters of long form non-fiction” and used the information to create a picture of how professional writers work.

The most striking observations from this study:

The writers work in the morning. They often start very early in the morning.

Five out of ten of the writers described a little ritual before starting their morning writing. A surprising number of these rituals focused on The New York Times.

The writers drink coffee. Lots of coffee.

The writers write in isolation. If they didn’t have families they would push this even farther. Many discussed having no e-mail or phone in their workspace. One purposefully used a “shitty old laptop” to avoid temptations like solitaire. Gay Talese rigged his home office so it could only be entered through a separate outside door.

The whole article, called “How to Schedule Your Writing Like a Professional Writer’” is well worth a read.

Nearly all of the writers questioned said finding a place free of distractions was very important to them. As a professional writer myself, I’d say that is indeed a great idea, but not advice that I’m ever able to follow myself.

There are distractions all around me. I have a phone on my desk because clients might call. There are emails popping up because they might be urgent. Then there’s the dog, the cats, family members, the garden, the sunshine, the internet … you get the idea.

The article points out that magazine writers seem to able to work anywhere. As I started out in an insanely hectic newsroom, perhaps that’s why I’m able to still get at least some writing done.

What do you think of the advice? Is a distraction free writing environment something you have achieved? Do you think it’s even possible?

A new writing site has been launched which looks like it could create innovative ways for writers to share ideas and feedback.

Scribophile is aimed mainly at authors, poets and so on. It’s bound to be of interest to anyone involved in creative writing.

It’s well designed and attractive to look at which isn’t always the case with writing sites, many of which look like throw-backs to the early days of the internet.

The people behind the site (one of whom is a regular reader of this site - hi Alex) intend Scribophile to become create a community of authors, who can help each other and provide support and appraisals of each other’s work.

As the site itself says:

Think of Scribophile as a writer’s workshop, but instead of being in a room with 20 or so other writers, you’re on the internet with millions of other writers, each of them eager to read your work and offer helpful critiques. We pride ourselves on our friendly and helpful community. You can meet other writers with similar interests and interact with thousands of other like-minded authors from around the world.

It’s very new so the community is just starting to build. It’s looks like a cracking idea well executed, so please support them and check out the site.

Brian Clark at Copyblogger has issued another of his headline challenges and I’m taking the bait. (I need the links…)

Last time I came up with “Ten things readers crave in bed” as part of the Cosmo headline challenge. This time Brian’s gone for metrosexual men’s magazines, a format I’m even less familiar with than Cosmo.

Undaunted, however, I’ve decided to modify the “It’s time to break up with your boss” headline, and turn our attention to software for writers. So, with no further ado…

It’s time to break up with your word processor

Do you use a normal word processor for writing? Do you even (gulp) … use Microsoft Word?

Now, I have Word on my Mac. I use it all the time, because my copywriting clients all have Word too, and they like to use functions such as track changes. They tend to work in corporations and have little choice over the software they use. So, Word it is.

But I wouldn’t use Word, or any other standard word processor, for blogging or creative writing, script writing or even jotting down notes and thoughts.

(I don’t actually think it would be physically possible to write poetry in Word. Somehow I think it would be like matter and anti-matter colliding and the universe would implode. Please don’t try it).

There are, however, lots of great alternatives out there. Unfortunately for you, my knowledge of them is limited to what’s available for the Mac. There are some PC offerings in here too though, just to keep you all reading… Continue reading →

Imagine you’re walking down the street and someone comes up, hypnotises you, and takes all your money. You wouldn’t want that to happen, right? So why do you let people get away with it on the internet?

Hypnotic copywriting is a tried and trusted method of getting people to buy things. I see it all over the internet. Is it evil or immoral? No, I don’t think it is. Is it mind control? No. People can’t use these techniques to make you do something against your will.

But they can persuade you to buy things.

I don’t have an issue with this, and I don’t think there’s a hard delineation between hypnotic writing and non-hypnotic writing. It’s kind of a grey-goo area.

You could even argue that all great writing is, in a sense at least, hypnotic. Being lost in the world of a novel is a type of hypnotic experience, for example.

But when people use hypnotic techniques as part of a direct sales system, I like to be aware of it. If I know what the writer is doing, I can choose to go along with it (if I want to immerse myself in that novel), or choose to hold back - if I don’t really want to pay $97 for that e-book.

So, here are some of the tell-tale signs that someone is using hypnotic writing techniques to persuade to buy or do something: Continue reading →

Those of you who work in journalism, or intend to, or who even simply read newspapers might be interested in a damning critique of the press over at Rogue Columnist.

It’s been a while since I worked in newspapers in-house myself. And then was in the UK, not in the USA, But I have to say, it all rang true to me:

“Significantly, investment in the unique intellectual capital of newspapers – journalism – was constantly reduced. Newsrooms lost much of their top talent. Marketing, more important than ever in business, was never a newspaper strength, and was cut to the bone. Research and development received little more than lip service, or was another tool to hand down demands for shorter, dumber, fluffier stories.”

