Gary Halbert 30 day challenge Copywriting Group

[BobbyPenzero]

Hey guys, just wanted to chip in with a couple of sentences. Firstly, can I get the dropbox link? Would really appreciate it.

Secondly, I'm not stressing and cramming all of this in to 30 days - I'm going to take 90, reading and writing when I get the chance. Anyone else? I've never been good at cramming anyway.

 

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[Carrots]

What's stopping you from doing it within 30 days?

 

[BobbyPenzero]

I just really don't feel that I want to rush something like this - in a sense it's a personal thing. I've never really committed to anything nor mastered anything before, and I just feel that 30 days is too short to get everything done, and done excellently. I'm delighted for those that can, but I really want to soak everything up, retain it, make it a part of me, and I feel that 90 days is the right amount of time.

 

[oldscool]

My deadline is 01/03/2014, sounds good.

you got a time machine?

 

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[Angus]

I started reading Boron Letters when IceCreamKid first mentioned it, so I count from that day.

 

[oldscool]

I started reading Boron Letters when IceCreamKid first mentioned it, so I count from that day.

but your deadline was last month,lol.

P.S. I wish someone have put up a curly (from three stooges) laugh gif. I wanted to find that, but, anyways, back to trying to knock out this book

 

[oldscool]

So my order was cancelled by seller on Amazon. Apparently there was an issue with his inventory. Oh well. I'll read the other books first. I wasn't able to find that particular book in PDF online.

Thats because you have to buy it, &,wow they raised the price already. You guys/gals been buying these 4th edition books up like that? Is one vendor selling them as a monopoly? How they go from $5 to $25 that fast on amazon? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0139069097/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20

 

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[oldscool]

http://www.alibris.com/booksearch?title=tested+advertising+methods,+4th+edition&mtype=B One for $7 though I cannot be sure of paperback editions. I just dont have a 4th edition paperback so you'll have to ask the vendor any questions or concerns.

http://www.betterworldbooks.com/tested-advertising-methods-4th-edition-id-0139068910.aspx starting at $40

 

[Angus]

but your deadline was last month,lol.

P.S. I wish someone have put up a curly (from three stooges) laugh gif. I wanted to find that, but, anyways, back to trying to knock out this book

Oh, I'm European, nevermind, haha.

By the way is the 4th edition really that different from the 5th?

 

[oldscool]

The fifth edition was put out after Caples died.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars I'd prefer a refund, June 13, 2011
By
C. G. Bradshaw (Cape Town, South Africa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Tested Advertising Methods (Prentice Hall Business Classics) (Paperback)
The 5th edition is a waste of time. Wish I had never been conned into buying it. The 4th edition is a must read.

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars "How To Use The Bathroom", March 16, 2010
By
CopywritingGuy - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tested Advertising Methods (Prentice Hall Business Classics) (Paperback)
The above headline was seriously touted by the 5th edition of this book as an example of a *good* headline. No, I am not kidding. It's on page 59.

John Caples himself would have said it was a crappy headline (no pun intended) because there's no news, it doesn't offer you anything you'd want, and it doesn't arouse your curiosity.

The 5th edition of this book is ruined by all the garbage added by whoever "revised" it.

The other reviewer who said to get the 4th edition is absolutely right. Bottom line: do not buy the 5th edition sold by Amazon. Instead look for a used bookseller offering the 4th edition or earlier. The book that was actually written by Caples is one of the most valuable marketing books, period.



So listen: Not only is it important what you do learn; it is equally important what you do not learn. -Gary Halbert

 

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[Carrots]

WARNING!!!

Do NOT buy the Kindle version of the Robert Collier Letters. It is not a legitimate copy. Unfortunately, I did not do my research and made the mistake of buying it. It has a lot of format errors and repeats whole paragraphs.

 

[Paul Gallo]

It took me 6 hours before it clicked...
Boron Letters - Check.
Robert Collier Letter Book - Check.
7 Steps - Check.
I devoured them all. Then I popped open and Young's Double Chocolate stout... and wrote copy.
30 minutes turned into and hour and a half. I was left with a smoking pen and 4 pages of copy.
- Establish a emotional with the reader, check.
-Date and time, to make it more personal, check.
-Inject some personal details. Check.
-Present your offer- Check.

The copy I was left with was Copy a 5 year old would laugh at- and it feels FANTASTIC.
My biggest take away, and the one I wanted to share with everyone was massive action! It felt right. I had to put down the dam books and
start my writing. I know Gary Halbert would probably want to curse me out, but this felt right. It was a huge breakthrough for me. Don't bother learning anything if there is no immediate action after you put the book down. Really.

Study, Learn. DO . Do some more. And then, DO SOME MORE.( Then get some icecream!)

Rinse. wash. repeat.

