Recommended copywriting books September 20, 2007
Posted by Niels in : Life, the universe, and everything, Personal, Work , trackbackI became interested in copywriting only about three months ago. I’d spent the past year traveling around the world teaching people to improve their relationships, but there was still something missing in my life.
The drive to learn and grow has been a constant force in my life, both on the personal side and in my work. Even though I struggled with depression in graduate school, I did get a lot of satisfaction from constantly pushing my the boundaries of scientific knowledge, as well as my own intellectual boundaries.
The whole point of doing research is that the answers are always new. I knew that at the end of every day at work, I would know something that I didn’t know that morning.
I love helping people improve their social lives, but after a year and a half of teaching, the problems I saw every workshop were the same. All the students struggle with the same issues, which is great, because I’ve seen the problems before and I know how to fix them, but at the same time - I get bored.
When I’m not challenged at work, I look for new outlets.
The other instructors and I had thought that one outlet could be the creation of new workshops. So we came up with the Advanced Art of Attraction workshop, which was incredible. I’ve never had a group of students get so much out of the workshop.
Unfortunately, my boss’s viewpoint is that additional workshops do not add any value to the company. Creating content, whether in the form of a product or a workshop, is easy. Each customer has a certain amount they’ll be willing to spend on our products, so if they don’t spend it on our latest kickass workshop, they’ll spend it on a new kickass product once we eventually come out with it.
The end result being that additional products or workshops aren’t really worth anything to the company. Lance turns down opportunities to market other people’s products all the time. What is worth money to the company is getting new customers. And for that Lance needs people who can write sales copy.
So it seemed like a good time to start learning copywriting.
I’m beginning to get the hang of it. I’ve got a long way to go before I’m as good as I’d like to be, but apparently I’m good enough to sell my trash on eBay. Which means I’m good enough to write a sales page for my own products, whatever they end up being.
At this point, I’ve given up on any monetary rewards from Pickup 101, so I’m focusing more on gaining skills that will help me in my own business. And from selling my desk and bed on Craigslist, to getting rid of my old junk on eBay, to using Google AdWords, copywriting has been fantastic.
First of all, anything by Dan Kennedy
Lance pointed me to Tested Advertising Methods
But my favorite book so far was also recommended by Lance. Cash Copy: How to Offer Your Products and Services So Your Prospects Buy Them
Comments»
Don’t worry about not getting paid enough for teaching. Lance is a cheap B%$(*(*$##d, he gets paid lots of $$$ by not paying you.
If he doesn’t pay you enough, just do as the other past instructor did and stop teaching for him.
In fact, just go independant and teach for yourself.
Good luck in Seattle!
Hey Niels,
I just wanted to say I think its quality how you post all your favourite books and links and stuff on your blog. I think its cool that you look to add value to other people. Awesome.
Anon, I wouldn’t assume that Lance is a cheap bastard. Lance has done a lot of great things in building the company, and it seems like he takes an active interest in helping and mentoring those who work for him. I don’t work for him, and this is just from outside appearances. I think it’s remarkable that Niels feels comfortable enough with his professional relationship with Lance to be able to discuss some of his frustrations on his blog, but he also indicates a business reason for why new workshops may not necessarily fly: will it bring in new students?
I don’t think other companies, such as Venusian Arts, charge all that much more than pu101, but if they pay their instructors much more, you have to wonder where pu101’s money is going, or if VA isn’t able to reinvest in the company because it’s spending too much on instructors. We’re probably missing some vital information, and my hypothesizing may be completely off base. All I know is that pu101 has some awesome products and instructors, and I’ve been willing to pay them for it.
This is an interesting point about Lance’s lack of interest for new products.
For example, DeAngelo has been creating a program after program, on the most retarded sub-topics. And he seems to be quite a marketer, so maybe it does work for him?
I think there is a good segment of population that just keeps buying this stuff, since anything gets mentally old after a while. And if there are no results, people might feel that gotta get the next magic potion.
If Lance is not saturating the market, other guys will step in to exploit this demand for the latest and greatest, and so just by sheer volume of titles the other guys will make more sales. I guess time will tell …
We should talk. I may have an outlet for you to get your stuff out and make some money.