Process Thread: Learn Copywriting

[leono]

Taking on the Gary Halbert challenge to learn copywriting in 30 days. Let's see what happens...!

Step One -- Read the following:

• Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins (February 17th, 2014)
  
• The Robert Collier Letter Book by Robert Collier (2nd)
  
• Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples (**Up Next!**)
  
• How To Write A Good Advertisement by Vic Schwab (February 18th - 22nd, 2014)
  
• The Gary Halbert Letter (all back issues) by Gary Halbert (February 5th - 16th, 2014)
  
• The Boron Letters by Gary Halbert (February 5th, 2014)
  
• The Lazy Man's Way To Riches by Joe Karbo (February 17th - 18th, 2014)
  
• Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz (February 3rd - 4th, 2014)
  
• 7 Steps To Freedom by Ben Suarez (3rd)

And will start with Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz because that's the only one I have immediately available, and move on to the online letters (The Gary Halbert Letter and The Boron Letters), while I wait for my other books to arrive. GO! Ready --> Fire --> Aim!

 

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[Kyle Tully]

Sorta. I'm working on a press release for someone.

Dude.

5 months.

Write a salesletter.

You don't know how much you don't know until you sit down and try to write one

And the more you read and study from different sources the more confusing it becomes.

Put the books aside. Pick one copywriting mentor. Preferably one whose style you resonate with. Model their style and write your own salesletter "as if" you were them.

Give yourself a 24 hour deadline to get the first draft done. Post it here and we can give you feedback.

 

[Jimmyy]

Sure! I've got no problem with that, I'll even add it to the challenge thread. Where's the link to the challenge dropbox?

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/dta6nwats527mea/eX4ER0UYsO

Does that link work?

 

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[leono]

@leono

Do you feel your copywriting skills improving?

To be honest, the skill of copywriting is not what's important. It's nice to have, but it's not important. No, what's important is how my mind has changed! It's totally on a different level; I'm on a different level. I see things that I never saw before. I could sell a paper bag right now because I realize it's not the bag that's important, it's the value it provides: it protects your food from rain, dust and dirty air, it carries your food and a host of other items (your clothes, your books, your cans!) all at once, it stores your most delicate items, so that they don't get crushed.

I've just learned so much! I've learned about persistence, dedication, and time (Dear lord, how we squander time!). I've listened to people's hopes, dreams, doubts, and fears...

But, yes, I do feel my copywriting skills have been improving!

 

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[Rock D'Anconia]

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/eutb02hizpscst1/YZBeoVLnJu

 

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[leono]

And I'm doneeeeeeeee! I just completed The Admiral Byrd's Transpolar Expedition Letter and The Lazy Man's Way To Riches! This marks the end of this part of the mission: write out by hand the following ads --

• Do You Make These Mistakes in English? (March 6th, 2014)
  
• What Everybody Should Know About This Stock and Bond Business (March 7th - 10th, 2014)
  
• The Nancy L. Halbert Heraldry Letter (March 7th, 2014)
  
• How To Burn Off Body Fat, Hour-by-Hour (March 11th, 2014)
  
• At 60 Miles An Hour The Loudest Noise in This Rolls Royce is The Ticking of The Electric Clock (March 12th, 2014)
  
• Why Men Crack (March 13th, 2014)
  
• How To Collect From Social Security At Any Age (March 13th, 2014)
  
• The Admiral Byrd Transpolar Expedition Letter (March 14th - 15th, 2014)
  
• The Lazy Man's Way To Riches (March 15th, 2014)

Up next: Part II -- write out by hand any ads you find written by the following copywriters:

• Gary Bencivenga
• Dan Rosenthal
• Joe E. Kennedy
• Pat Garrard
• Steve Brown
• Drew Kaplan
• Claude Hopkins
• Joe Karbo
• Ben Suarez
• Joe Sugarman
• Gene Schwartz
• Gary Halbert

And what I've decided to do (because I don't like how I rushed through it the first time) is go ahead and look for ads written by each of the copywriters Gary recommends, but this time, look only for ads written by the copywriter I'm working on. For example, if I was working on Joe Karbo, I would spend a day or so looking for ads writing by him, so that the next day and beyond (depending on how many ads I find) I could work on hand writing them, then moving on to Ben Suarez, and so on.

