Dramatic Sales Writing

So anyway, I've always had little interest in the types
of advertising generated by ad agencies, and so little
knowledge of working conditions there.

It is reasonable to assume though that beginners
are poorly paid and only proven big names make the
real money.

I once knew a guy who worked at an ad agency here
in the St Louis area at an agency in downtown Clayton, but it
was long ago, before I even considered ad writing of
any kind.

I was told by a mutual friend that he was considered
an up and coming star in the field.

But he quit to become a minister. Last I saw him, he had
a big cross around his neck, so presumably he still does.

Anyway, I think the main point is clear.

Except for a very few top writers in
other areas, the best field of writing
to make money in, especially with an
independent lifestyle, is as a direct
marketing copywriter.

When it comes to agency copywriting, I don't
have enough experience to even began to
evaluate the course's comments on that.

I always hated mass market advertising -- even
since I was a kid having my favorite shows
interrupted by women gushing about how
detergent made their clothes whiter.

I loved the advent of cable TV so I could
watch movies without ads on them.

So I never wanted to be the person making those
ads.

Even though I now have a much more positive
attitude toward advertising, I still don't like
interruptions.

I don't watch TV, but if I did, I'd watch movies
on cable, satellite or DVD -- not with commercial
interruptions.

I DO listen to a lot of radio -- and I still hate
having the music or the programming interrupted by
commercials. I almost always reach down and flip to
another station.

Yet, occasionally on weekend mornings I catch a
radio infomercial about a nutritional product -- and
I enjoy listening to that.

Does that make sense?

I hate short, jangly jingles and short, fast pitches
for mortgages and erection enhancement products. That's
true of radio ads, TV commercials and newspaper/magazine
space ads.

Yet I will listen to radio infomericials, cable TV
shows pitching me get rich with real estate courses and
will sit down to read direct mail letters on how to
get rich in options.

Is there a pattern here?

Partly it's because most short commercials are for
products I'm not interested in or regard as not
very important. I mean, I don't need commercials to
tell me about McDonalds. I already know about them.

When I want to eat there, I will. If I don't, I
won't -- so stop yammering at me about them.

But that's not the total difference. There's a hair
re-growing product I hear advertised on the radio and
I don't like its ads -- but would probably enjoy
hearing a long show demonstrating that it works and
how it works.

But don't just tell me it's "the product of the 21st
century." That is so meaningless it's not even a
feature.

I'm a potential buyer -- but that stuff has so far
totally failed to move me to buy it. Convince me
that it's worth my money.

Give me information about a product that could benefit
me. Give me a story. Entertain and inform me.

Treat me like an intelligent person, not an idiotic
who's moved by ridiculous slogans.

copywriting gurus on eBay

So how about nonfiction writing?

That tends to fall into the category of normal
journalism -- reporting for local newspapers.

Or writing articles for magazines.

Or writing books.

Reporters do tend to make very little money,
unless and until they expand their talent
and accomplishments into either high profile
assignments for the major media (White House
Correspondent for ABC, say) or get a high
profile media job, such as anchoring for a
major network.

Only a relative handful of journalists reach
those heights and it takes time.

But they can also parlay their experiences
into books which may make good money. Either
books about major stories they've covered
or about themselves.

The life of a magazine article writer is pretty
accurately described in the course, though if
anything the course is too charitable.

Magazine article writers must select their
target market magazines, study them and
their angles, come up with a list of ideas
they could write and which they think the
magazine would like to publish, send a
query letter on these ideas to the editor,
wait for their response, have most of them
shot down, finally get one tentatively
accepted (tentative because although the
editor likes your idea, that doesn't mean
they'll like the actual article you submit),
complete the research, write the article,
send it in, get told to cut out 500 words,
finally get it approved after several
re-writes . . . and maybe if you're lucky
it'll be published and paid for within
6 to 8 months.

Larger magazines do pay somewhat well and on
acceptance, but the competition is fierce.

Smaller magazines don't much very much and
pay on publication (which can be the above
6 to 8 months and even much longer), and
yet the competition is still fierce.

There is big money in writing non-fiction
books -- if you write a bestseller.

There's no rule that says you can't, but I've
noticed that most bestsellers are NOT written
by ordinary nonfiction writers.

They're written by celebrities. People who are
experts in other fields (doctors writing about
how to lose weight). People who have had
something newsworthy happen to them (Jessica
Simpson). Historians writing about interesting
historical events and people.

Some bestsellers are written by nonfiction
writers who specialize in popular areas -- such
as Ann Rule who writes true crime books.

Many of the above people do use ghost writers,
since they themselves are not professional
writers.

But most nonfiction bestsellers do come from
people who are NOT primarily writers. They are
people who bring something else to the table.

I won't say it's impossible, but it's relatively
difficult to publish a nonfiction book, and even
more difficult for it to be a bestseller, in the
same way you can write a nonfiction article for
a magazine.

Magazine article writers interview an expert or
two, explain some findings that benefit the
magazine's readership, and get published.

In book writer, you pretty much have to be the
expert yourself.


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