 

[oldscool]

Yeah, guys and gals with no experience do what Gary says. Of course, if you already have experience like finish 2 books (one might be 886 pages if it is the 2nd manual) and boron letters newsletters in 6 hours? then by all means deviate if you want.

I hadnt learned the art of speed reading despite what Tim Ferris said

 

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[oldscool]

WARNING!!!

Do NOT buy the Kindle version of the Robert Collier Letters. It is not a legitimate copy. Unfortunately, I did not do my research and made the mistake of buying it. It has a lot of format errors and repeats whole paragraphs.

i guess this is my fault. I assumed people would know what to do as far as this book. I will update my front page to make sure noone else gets taken for a ride. By the way, you can buy the book from the RC family. Here is the link:http://www.robertcollierpublications.com/page/by-robert-collier#letters

i'll put it up on the front page.

 

[Paul Gallo]

Yeah, guys and gals with no experience do what Gary says. Of course, if you already have experience like finish 2 books (one might be 886 pages if it is the 2nd manual) and boron letters newsletters in 6 hours? then by all means deviate if you want.

I hadnt learned the art of speed reading despite what Tim Ferris said

Oldfool -
Just to be clear - I read Suarez before. I definitely couldn't read it all in 6 hours... and the others... no way. I'm just saying I read for 6 hours...skim, skim, read read. Just my way - then stuff hit me like a brick wall and I wanted to share.

Thanks for the support!

 

[oldscool]

Hey everyone I just did a rough estimate on when I would be finish reading the books and the back newsletters,(plus boron), since starting the challenge. I calculated it will take total of 19 days BEFORE I get to the reading and copying the ads!
Note: That is just the first set of instruct. I guess I should've mapped out and calculated sooner :embarrased: .

I'd like to know how David and others are strategizing their way to knock this out in 30 days. It would be nice to see the way you layed out your plan with this.

P.S. Does anyone have an unlocked security settings version of halbert newsletters on pdf?

 

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[merryrows]

It took me 6 hours before it clicked...
Boron Letters - Check.
Robert Collier Letter Book - Check.
7 Steps - Check.
I devoured them all. Then I popped open and Young's Double Chocolate stout... and wrote copy.
30 minutes turned into and hour and a half. I was left with a smoking pen and 4 pages of copy.
- Establish a emotional with the reader, check.
-Date and time, to make it more personal, check.
-Inject some personal details. Check.
-Present your offer- Check.
The copy I was left with was Copy a 5 year old would laugh at- and it feels FANTASTIC.
My biggest take away, and the one I wanted to share with everyone was massive action! It felt right. I had to put down the dam books and
start my writing. I know Gary Halbert would probably want to curse me out, but this felt right. It was a huge breakthrough for me. Don't bother learning anything if there is no immediate action after you put the book down. Really.
Study, Learn. DO . Do some more. And then, DO SOME MORE.( Then get some icecream!)
Rinse. wash. repeat.

As I was reading the books, one after another, not taking notes makes me forgot other valuable infos. I am thinking of writing after every book to try the styles of different authors.. But I am afraid to deviate the instructions of Gary.. Unless I wrote word by word, they won't sink as much YET.

Any suggestions?

Hey everyone I just did a rough estimate on when I would be finish reading the books and the back newsletters,(plus boron), since starting the challenge. I calculated it will take total of 19 days BEFORE I get to the reading and copying the ads!
Note: That is just the first set of instruct. I guess I should've mapped out and calculated sooner .

I calculated mine too. Let's see how can it stretch us to the limit. Without writing word by word, 20+ days rough estimate for reading all books and ads. woooah.

 

[oldscool]

As I was reading the books, one after another, not taking notes makes me forgot other valuable infos. I am thinking of writing after every book to try the styles of different authors.. But I am afraid to deviate the instructions of Gary.. Unless I wrote word by word, they won't sink as much YET.

Any suggestions?

My plan is to do exactly that on the 2nd go round or, on 3rd after the challenge. Honestly, though,I know that the no notes part is tough to do for the first time. I cant imagine what your mockup will look like. Though, I think once you get to looking at the ads and breaking them down you'll get a good idea how to create your ad or website or whatever.

Not sure what to tell you. I wanted to cheat too because I wanted to breakdown every book!

Now, about this business of not taking notes: Don't worry. We're not finished with those books, newsletters, and Boron Letters after just one reading. No Sir. Not by a long shot. Those books and those letters should become your lifetime companions.

However, for now, I want you to just rip right through them, non-stop.

 

[BobbyPenzero]

Finished the Boron Letters and on to Lazy Man's Way To Riches. What have you done for the exercises, anyone who is on this? Are you doing them, or just reading through?

