Are any of you put off when a sales letter doesn't have proper grammatical structure?

Language is such a fluid thing. It bobs and weaves through the fluxing changes of society and culture. Rules change as time goes by. The split infinite thingie came from the fact that in Latin the infinitive was built in with the verb form itself so infinitives could not be split. Get on with it. In the Middle Ages it made sense; Today it is passe. And good writers begin sentences with conjunctions all the time, just as I did (not to imply I'm a good writer though).

When I do live writing seminars I begin by handing out a page which was written by Bennie "Duke" Sanchez. It is titled Duke Daddy's Night Out. I explain that when I was teaching I gave the assignment to students to write a story about some far off place they would like to visit. Bennie's story begins...

riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs. Sir Tristram, violer d'amores, fr'over the short sea, had passencore rearrived from North Armorica on this side the scraggy isthmus of Europe Minor to wielderfight his penisolate war: nor had topsawyer's rocks by the stream Oconee exaggerated themselse to Laurens County's gorgios while they went doublin their mumper all the time: nor avoice from afire bellowsed mishe mishe to tauftauf thuartpeatrick: not yet, though venissoon after, had a kidscad buttended a bland old isaac: not yet, though all's fair in vanessy, were sosie sesthers wroth with twone nathandjoe. Rot a peck of pa's malt had Jhem or Shen brewed by arclight and rory end to the regginbrow was to be seen ringsome on the aquaface . . .

I then ask the people (who are all educators) to write a comment and grade Bennie's paper. I get comments such as: What drug were you on when you wrote this? Have your parents contact me. It is obvious you have learned nothing about composition during the entire semester. See me after class!

So after everyone has decided that this is one of the worst examples of writing they have ever seen, I pull out a copy of Finnegans Wake and ask one of the teachers to begin reading to the rest of the attendees. They begin,

riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle...

Good god almighty! This piece of trash wasn't written by Bennie "Duke" Sanchez, it was written by James Joyce--one of the most influential literary geniuses of the 20th century.

So, while every teacher in attendance has imaginatively confined "Bennie" to the dummy corner of the room, head down--not allowed to interact with the rest of the students--it turns out that Bennie (Joyce) had transcended the contemporary rules of grammar, usage, syntax, spelling, and punctuation in favor of his own brand of creative writing.

It turns out we put the wrong person in the dummy room ! There is a huge difference between knowledge and learning. Bennie may not have expressed the fact that he had the correct "knowledge" but that by no means is an indicator that he has not learned. He transcended what was taught!

Teachers confuse knowledge and learning in every classroom in America--every day of the year. They cannot test learning accurately so they make wild leaps of illogic--they make inferences about student learning based upon student performance as indicated by easy to test knowledge and facts. Such inferences are not at all good measures of genuine learning.

I'm not suggesting we abandon all of the rules of good writing. Not at all. I happen to be very hesitant about buying products from sales pages which are poorly written. However, what it really comes down to is how well your copy is converting. It's about split testing. If writing in a more informal, colloquial form converts--then go with it. This is a business and business is about making money.

I've heard Jeremy K. mention several times that he has a 9th grade education. So you don't have a piece of paper that says you're a genius! Big freakin' deal. For the most part, success in public schools is a matter of sit down, shut up, and do as you're told. Really! The "best" students do those things well and are rewarded accordingly.

If you've got a great smile, good handwriting, and can sit still for an hour at a time--you'll probably do quite well in a factory-modeled public school setting. But those qualities (sit down, shut up, and do as you're told) are not at all the qualities that make for a great entrepreneur--indeed, they are exactly the opposite of what is needed.

Again, if you can write copy that converts and produce product that delivers--you can make it in this business whatever your level of eduction. End of lecture. Go sit in the dummy corner of the class. You'll probably be in better company than you would find in the front row anyway!
--Mike