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Famous Copywriter Gets Busted...For Murder

by KingOfContentMarketing
3 replies
In the foreward to Joe Sugarman's excellent "The Adweek Copywriting Handbook," Ray Schultz placed Joe among the colorful greats in direct mail history. Ray's list included Gene Schwartz, the copywriting legend, and Louis Victor Eytinge, a "convicted murderer who learned to write in prison."

Wait. What?

Intrigued, I consulted Uncle Google to learn more about Mr. Eytinge. Ben Locker has a good summary. Joshua Buhs has also done extensive research. Loren Woirhaye references it as well.

It seems our friend Eytinge had a habit of passing bad checks. One day, he decided to add murder to the list.

In prison he learned to write sales copy. He got so good he was selling thousands of dollars worth of stuff from his cell. He wrote down some of his sales writing philosophy in the booklet "Writing Business Letters That Get The Business."

In the end, many agreed Mr. Eytinge had talent. He just couldn't get out of his own way.
#busted #copywriter #famous #murder
  • Profile picture of the author Marc Rodill
    I just wanted to give you a big THANK YOU now that I've read Victor's book. It's phenomenal. Hard to imagine he knew all of those "secrets" in 1914. It just goes to show you... not much has changed!

    Marc

    PS. Can't believe how the story goes: he AGAIN lost his freedom after only a short four years! What a silly, downright dumb act, for such a smart, able guy. Typical.
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    • Profile picture of the author Nick Copy
      Weirdly enough I also stumbled across this just last week as I started reading Sugarman's "Adweek Copywriting Handbook" -- which I strongly recommend to those who have not read.

      His story is so interesting that I can easily see it being the basis of a film. Talk about a killer copywriter.
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  • Profile picture of the author marciayudkin
    If I'm not mistaken, I learned about this interesting character from Napoleon Hill. I tried to find out more, but got stuck.

    Thanks, Joe, for the additional references.

    Marcia Yudkin
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    Check out Marcia Yudkin's No-Hype Marketing Academy for courses on copywriting, publicity, infomarketing, marketing plans, naming, and branding - not to mention the popular "Marketing for Introverts" course.
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