“Not one man in a thousand has accuracy of eye and judgment sufficient to become an eminent breeder. If gifted with these qualities, and he studies his subject for years, and devotes his lifetime to it with indomitable perseverance, he will succeed, and may make great improvements; if he wants any of these qualities, he will assuredly fail. Few would readily believe in the natural capacity and years of practice requisite to become even a skillful pigeon-fancier.”
I’ll tell you in a moment who wrote that quote. But first, let me admit how foolish I was.
Many years ago, in my first three months of writing copy for money, I thought I’d learned everything there is to know about copywriting.
After all, I’d read Joe Sugarman’s Adweek book and a bunch of Gary Halbert’s newsletters. I’d learned you’re supposed to get attention and turn features into benefits. In the end you had to include a call-to-action. Oh yeah. Also open loops, like I used above. What else is there?
It was a serious case of newbie blindness.
That’s when you know just enough to explain everything away, without seeing the subtle detail that divides failure from success. Take the following headline for example:
The 7 Deadliest Crimes Against Yourself
Are You Guilty of Any of Them?
“A listicle with a warning.” That’s what I would have said back then. “I could write the same, without being so melodramatic. There’s nothing special here.”
Well today, I can see many special things in this short headline.
For example, how it sets you up to expect the 7 deadly sins — and then subverts your expectations. Or how it says deadliest instead of deadly. Or how it sneakily uses “crimes against yourself” rather than ” causes of your anxiety.”
And by the way, I don’t think any of those things are accidental.
The guy who wrote this headline was Gene Schwartz. He was an eminent copywriter, one in a thousand, really. He devoted a lifetime to writing copy with “indomitable perseverance.” As a result, he made great improvements in this field.
Maybe that’s more than your ambition right now. Fine. It’s also more than my ambition. But you might still like to hear the following:
If you want to become a good copywriter, and make yourself a lot of money as a result, then it doesn’t have to take unusual “natural capacity.” I’ve managed, and my natural capacity is common.
But like Charles Darwin says in the quote at the top, it does take practice to become a skillful copy-fancier. It can take you years, like it took me. Or maybe you can do it more quickly, if you don’t waste your time like I did, thinking that I already know everything.
Which brings me to my question for you:
Have you gone through any copywriting course or training in 2021? Anything you would recommend? Anything you would warn others against?
I’ll be transparent about why I’m asking. I’m nearing the halfway point of the trial run of my bullets course. And I am thinking about the next run, which will kick off probably in early June.
So if you’re interested in taking this course down the line… then write me an email and tell me about any copy training you have or have not liked. It will help me make my course better — and more useful to you if you do ever decide to take it.
But bullets course? Maybe you don’t even know what I’m talking about. If that’s the case and you’re curious, take a look at this post, which basically gives you a free sample lesson:
https://bejakovic.com/surprise-how-to-make-your-copy-more-appealing-by-saying-less/