The mystery of verbal soup

>> Can I interest you in a pivoted avatar?

The masochistic lengths to which some heroes will go in pursuit of knowledge are praiseworthy, if incomprehensible.

Tom Rayfield, a talented, witty creative director of J. Walter Thompson Direct once spent a whole year recording and commenting on every mailing he received.

Not content with this act of self-sacrifice he then did it again.

One plaintive comment about one piece of copy has never left me after 20 odd years.?“I recognise the individual words but cannot understand what they mean.”.

This struck me to such a degree that I quote it in?How to Write Sales Letters (and emails) that Sell.

I’m astonished to what depths of self-regarding obscurity people will go to ignore the only thing that matters in our business - selling.

This is even more common in emails, perhaps because people are too cheap or stupid to pay for good copy

Check out this little bowl of drivel.

'Not bothered about being one of the bold? Doubt if a "curated melting pot" is what you need right now? Thought so.

If I ever send you stuff which doesn’t help you do a better job, please cross me off your list.

But if you do find me helpful I have a lot more advice for you.

Probably the best source is the book I mentioned?How To Write Sales Letters (and emails) That Sell. The man McGraw Hill named America's number one copywriter - Bob Bly - said two things about this.

First,?"This is the best book on the subject I've ever read, and I've read them all."

Later he added an even greater compliment.

"I was flipping through How to Write Sales Letters That Sell, which I hadn’t looked at in some time, and was struck by how good it is. Everybody talks about the letter books by D***y H***h and D*nK*****y, but yours is far and away the best of the bunch."

So there you are. I've mentioned it before, but why not grab a copy now? For yourself, or someone you know who needs to sell but doesn't know how.

Choose the PDF, or the limited edition, signed paperback.

Best,

Drayton