As promised, the first specially commissioned Bob Dylan article is now available via my Well Versed articles page. Or go directly to the new article here.
I'm delighted with the article and I've asked for more. So you can expect to see more on Bob Dylan very soon, with something on The Beatles to follow soon after.
Roy Everitt, writing for results
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Ted Nicholas, Nick Wrathall and Me
You've probably heard of the concept of the 'seven degrees of separation,' whereby any two people you care to name can supposedly be linked to each other by no more than seven steps. Often, it's fewer than seven of course. Sometimes we may wish it were more...
Other times, we can feel quite pleased, not to say a little smug, when we can connect ourselves to someone we admire and respect. Even if that connection, of itself, doesn't really bestow any genuine credit on us, it's still nice to know.
Of all the great copy writers of the past fifty years, one man probably stands head and shoulders above them all. He's the man, though supposedly long ago retired, to whom the nearly great still pay homage and from whom they still seek approbation and approval.
Ted Nicholas is a legend and I claim him in two.
I've read articles, books and sales letters by dozens of talented writers, most of whom would credit Nicholas with some part in their education, so I suppose I could name a few of those, but there's only one who really connects me to the great Ted, and there's one skill in particular that I'd love to be able to say I share with them both.
Headlines make or break sales letters, as any copywriter will tell you, so it's gratifying to win a prize for creating one. Not quite as gratifying as getting rich by writing one, but still...
Late last year I attended the first UK Internet Entrepreneurs Conference in London, enticed there by a masterful sales letter from the mysterious 'Mr X,' who turned out to be the very successful and talented Nick Wrathall. Naturally, he was a speaker at the conference as well, and naturally he spoke about copy writing.
He also held a competition to write the best headline, based loosely on what we'd learned at the conference, the winner to be announced the following day. After a bit of early morning brainstorming, I was very pleased to win.
Just over a year earlier, Nick Wrathall himself was a winner, in a similar (if probably more competitive) headline-writing competition, judged by none other than ...Ted Nicholas.
His headline, which achieved an almost unheard-of five percent response (in the real world, that is), was:
What Will You Do When Your Business is Shut Down--Or You're Thrown Into Prison--Because Your Fire Safety Procedures Weren't Up to Date?
By most professional's guidelines, that's too long. Which just goes to show that theory isn't everything.
My headline, which hasn't been used in anger yet, was:
They All Laughed When I Said I'd Be an Internet Millionaire - But When I Paid Cash For My New Bentley ...
Which only goes to show there's nothing new under the sun.
Roy Everitt, writing for results
Other times, we can feel quite pleased, not to say a little smug, when we can connect ourselves to someone we admire and respect. Even if that connection, of itself, doesn't really bestow any genuine credit on us, it's still nice to know.
Of all the great copy writers of the past fifty years, one man probably stands head and shoulders above them all. He's the man, though supposedly long ago retired, to whom the nearly great still pay homage and from whom they still seek approbation and approval.
Ted Nicholas is a legend and I claim him in two.
I've read articles, books and sales letters by dozens of talented writers, most of whom would credit Nicholas with some part in their education, so I suppose I could name a few of those, but there's only one who really connects me to the great Ted, and there's one skill in particular that I'd love to be able to say I share with them both.
Headlines make or break sales letters, as any copywriter will tell you, so it's gratifying to win a prize for creating one. Not quite as gratifying as getting rich by writing one, but still...
Late last year I attended the first UK Internet Entrepreneurs Conference in London, enticed there by a masterful sales letter from the mysterious 'Mr X,' who turned out to be the very successful and talented Nick Wrathall. Naturally, he was a speaker at the conference as well, and naturally he spoke about copy writing.
He also held a competition to write the best headline, based loosely on what we'd learned at the conference, the winner to be announced the following day. After a bit of early morning brainstorming, I was very pleased to win.
Just over a year earlier, Nick Wrathall himself was a winner, in a similar (if probably more competitive) headline-writing competition, judged by none other than ...Ted Nicholas.
