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I'm a crappy writer

by simplewriting
11 replies
Yes, I said it!! I SUCK at writing, my grammar and punctuation make grammar Nazi's pull their hair out and scream with utter irritation.

But you know what?

It doesn't matter. As long as I'm making sense and my copy has a smooth flow...its all good. I've come to understand that the goal of my copy is to grab my customers attention and lead him straight to the buy button.

You have to understand that everything you write is leading the customer to the next sentence and eventually to the "Buy now" button. You have to be persuasive, But you also have to "lead" him through your copy.

The role of every sentence you write is to lead the customer to the next one. So just write whatever the heck you want to without aiming for perfection and preferably, as a letter to your ideal customer profile.

Once you're finished, you can go back to your "crappy" draft after a day or two and edit it until its clear, concise and gets your message across without any kind of confusion.

Its like driving a car, it starts coming to you naturally after a while.

I know there are people out here who doubt if they'll ever be able to write good copy. You spend thousands on courses and never write a single word of copy because you always seek perfection. Have you ever seen a letter consistently pull in a 100% conversion rate? I haven't.

You can write the crappiest letter in history.. revise it and turn it into a winner. You just need to get your foot in the door.

-Kunal
#crappy #writer
  • Profile picture of the author jjbalagosa
    This is true and good advice.

    I just had a thorough read through of Joe Karbo's ad, "Lazy Man's Way to Riches," which is legendary to many copywriters.

    To my surprise, it was riddled with grammatical errors.

    It drove me nuts, to tell you the truth.

    Yet it effectively sold 400,000 copies of his $10 book. Which is impressive, even by today's standards!

    Alex Jeffreys taught me to focus on the art of business rather than the science of it. In this case, the "art" is the salesmanship. Spelling and grammar are the science.

    I'm a science guy, so it's been a rough transition. But I'm a believer.
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  • Profile picture of the author simplewriting
    Originally Posted by Ken_Caudill View Post

    The only thing I can see wrong with your writing is the cliche about not being able to write. It gets tiresome.
    I edited the post at least 5 times before publishing it. Writing isn't exactly second nature to me...I've just got decent editing skills. My writing chops have definitely improved over the year, But that wasn't always the case.
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    You're only as good as your last sentence...

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  • Profile picture of the author LastingLifeSuccess
    I liked your post, Simplewriting. You reached me with your honesty and down to earth style.
    And you are so right about the power of editing after you have let your piece rest for a while.
    The part about leading your prospect to the next line of the copy all the way to the buy button is so true. It has to be like that, compelling, driving, on to the next thought. Thanks for the post. A good one.
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  • Profile picture of the author Richard Phillip
    Great post. Thankfully, copywriting, like any skill, gets better the more often you practice it.

    Richard
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    Richard Winser
    For daily copywriting tips, and 10 FREE headline templates go here.
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  • Profile picture of the author AndrewCavanagh
    Before I could afford to buy the thousand dollar courses on copy
    I had to make some money...writing copy.

    So I studied all the great copy I could find online.

    I got packets of file cards and on each card I wrote a headline
    from a great piece of copy.

    Then I would flick through that pile of file cards several times a
    week just getting familiar with great headlines.

    Then I studied opening lines, bullets, calls to action.

    I read everything I could find online free from John Carlton and
    Gary Halbert and other great copywriters.

    And I wrote a lot of sales copy.

    I started charging what I could get and working my way up from
    there.

    When it was obvious I could write a little I started approaching
    the people who were selling secondhand course or reselling
    marketing courses and offered to do copy for them in exchange
    for their products.

    Doing that I amassed a huge library of courses only paying for a
    tiny fraction of them.


    So if you're committed and you really throw yourself into this you
    can learn to write good copy and it doesn't have to cost you money
    to do it.

    You just have to be willing to write a lot and study great copy.

    Kindest regards,
    Andrew Cavanagh
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    Old School Copy Like This Is BACK & Converting Like Crazy!
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  • Profile picture of the author Raydal
    When I was in seminary, students would make a play on the
    word using "cemetery" instead. Now I get the word play
    for "copywriter", "crappy-writer"

    -Ray Edwards
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    The most powerful and concentrated copywriting training online today bar none! Autoresponder Writing Email SECRETS
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  • Profile picture of the author mert
    "You can write the crappiest letter in history.. revise it and turn it into a winner. You just need to get your foot in the door."

    You got me there!

    It goes without saying... Just do what you got to do! I believe you!

    I like to grind every thought out there... re-read re-read and re-read until I get it rolling!
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