 

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[Paul Gallo]

As I was reading the books, one after another, not taking notes makes me forgot other valuable infos. I am thinking of writing after every book to try the styles of different authors.. But I am afraid to deviate the instructions of Gary.. Unless I wrote word by word, they won't sink as much YET.

Any suggestions?




I calculated mine too. Let's see how can it stretch us to the limit. Without writing word by word, 20+ days rough estimate for reading all books and ads. woooah.

When I wrote, it was not scientific at all. It was just a deluge of words. Reviewing it, I noticed I had solid takeaways from the Boron letters.
I'll stop myself from giving you and suggestions and be quite candid - I have no idea what I'm doing with copy. What I can suggest is this : Listen to your gut. I started the challenge thinking I was going to follow every step to a T. Then after a massive reading session it felt natural to write. So I did, and that felt great! Its the first time "work" was ever fun to me. I think I might be on to something here...

Also, Oldfool makes a good point about the notes... I wanted to take Notes too... DON'T. I think that would slow your learning because you'll go back to your notes to review... and what if your notes suck? Just something to think about.....
Read the books casually, then again with a more critical eye. Then again. I would pick up "How to Read a Book", Mortimer Adler. Seriously. I've been able squeeze so much more out of every text after I understood the different ways to go about a book.

 

[jujumac]

I've been using this forum for a while now and have been absorbing the various fantastic threads. I read the post by @IceCreamKid which recommended learning copywriting (thanks for your wise words BTW) and that led me to find this one. I'm still in the 'not quite sure what to do, need to knuckle down and take action' phase and so wasn't intended to post anything until I had something tangible to show but had to write a quick post.

I thought that this challenge sounded interesting but I wasn't sure if it would be me just doing more learning and not actually doing. BUT I just went into my living room to have a bit of a sort out and start packing (moving in about 2 weeks) and picked up a bag full of bits and bobs and this was in it! WTF!



Actually can't believe it. Don't even remember buying it and a lot of my old stuff stayed in storage so this slipped in somehow and has stayed hidden for a year. And 5 minutes after I read this post I find it in the first bag I pick up?!

A sign is a sign - so count me in! Will start reading the first book right now.

Thanks for starting the challenge and for outlining what we need to do!

 

[merryrows]

Now, about this business of not taking notes: Don't worry. We're not finished with those books, newsletters, and Boron Letters after just one reading. No Sir. Not by a long shot. Those books and those letters should become your lifetime companions.
However, for now, I want you to just rip right through them, non-stop.

Rip them NON STOP

 

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[adoredunchin]

I'm not sure what I found here
http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com/1FOTGHLFramesetBoron20.html
This is Boron Letters 2.0. Perhaps this should be on the list too

 

[nickR8]

I'm also going to join the challenge to continue working on my copywriting.

I'm a little late to the party but I've already read the Boron Letters, Scientific Advertising, Joe Karbo's book and am currently reading The Robert Collier Letter Book. Also, I copied a few of those ads about a year ago... does that still count?

Do NOT buy the Kindle version of the Robert Collier Letters. It is not a legitimate copy. Unfortunately, I did not do my research and made the mistake of buying it. It has a lot of format errors and repeats whole paragraphs.

I second this. I'm currently reading it on Kindle and it is almost unreadable. I've already ordered a physical copy of the book... no way I'm reading that again on Kindle and making notes.

 

[FionaS]

I'm also going to join the challenge to continue working on my copywriting.

I'm a little late to the party but I've already read the Boron Letters, Scientific Advertising, Joe Karbo's book and am currently reading The Robert Collier Letter Book. Also, I copied a few of those ads about a year ago... does that still count?


I second this. I'm currently reading it on Kindle and it is almost unreadable. I've already ordered a physical copy of the book... no way I'm reading that again on Kindle and making notes.

What are your issues on the Kindle, exactly?

I have it on PDF, I've had issues figuring out what ad starts where - the formatting is the same, so when he lists a bunch of examples it all looks like it's part of the same add. Other than that, it looks good, so far. I'm only on Chapter 7, though.

 

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[Carrots]

The Boron Letters finished.

 

[1step]

Just finished reading scientific advertising by claude hopkins. The version I bought from Amazon is horrible. There are TONS of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Might be an opportunity for someone

 

[Carrots]

In the reading list when it says "The Gary Halbert Letter" is he referring to the newsletter Archive on the site?

 

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[Carny]

I got sick and had a minor setback, but just finished Scientific Advertising. I had the same edition with the typos and errors too.

 

[merryrows]

In the reading list when it says "The Gary Halbert Letter" is he referring to the newsletter Archive on the site?

I am not sure if he's talking about the archives. I have a compilation pdf of the letters, I don't know if they are the same with the newsletters in the site.

If you want the copy, shoot me a PM.