Over in our Killers and Poets Facebook group, we’ve been talking about a quote from my friend Susan Garrett. Susan is a multiple worldwide champion in the sport of dog agility. She’s also a brilliant animal trainer and runs an incredibly successful business. Different versions of this quote have inspired many of her friends and Read More…
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Category: Editorial Roundtable
4 Ways to Craft Content that Earns Your Audience’s Attention
About four years ago, I wrote about the idea of “Content Shock” — and maybe I was a tiny bit snarky about it. “Content Shock” is Mark Schaefer’s term for the point when there’s so much content published every day that we’re all drowning in it — and content stops working. I stand by my Read More…
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3 Small Steps that Led to Oversized Outcomes
Remember the movie Sliding Doors? It’s a story of two parallel lives — one in which the heroine catches a particular train home from work, and one in which she misses that train and catches the next one. That insignificant event goes on to change everything about her life — and even the time of Read More…
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Some of the Copyblogger Team’s Favorite Writing and Content Sites
Here at Copyblogger, we’ve always been in love with writers. So we thought it would be fun to wrap up the year with a collection of some favorite blogs and podcasts that teach writing, showcase writing, or help writers. This is very much a partial list — so if you have a favorite site that Read More…
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How to Find a Juicy Writing Idea When Your Creative Well Has Run Dry
It’s the hard part. The thing about being a writer that isn’t necessarily all that awesome. Sometimes it’s the part that makes you doubt yourself, doubt your creativity and abilities, maybe even doubt whether this whole professional writing thing really makes sense for you. “What the &$%# am I going to write about this week?”– Read More…
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What’s Your Worst Writing Fear? Dread and Trepidation from Our Editorial Team
It seems straightforward enough. We human beings are innately verbal creatures. Writing is just taking the language we dream, think, and speak in, and arranging the words on some paper or a computer screen. So why is it so hard sometimes? I think it’s because the same inventive brains that gave us Harry Potter, A Read More…
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What’s Your ‘Desert Island’ Copywriting Technique? Answers from Our Team
You’ve been shipwrecked on an uninhabited island, somewhere with blue skies and dazzling aquamarine waters. But after some time passes, no matter how big a fan of sushi you are, the appeal of your solitary paradise starts to wane. You’ve amassed a fine collection of rocks — suitable for crafting, let’s say, a copywriting message. Read More…
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7 Classic Quotes to Inspire Your Writing
Writing is a glorious and rewarding experience, a noble craft, one of the most satisfying ways you can spend your time — at least, while your clothes are on.
Except for the days when it’s horrible.
Maybe that’s why writers love quotes about writing. They help remind us of those lofty aspects and give us courage to get through the crummy parts.
For your inspiration and encouragement, here are some favorite quotes on writing from our editorial team.
Brian Clark
Brian gets us started with one of the classics:
“I write one page of masterpiece to ninety-one pages of shit,” Hemingway confided to F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1934. “I try to put the shit in the wastebasket.”
Robert Bruce
If there are two things Robert loves, it’s David Mamet and morbid references. His favorite quote combines the two:
“Having spent too many years in show business, the one thing I see that succeeds is persistence. It’s the person who just ain’t gonna go home. I decided early on that I wasn’t going to go home. This is what I’ll be doing until they put me in jail or in a coffin.” – David Mamet
Stefanie Flaxman
Stefanie’s favorite is an artful bit of philosophy:
“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” – Anaïs Nin
Chris Garrett
This one has been attributed to Mark Twain, T.S. Eliot, Cicero, and others, but it turns out it was originally written by Blaise Pascal. “Je n’ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parce que je n’ai pas eu le loisir de la
Your Summer Reading List from the Copyblogger Editorial Team
I don’t believe in a “writing gene.”
Writing comes more easily to some folks, for sure. But those aren’t always the people who end up writing really well.
Writing is a skill that requires plenty of practice. But practice is always more effective when you’re working on the right things.
That’s when it’s time to seek out some good advice.
This week, we asked Copyblogger’s editorial team to share some of their favorite writing books. There’s a mix here — some books are about the art of writing, some about craft, and some about strategy.
Any of them will help you put your words together in more powerful ways.
Here are the recommendations, in each writer’s own words:
Brian Clark
Fun Fact: I’ve never read a “normal” writing book, only copywriting books. So:
Advertising Secrets of the Written Word, Joe Sugarman
I have a lot of copywriting books and courses, and if I were starting out from square one today, I’d start here. Joe Sugarman is a direct marketing legend, and he does a great job of getting basic copywriting concepts across in an enjoyable way. So if you’re brand new to copywriting, this is where to go.
Editor’s note: This edition of Sugarman’s book is out of print, but was reissued as The Adweek Copywriting Handbook.
Breakthrough Advertising, Eugene Schwartz
For the advanced, here’s the money book, courtesy of the late, great Gene Schwartz. When you’re ready to take it to the next level, this is what just about any highly successful copywriter