Very Good Copy: 207 Micro-Lessons on Thinking and Writing Like a Copywriter

Writing is important, of course, and hopefully, the dialogue, anti-description, and subtext I created illustrates the enormous chasm between a human’s turn of phrase and that of a machine. But even so, if that chasm were to close — years or decades into the future, if ever — I hope every copywriter reading this finds solace in the fact that writing... See more

Many of us are wired to look at work as something that should produce monetary rewards. Or at least with writing, some amount of attention, or new followers. But on the internet, sustained attention may take years to materialize, if at all. And too many people are focused on short-term followers instead of the genuine credibility that can come from... See more

“A few tips on how to be a better writer:

– write about what fascinates you

– make one point per sentence

– use stories to make your point

– cut extra words like “really” and “very”

– read the whole thing out loud

– post publicly (you’ll try harder when you know others will read it)

And finally, be more thoughtful about what you consume. The quality of id... See more

So, a good process for making your ideas stickier is: (1) Identify the central message you need to communicate—find the core; (2) Figure out what is counterintuitive about the message—i.e., What are the unexpected implications of your core message? Why isn’t it already happening naturally? (3) Communicate your message in a way that breaks your audi

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