His headline, which achieved an almost unheard-of five percent response (in the real world, that is), was:
What Will You Do When Your Business is Shut Down--Or You're Thrown Into Prison--Because Your Fire Safety Procedures Weren't Up to Date?
By most professional's guidelines, that's too long. Which just goes to show that theory isn't everything.
My headline, which hasn't been used in anger yet, was:
They All Laughed When I Said I'd Be an Internet Millionaire - But When I Paid Cash For My New Bentley ...
Which only goes to show there's nothing new under the sun.
Roy Everitt, writing for results
Friday, January 26, 2007
Back to Business, the Definitive Articles
While we wait expectantly for the articles I recently commissioned (on The Beatles and Dylan, you may recall), I've made three more additions to the growing collection of business-related articles to be found on the Well Versed site, at www.wellversed.co.uk/articles.html
Today's are about business and marketing. Specifically, one discusses how when we try to sell anything, especially when we're self-employed and offering a service, we are essentially selling ourselves and why we must hold our nerve. The second explains why I believe that spending more on marketing can actually mean wasting less, and vice-versa. The third takes a totally new slant on the perennial question of long copy versus short copy in sales letters.
I think you'll find them all useful and stimulating.
Roy Everitt, writing for results at www.wellversed.co.uk and www.jcwriting.com
Today's are about business and marketing. Specifically, one discusses how when we try to sell anything, especially when we're self-employed and offering a service, we are essentially selling ourselves and why we must hold our nerve. The second explains why I believe that spending more on marketing can actually mean wasting less, and vice-versa. The third takes a totally new slant on the perennial question of long copy versus short copy in sales letters.
I think you'll find them all useful and stimulating.
Roy Everitt, writing for results at www.wellversed.co.uk and www.jcwriting.com
Monday, January 22, 2007
Beatles, Blogs and Busy People
You'll no doubt have heard of the saying 'Nature abhors a vacuum.' Well, it seems to apply to the world of work too, as others have found. No sooner did I clear the way for more work to come my way than in it came. Flooded, would be more accurate.
You'll know, if you've been to Well Versed before, that I'm something of a Beatles and Bob Dylan fan. You'll find links to their directory pages on the left. What I haven't found time to do, as yet, is write about them, and that situation doesn't look like changing in the near future.
However, help is at hand, and I've just commissioned some articles on both The Beatles and Dylan, which I'm expecting to post in the next week or so. I know they'll be good, and I'm as keen to read them as I hope some of you will be. They'll appear on my articles pages, at www.wellversed.co.uk/articles.html and I'll let you know the moment they're up.
Meanwhile, back to business...
Roy Everitt, writing for results
You'll know, if you've been to Well Versed before, that I'm something of a Beatles and Bob Dylan fan. You'll find links to their directory pages on the left. What I haven't found time to do, as yet, is write about them, and that situation doesn't look like changing in the near future.
However, help is at hand, and I've just commissioned some articles on both The Beatles and Dylan, which I'm expecting to post in the next week or so. I know they'll be good, and I'm as keen to read them as I hope some of you will be. They'll appear on my articles pages, at www.wellversed.co.uk/articles.html and I'll let you know the moment they're up.
Meanwhile, back to business...
Roy Everitt, writing for results
Saturday, January 20, 2007
More Free Well Versed Articles
I've uploaded some more articles onto my Well Versed main site today. You'll find them at www.wellversed.co.uk/articles.html
As promised, I've covered money-saving (and life-saving) car maintenance, some brief advice on writing for business and two book reviews, including Duncan Bannatyne's fascinating biography, 'Anyone Can Do It.' Read it and believe!
There's lots more to come from Well Versed in due course, particularly on the subjects of business and business writing, and I'll keep you informed about that and other developments right here.
Roy Everitt Writing for results
As promised, I've covered money-saving (and life-saving) car maintenance, some brief advice on writing for business and two book reviews, including Duncan Bannatyne's fascinating biography, 'Anyone Can Do It.' Read it and believe!