So, what's truly up next is: looking for ads for Gary Bencivenga!

GO!

 

[oldscool]

Leona I honestly feel like you are going to be a star. You seem to be more militant about this challenge then I am. I wondered who would emerge out the group to be the cream of the crop. As in most things in life many are called, but, few are chosen. Keep rocking.

P.S. I'd like you to share the sales letters you find from:

• Dan Rosenthal
• Joe E. Kennedy
• Pat Garrard
• Steve Brown
• Drew Kaplan

 

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[leono]

Breakthrough Advertising: DONE!

Now on to: The Boron Letters...GO!

 

[leono]

And... I'm... done! Tested Advertising Methods is finished. Up next: The Robert Collier Letter Book

Also, I recently just learned something that probably should've known all along, and that's how long it takes me to read a page! I discovered that I'm averaging about 30 pages an hour, so to complete a 400 page book, for example, would require at least 13.3 or 14 hours! Why didn't I know this?

Anyway, I plan on reading The Robert Collier Letter Book in 5 days, so I'm going to need to read at least 95 pages a day, which means I'm going to need to spend 3 and a half hours on this every day! GO!

 

[leono]

I just ordered ALL of these books! Diving in head first soon. Thanks for the thread and the inspiration to do so

Go for it! It's such a mind changer. I can't tell you how differently I think now from when I started. It really teaches you what you need to know (hint: it's people: what they need, what they desire, what they lack, figure that out, give it to them, and world is yours! I can totally how this can be used both for good and evil, it's almost kind of scarey.)

 

[leono]

Step Two:

1. Hand write the following ads:

• Do You Make These Mistakes in English?
• What Everybody Should Know About This Stock and Bond Business
• The Nancy L. Halbert Heraldry Letter
• How To Burn Off Body Fat, Hour-by-Hour
• At 60 Miles An Hour The Loudest Noise in This Rolls Royce is The Ticking of The Electric Clock
• Why Men Crack
• How To Collect From Social Security At Any Age
• The Admiral Byrd Transpolar Expedition Letter
• The Lazy Man's Way To Riches

2. Hand write any ads you find written by the following copywriters:

• Gary Bencivenga
• Dan Rosenthal
• Joe E. Kennedy
• Pat Garrard
• Steve Brown
• Drew Kaplan
• Claude Hopkins
• Joe Karbo
• Ben Suarez
• Joe Sugarman
• Gene Schwartz
• Gary Halbert

3. Create a hand-drawn layout of each ad and direct mail package.

4. Take one of these packages and have the ad or direct mail package typeset. Proof it and after making any necessary corrections, have a velox (stat) made of it.

And since it took me a little over one month (31 days, I believe) to complete the last step, I think I'll aim to complete this next step in one month! But it's not a hard deadline because I haven't done any of this yet, so I have no clue how quickly or slowly I'll go with writing these ads out by hand.The 30 day "deadline" just gives me guidance, something to strive for, so I don't get distracted too badly by my daily life!

Also, since Halbert recommends finding ads by the 12 copywriters above, I think I'll spend a couple of days looking for a "few" for each one of them. In fact, I'll strive for finding at least 5 ads for each copywriter, so that there'll be 60 total (at least 60 total, maybe more)!

GO! Ready --> Fire --> Aim!

Up next: find 5 ads for each copywriter!

 

[leono]

And I'm done! I'm done with What Everybody Should Know About This Stock and Bond Business!

Up next: How To Burn Off Body Fat, Hour-by-Hour!

 

[jeremye]

Great Thread. I'm reading the Robert Collier Letters book now.

 

[Jimmyy]

I admire your ability to follow-through on this challenge! It's very inspiring.

