Who To Follow To Become A Better Writer?

11 years ago

Writers do two things: They read and they write. Mostly write.

First, about reading: If you want to become a better writer you should read good writing. Not "fine writing" necessarily; after all, you are not trying to appeal to a select few. But good writing.

So what is good writing? It is writing which appeals to people. Who, after all are you writing for? Certainly you are writing for people, not for snobs and not for critics.

And what writing appeals to people? Well, try fairy tales and stories for children. Take a look at Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. It is in print, for sale in bookstores, 50 years after it was written. The average bestseller lasts a few weeks.

If you put that quality of writing in your emails, people will read them.

Second, about writing: Well, you write. And write. And write. After you have written a couple hundred thousand words you will be a much better writer. Then people can follow your writing to see how it is done.

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Snow_Predator 11 years ago

Thanks Dan

I'll get myself a copy of Where The Wild Things Are. I'll be doing lots of reading and lots of writing from now on in. Frank Kern recommended reading Chinaski's The Post Office, and any of Harold Robbins' books. I'm half way through the Post Office, and will order some of Harold Robbins stuff as well.

I'm also listening to Michael Savage, who I hear is a very engaging radio host who tells a lot of stories.

In terms of writing, I've decided to take Ben Settle's advice and start writing emails to my list every single day.

Edit: Just looked up 'Where The Wild Things Are' on Amazon. I read that as a kid... doesn't it just have a sentence per page? o_O. Got good ratings though, must be something in the story.
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Marc Rodill

11 years ago

Matt Furey is famous for saying "Write talk, talk write". In other words, just write like you talk. Most good writers have an almost seamless flow from their thoughts onto paper, as if they were talking. Anything you can find that Matt says on this subject is worth it. He's good at getting you into telling stories. Basically just learn to tell stories and write like you talk. Everybody's opinion of good writing will vary. Good luck impressing school teachers for example.

Hope this helps
Marc Rodill

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Rod Cortez

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Snow_Predator

Hey folks

I want to become a better writer. I want to be able to write emails that engage and captivate my readers.

Whose writings should I follow to become a better writer?

Hey Snow, just to clarify: you want to become a better overall writer? A better copywriter? Or both?

There are also different kinds of styles as far as engaging your readers.

Paul Myers does a great job of this in his newsletter over at http://talkbiz.com/

Eben Pagan does a solid job of engaging his readers at both his DoubleYourdating & Get Altitude websites. I would opt-in to study his style.

I like John Carlton, Michel Fortin, and Gary Bencivenga's styles and the way they engage their readership.

Also the late Gary Halbert, you can read his stuff over at http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com/

It's timeless and it's very engaging.

There are at least 50 other people I could jot down, but those are the ones I came up with on the fly.

RoD

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Alexa Smith

Banned 11 years ago

[DELETED]

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Snow_Predator

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Marc Rodill

Matt Furey is famous for saying "Write talk, talk write". In other words, just write like you talk. Most good writers have an almost seamless flow from their thoughts onto paper, as if they were talking. Anything you can find that Matt says on this subject is worth it. He's good at getting you into telling stories. Basically just learn to tell stories and write like you talk. Everybody's opinion of good writing will vary. Good luck impressing school teachers for example.

Hope this helps
Marc Rodill

Yeh, I've been following Matt Furey quite a lot lately, and I'd love to be able to captivate people with stories.

I recently told this story to my list about a crazy dream I had - about being in a wedding, where I bumped into a woman I once lost to another guy, seeing her family, offering to look after her kitten :s, which ran away, and ended up in me being chased by a tiger... I then segued into high intensity interval training and it's numerous benefits.

I thought it would totally bomb, as it was 737 words of pure, totally niche UNrelated story before I even mentioned anything about high intensity interval training. I was so scared of this that I tested it with a shorter version, and was shocked to learn that the long version did a HELL of a lot better in terms of clicks and responses than the short version.

Originally Posted by Rod Cortez

Hey Snow, just to clarify: you want to become a better overall writer? A better copywriter? Or both?

There are also different kinds of styles as far as engaging your readers.

Paul Myers does a great job of this in his newsletter over at TalkBiz News: What you really need to know to succeed online - Online business building newsletter

Eben Pagan does a solid job of engaging his readers at both his DoubleYourdating & Get Altitude websites. I would opt-in to study his style.

I like John Carlton, Michel Fortin, and Gary Bencivenga's styles and the way they engage their readership.

Also the late Gary Halbert, you can read his stuff over at The Gary Halbert Letter

It's timeless and it's very engaging.

There are at least 50 other people I could jot down, but those are the ones I came up with on the fly.

RoD

Hey Rod. Definitely both. My main focus is on writing in a way that engages, captivates and entertains. I believe this will help me to write copy and sell as well.

I've got plenty of David D's emails loaded up in one of my email accounts. It's great stuff, and I will continue to read all of it, but I think he's successful more because he really knows his audience's hot buttons, rather than because he's a good writer.

I'll definitely look into those other guys you mentioned. Will start with Gary Halbert, who is easily the biggest legend of the lot.

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

John Le Carré.

I'm not joking. He's a stunningly good and vastly underestimated writer (in most of his books, not all - and possibly not quite so much in the most recent ones) and not at all difficult to learn from. A lot of people either "forget about him" on their lists of outstanding writers, or just don't take him seriously enough because they mistakenly imagine that he's "just a spy fiction writer". He's very, very much more than that.

Also Tom Stoppard's "middle-period"/"peak-period" plays. Really. I wouldn't be writing the emails I'm writing without having been to some extent "brought up" on those, at school. Much of his "use of language" is just breathtaking.

I agree with Dan's comments above, of course.

Thanks Alexa. I do like the way you write, so I'll check these guys out.

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TrafficTrader

11 years ago

I really like Chris Brogan's writing from a blogging and marketing perspective.

Thanks

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retsced

11 years ago

Nothing to really add here. Pretty useless at copywriting, but heard a great tip recently that I plan to try for the remaining 27/30 days.

Rather than reading Gary Halbert's letters. Rewrite them word for word. Apparently there's something "magical" (can't believe I'm leaving that word in) that happens when you rewrite great copy, rather than passively reading.

I think that's what Dan Kennedy did when working under Gary Halbert many moons ago.

I could be wrong. Usually am. Meds are kicking in. Worth looking into though.