There's lots more to come from Well Versed in due course, particularly on the subjects of business and business writing, and I'll keep you informed about that and other developments right here.
Roy Everitt Writing for results
Friday, January 19, 2007
A Few Words About Copyright
You'll have noticed on most printed works, from novels to brochures, something along the lines of 'Copyright © Joe Bloggs 2007', and this is the author's way of asserting his ownership of the work you're reading. I own the copyright to all my articles, for example, although I don't always add the copyright symbol.
When you publish your work, it will carry a notice to the same effect, asserting your rights, but in fact anything you write is yours, and is protected by law. No one is permitted to copy it, in whole or part, without your permission, and no one may pass off your work as their own.
This also means, of course, that you must not copy other people's work without their permission, except in rare circumstances - where they have expressly allowed the use of quotations by reviewers, for example.
This law also extends to letters and notes, indeed any written work, and lasts for the lifetime of the author and normally for fifty years afterwards. Sometimes a copyright is sold to, or passes to a third party, such as a publisher or trustee, in which case take care and seek permission from them before borrowing anything. Again, such rights do lapse in time.
Note the spelling of 'copyright', incidentally - a lot of people get confused about the job that we copywriters do. We write 'copy', which is words written specifically for advertisers and publishers, and have nothing to do with the copyright law - except that we're unusual in that we often don't own the copyright to the copy we’ve written! *
For a poet, novelist or story writer, copyright is mainly about protecting your own work and not giving the 'rights' away too easily or at all - with the first offer of publication, for instance. If in doubt, take advice - from the Society of Authors, for example - or employ an agent if you can, who should look after your interests. The usual practice is to grant the rights, for a fee, for publication in a specific volume in a specific territory, for one time only. Wider distribution, republication and syndication should entail an additional fee, and the copyright should ultimately stay with the author. That's you!
* It usually stays with the publishers or advertisers who commissioned the work. You may find yourself in this position if you're commissioned to write any 'copy' from a jingle to a major article. Negotiate, especially if it's an especially 'creative' brief, but the person commissioning your work has (legally)the upper hand!
Roy Everitt, writing for results.
When you publish your work, it will carry a notice to the same effect, asserting your rights, but in fact anything you write is yours, and is protected by law. No one is permitted to copy it, in whole or part, without your permission, and no one may pass off your work as their own.
This also means, of course, that you must not copy other people's work without their permission, except in rare circumstances - where they have expressly allowed the use of quotations by reviewers, for example.
This law also extends to letters and notes, indeed any written work, and lasts for the lifetime of the author and normally for fifty years afterwards. Sometimes a copyright is sold to, or passes to a third party, such as a publisher or trustee, in which case take care and seek permission from them before borrowing anything. Again, such rights do lapse in time.
Note the spelling of 'copyright', incidentally - a lot of people get confused about the job that we copywriters do. We write 'copy', which is words written specifically for advertisers and publishers, and have nothing to do with the copyright law - except that we're unusual in that we often don't own the copyright to the copy we’ve written! *
For a poet, novelist or story writer, copyright is mainly about protecting your own work and not giving the 'rights' away too easily or at all - with the first offer of publication, for instance. If in doubt, take advice - from the Society of Authors, for example - or employ an agent if you can, who should look after your interests. The usual practice is to grant the rights, for a fee, for publication in a specific volume in a specific territory, for one time only. Wider distribution, republication and syndication should entail an additional fee, and the copyright should ultimately stay with the author. That's you!
* It usually stays with the publishers or advertisers who commissioned the work. You may find yourself in this position if you're commissioned to write any 'copy' from a jingle to a major article. Negotiate, especially if it's an especially 'creative' brief, but the person commissioning your work has (legally)the upper hand!