I've gotten through about half of Scientific Advertising so far, but feel like I barely remember what I've read. Were you doing anything extra (stuff like taking notes maybe) to increase memory retention while you were reading in step one?

Notes are the 3rd part of the challenge. You'll find that you'll actually remember most of the general concepts and philosophy being taught even if most of the detail gets forgotten, I found it quite subconscious. It does get a bit mechanical reading through the books (especially RC Letter book) and much of the style seems out of date or doesn't really sell to you like it did to people back then. The thing you have to keep reminding yourself is that these ad's and techniques DID sell like crazy! Keep your eye out for why these ads were selling and what underlying psyche they were tapping in to, doing that at least helped prevent me from blasting through pages without taking anything in

 

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[leono]

And I don't know if anyone else is having a problem with their writing hand tiring out, but I read a couple of solutions to this.

Problem: Your writing hand is tiring out or it hurts to write.

Cause: One of the reasons why you're having pain in your hand is because you're tensing it and/or griping the pen too tightly!

Solution:

1. Relax your grip! (Don't hold the pen so tightly!)
2. Buy better pens! (So, you don't have to press down as hard to write.)
3. Take breaks! (Every so often, spend a few minutes shaking out your hand and applying pressure to it to get the blood flowing back into the problem areas.)

Hope this helps someone!

 

[leono]

Leona I honestly feel like you are going to be a star. You seem to be more militant about this challenge then I am. I wondered who would emerge out the group to be the cream of the crop. As in most things in life many are called, but, few are chosen. Keep rocking.

Aw! Thank you! :embarrased:

P.S. I'd like you to share the sales letters you find from:

• Dan Rosenthal
• Joe E. Kennedy
• Pat Garrard
• Steve Brown
• Drew Kaplan

No problem! I'll share all the links I find. I'll them post here and in your thread: Gary Halbert 30 Day Challenge Copywriting Group.

 

[Benp16]

Almost done with my first ever copy writing book: "The Ultimate Sales Letter" and I feel like a new writer. Just looking at my work 3 months ago is embarrassing compared to what I am creating now. Once I finish it i'm gonna try the challenge and really take my skills to the next level.

Thanks for the inspiration!

 

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[leono]

@FastlaneTiger and @Harti

You should both have some form of accountability. Start a progress thread, talk to a friend, whatever! That way you make progress every day because it'd suck to have to report, "nothing done..."

 

[Kyle Tully]

Taking on the Gary Halbert challenge to learn copywriting in 30 days.
---
Ready --> Fire --> Aim!

Beginning tomorrow, I'll begin figuring out what I'll need to do to finish this challenge within the next year or two and go from there.
---
Ready --> Aim --> Fire!

I can't help but notice how far you've veered off course from your original vision

Why are you learning copywriting... what's the end goal?

 

[leono]

The Boron Letters: DONE! (And this was much quicker and easier to read than Breakthrough Advertising!)

Next up: The Gary Halbert Letter (all back issues)

And this may take me awhile because at first glance there are over 1,000 pages worth of letters to read... Oh well...GO!

 

[leono]

And I'm done with Scientific Advertising! Now up: The Lazy Man's Way To Riches...!

 

[leono]

And I'm done with How To Write A Good Advertising! Up next: Tested Advertising Methods!

Also I've decided to "quit" the 30 day challenge because I now realize how drastically I underestimated what it would take for me to complete it ... everything in 30 days. So, instead of trying to continue on in 30 days, I'll simply attach a TBA (To Be Announced) to this challenge, and just focus on finishing these books!

In fact, my current aim is to knockout each of these remaining books in three weeks. And I'm giving myself one week, 5 days, to complete each book because I feel like if I can make it in 5 days, then I can definitely make it in 7! But "7" is for my peace of mind. I probably won't need 'em, but it's nice to have 'em, so I'll keep 'em just in case something happens!

