Stories Sell - How Many Are True? - Do You Regret?

Nikhil,

The way you've worded the question makes it difficult to answer honestly.

"Do I regret ever writing a fake story?"

No. I can't answer any other way as it's phrased.

Do I regret any of the bullshit yarns I've spun over the course of 20+ years writing copy?

Of course. I regret telling plenty of 100% factually accurate stories, too.

Would it surprise you that the most dangerously effective persuasion typically occurs in the realm of verifiable fact? The truth of the proof is the "poof!" of the magic trick.

But embroidering on the truth is what professional copywriters do.

We amplify the positive, desirable qualities of the subjects we write about...

...and we minimize the less desirable, problematic aspects.

We complicate the simple and simplify the complicated.

We transform boring into fascinating... expensive into justifiable... scary into doable...

And we do all of it so we can convince someone to take the action we want them to RIGHT NOW.

Yes, there are lying liars who lie in marketing.

Some of them make a lot of money and sell boatloads of stuff (cough Kevin Trudeau.)

A disproportionately high percentage of these shitweasels wind up broke, busted or screwed over by a partner eventually. Karma's a bitch that way...

But truly professional copywriters - we don't have to lie or fake it like that - the hook, the story, the "it" of the thing is always hiding in there.

Could John Carlton have written his infamous One-Legged Golfer letter straight from his imagination? Probably, but he didn't have to because the hook that made it one of the most swiped sales letters of all time was in there the whole time, waiting for him to discover and exploit it.

Before experience has tempered your reactions to what you see in the marketplace, bad examples of bad behavior tend to jump out at you and yell, "HEY! Look how full of shit I am... and yet, I'm MAKING MONEY and YOU'RE NOT... Nyah, nyah, nehnyah, nyah."

Ignore those...

Hope this helps,

Brian

P.S. - For the love of God - it's COPY. Photocopiers make "a copy" or "copies". Copywriters write copy.