Roy Everitt, writing for results.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Endangered Wolves to Wheelchair Appeals
The latest addition to the Well Versed family was born yesterday, when I uploaded the first ten articles from my archives onto www.wellversed.co.uk/articles.html
There will be more to follow in the next few days, but already the subjects range from rare Ethiopean wolves to an audacious appeal to mobilise the world's disabled, from selling your home to marketing yourself, and include both running and revealing my age.
Subjects to come include business writing and car maintenance...
Enjoy reading, and feel free to reproduce them (subject to the usual conditions).
Roy
There will be more to follow in the next few days, but already the subjects range from rare Ethiopean wolves to an audacious appeal to mobilise the world's disabled, from selling your home to marketing yourself, and include both running and revealing my age.
Subjects to come include business writing and car maintenance...
Enjoy reading, and feel free to reproduce them (subject to the usual conditions).
Roy
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Martin Conroy and The Seven Deadly Sins
The man who wrote the most successful sales letter of all time, the famous Wall Street Journal ad, which ran for decades and sold over one BILLION dollars worth of subscriptions, died just before Christmas, aged 84. His letter stood as the 'control' against a multitude of pretenders and as an example of the black arts of persuasive marketing.
Martin Conroy and his Wall Street Journal letter became legendary. Words of wisdom from the great man are probably worth more than a hundred quotes and newsletters from lesser mortals, so I make no apology for reproducing the following passage.
It relates to the motivating factors that govern us all. A book called 'Seven Ways to Persuade Your Prospects to Buy' (there's an idea...) might almost be renamed 'The Seven Deadly Sins.' But I'll let Martin Conroy explain:
"If you're trying to find out what makes people tick, you might take a look at the Seven Deadly Sins from the old Baltimore Catechism. Remember them? Pride, covetousness, lust, anger, gluttony, envy and sloth. Of course, the deadly sins are all bad and all extreme and all no-nos.
"But there's an unsinful, unextreme side to every one of them where you can see how good and honest people act and react. On the sunny side of sinful pride, for example, nice people still take normal, unsinful satisfaction in what they are and what they have.
"Short of deadly covetousness, people have an understandable desire to possess some of the good things in life. Instead of sinful lust, there's good old love that makes the world go 'round. Without raging in anger, good people can still feel a reasonable annoyance with bad people and bad things. Without getting into gross gluttony, normal men and women can have a normal appetite for good food and drink. Short of envy, there's a very human yen to do as well as the next guy. And as for sloth, who isn't happy to learn an easier way to do things?
"The Seven Deadly Sins. If you want to know what makes people act like people, they're worth a look."
I told you he was good.
Roy
Martin Conroy and his Wall Street Journal letter became legendary. Words of wisdom from the great man are probably worth more than a hundred quotes and newsletters from lesser mortals, so I make no apology for reproducing the following passage.
It relates to the motivating factors that govern us all. A book called 'Seven Ways to Persuade Your Prospects to Buy' (there's an idea...) might almost be renamed 'The Seven Deadly Sins.' But I'll let Martin Conroy explain:
"If you're trying to find out what makes people tick, you might take a look at the Seven Deadly Sins from the old Baltimore Catechism. Remember them? Pride, covetousness, lust, anger, gluttony, envy and sloth. Of course, the deadly sins are all bad and all extreme and all no-nos.
"But there's an unsinful, unextreme side to every one of them where you can see how good and honest people act and react. On the sunny side of sinful pride, for example, nice people still take normal, unsinful satisfaction in what they are and what they have.
"Short of deadly covetousness, people have an understandable desire to possess some of the good things in life. Instead of sinful lust, there's good old love that makes the world go 'round. Without raging in anger, good people can still feel a reasonable annoyance with bad people and bad things. Without getting into gross gluttony, normal men and women can have a normal appetite for good food and drink. Short of envy, there's a very human yen to do as well as the next guy. And as for sloth, who isn't happy to learn an easier way to do things?
"The Seven Deadly Sins. If you want to know what makes people act like people, they're worth a look."
I told you he was good.
Roy
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