So, my plan for the rest of this stage looks like:

1. Test Advertising Methods: February 23rd, 2014 to March 1st, 2014
2. The Robert Collier Letter Book: March 2nd, 2014 to March 8th, 2014
3. 7 Steps To Freedom II: March 9th, 2014 to March 15th, 2014
4. Move on to the next step and "start over," figuring out everything I'll need to do as I go. (March 16th, 2014 to ... ??, 2014!)

 

[ck4750]

I just ordered ALL of these books! Diving in head first soon. Thanks for the thread and the inspiration to do so

 

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[leono]

And I'm done! The Robert Collier Letter Book is finished! Up next: 7 Steps To Freedom II!

I'm moving on to the final book...!!! After this is stage 2! GO!

 

[leono]

hey I think he said to copy the other ads you have in step 2 in a generally speaking manner. In my Opinion, I dont think it is required in the challenge.

I would guess there are tons of sales letters from each of those copywriters that may set you back in finishing the challenge.

However, if you want to do it optionally then carry on.

Keep pushing man

Hmm... maybe you're right. I've been looking for ads since last night, and apparently there's a lot of them! And worse yet, I'm not entirely sure all of these ads were written by the people they claim to be written by... Instead, I think I'm going to work with what I have so far, and go from there! Also, I think I'll go back through the books because I know they have quite a few ads I could hand write, and for the ones that are just too small for me to read, I'll look those up, so I don't waste any additional time, looking for things online!

Up Next -- Hand write all of the ads Gary Halbert recommends (all nine of them!)

GO! Ready --> Fire --> Aim!

 

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[leono]

Any chance you can add some of the ads you find to the Challenge Dropbox? I think there's already the link for Gary's favourite ones in there. I'll try adding some when I actually get on to copying out the ads

Sure! I've got no problem with that, I'll even add it to the challenge thread. Where's the link to the challenge dropbox?

 

[HarryR]

Also, since Halbert recommends finding ads by the 12 copywriters above, I think I'll spend a couple of days looking for a "few" for each one of them.

www.infomarketingblog.com <- lots of gene schwartz here

 

[leono]

Step 2, Part 1 -- Hand write the following ads:

• Do You Make These Mistakes in English? (March 6th, 2014)
  
• What Everybody Should Know About This Stock and Bond Business
• The Nancy L. Halbert Heraldry Letter (March 7th, 2014)
  
• How To Burn Off Body Fat, Hour-by-Hour
• At 60 Miles An Hour The Loudest Noise in This Rolls Royce is The Ticking of The Electric Clock
• Why Men Crack
• How To Collect From Social Security At Any Age
• The Admiral Byrd Transpolar Expedition Letter
• The Lazy Man's Way To Riches

Done and Done! I've hand written two ads so far: Do You Make These Mistakes in English? and The Nancy L. Halbert Heraldry Letter! Now, I'm working on What Everybody Should Know About This Stock and Bond Business. And based off my results so far, I'm going to have to approach this step radically different from what I did with step 1. In step 1, I just had to read, and I read whenever and wherever I could. However, now that I'm writing ... things are going to have to be different because my hand (and arm! Who knew!) is tiring out. Apparently, my ability to write things out by hand lags waaaaay behind my ability to read and even type on a computer. Oh well... I guess I'll just have to build up my hand and arm muscles!

Anywho, I plan on finishing this ad: What Everybody Should Know About This Stock and Bond Business in one week (5 days). Let's see what happens! GO!

 

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[leono]

Boom! Done with How To Burn Off Body Fat, Hour-by-Hour!

Up Next: At 60 Miles An Hour The Loudest Noise In This Rolls Royce Is The Ticking of The Electric Clock!

 

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[leono]

I admire your ability to follow-through on this challenge! It's very inspiring.

I've gotten through about half of Scientific Advertising so far, but feel like I barely remember what I've read. Were you doing anything extra (stuff like taking notes maybe) to increase memory retention while you were reading in step one?

No. Taking notes is a step all on its own. In fact, it's the next step after handwriting the ads. The first time you read is just to get an overview or idea of everything.