It’s very serious piece about the dumbing down of the newspaper industry, the undermining of serious journalism, and the effects this is having on American society.

However, you know how it is when you read something that hits the spot because it’s just so true, because it hits the nail on the head. You have to laugh:

“The biggest problem, of course, had nothing to do with the newsrooms. It was the collapse of an unsustainable business model. Simply put, the model involved sending miniskirted saleswomen out to sell ads at confiscatory rates to lecherous old car dealers and appliance-store owners.”

Yes, that’s exactly what was going on at several of the newspapers I worked on. That was their business model.

But now that Google has virtually taken over the world of advertising, I’m not convinced the majority of newspapers, especially local ones, can survive much longer.

And you know what? I don’t think I even care. Newspapers have dumbed down so much most of them have become pointless anyway. If there’s a need for serious journalism, I think the internet will have to meet that need, somehow. How that will happen, I’m not sure.

But I know for my part I don’t read newspapers anymore. I don’t have time. If I want topical, there’s the internet. If I want something more thoughtful or enduring, then I have piles of books to read.

What do you think? Have newspapers got much of a future? And do you even care?

If you’re interested in the subject of satirical online writing, I’d like to point you in the direction of my favourite site, which unfortunately appears to be going out of business. Continue reading →

As a copywriter, I usually ask a client to give me as much information as possible. If I have to write something for them about a product or service, I want to know everything.

Of course, that usually brings an information dump. It’s not just what they tell you. In this day and age, they don’t sift the information, they just email you every document they can find. PDFs, Word files, PowerPoint presentations, even spreadsheets. And they refer you to websites, with comments such as: “You’ll find more information here.”

Yes, but where, exactly? Continue reading →

One of the great things about being a writer is that you don’t need any formal qualifications.

On the other hand, getting help in developing our writing skills can’t really hurt.

If you’re interested in some kind of formal training without the expense and time commitment of a college course, then check out some of these free online university writing courses.

I know nothing about any of the courses, so I can’t make any recommendations or endorsements. They all appear to be respectable educational institutions, however.

Yesterday I looked at how the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition might apply to copywriting.

And now, the conclusion… Today, let’s look at how they might apply to blogging: Continue reading →

The Ferengi would make excellent copywriters. Because they know how to sell the benefits, and how to close a deal.

For those that don’t watch much TV sci-fi, the Ferengi are a fictional race from Star Trek, a people obsessed with trade and profit.

They spend their whole lives doing deals. Or, as Wikipedia, puts it, the Ferengi are:

characterized by a mercantile obsession with profit and trade and their constant efforts to swindle people into bad deals.

Of course, as virtuous copywriters, we don’t want to ’swindle people into bad deals.’ But we do need to sell the products and services of our clients. So maybe we can learn something from these Ferengi, and their Rules of Acquisition.

The rules are numbered guidelines and aphorisms that govern business, and serve as the religious canon of Ferengi society.

So, just for fun, I decided to look through the list and see which ones might apply to copywriting: Continue reading →

Today’s sermon on writing in a modern, conversational style comes from William Hazlitt (1778 - 1830):

“It is not easy to write a familiar style. Many people mistake a familiar for a vulgar style and suppose that to write without affectation is to write at random. On the contrary, there is nothing that requires more precision, and if I may so so, purity of expression, than the style I am speaking of. It utterly rejects not only all unmeaning pomp, but all low, cant phrases, and loose unconnected, slipshod allusions. It is not to take the first word that offers, but the best word in common use; it is not to throw words together in any combinations we please, but to follow and avail ourselves of the true idiom of the language.

To write a genuine familiar or truly English style, is to write as any one would speak in common conversation, who had a thorough command and choice of words, or who could discourse with ease, force and perspicuity, setting aside all pedantic and oratorical flourishes.”

(From the essay ‘On Familiar Style‘, published 1821).

English is a mongrel language, one that has evolved over a long period of time, and continues to change. It’s also a language that has no standardised version. There is no single ‘correct’ version of English.

The obvious comparison is between US and UK English. We spell and use words differently. Often the same word can have a completely different meaning in one country to the other.

The French language, on the other hand, is strictly controlled by L’Académie Francaise, an institution that ‘protects’ the language by fixing an accepted standard of pronunciation, syntax and sentence construction.

But the sheer variety of English, the speed at which it changes and the way it gets changed by different people to suit their purposes, all go to make it a more vital and dynamic language. Continue reading →

Fewer or less? This is a grammatical mistake that really gets my goat. The problem is, it’s only my dad and I that seem to care.

When I was younger, my father always reprimanded me if I used ‘less’ when I really meant ‘fewer’. Every time I hear someone make this mistake, I hear my dad’s voice in my head, offering the correction.

Some would say he’s a stickler for old fashioned grammar because the word ‘fewer’ seems to be dying out completely. No one seems to use it any more. When I watch BBBC News 24, their highly paid and very professional journalists seem to have no idea that the word ‘fewer’ even exists.

Yet to my ears, they always sound a little bit ignorant. They lose authority, because they are making what to me is a basic and glaring grammatical mistake. Continue reading →