I’ve done some work on the blog in the past few days… mostly in re-doing the pages up top. Check out my new About Me page, or my new Services page. Yep. You definitely should check out the Services page.
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From the monthly archives:
June 2008
My favorite comedian died yesterday… gone from a heart attack. However, like almost all people these days, he’s still around on the web. Namely, on YouTube. Here’s some of his his best:
But this post is about more than the video (though that’s good); It’s about Carlin’s writing. I really think he was one of the best… he wasn’t writing novels or poetry, wasn’t even writing copy. But he had a great sense for timing, and a great sense for what sounded right (regardless of what was right). Most of all, he was always willing to say what he thought, and say it plainly. He was honest, and upfront… he was everything I talked about in the last post. As a result, he was good. One of the best.
I really think we could all learn from Carlin… we could learn to enjoy funny (realistic) stuff, and learn to write better copy. But that’s probably not all. Anyone else have something you learned from him? Something I’m missing here?
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Bad copy pulls punches, and sneaks around the point. It tries to sell people without telling them - tires to sell by trickery. And really… it just comes across as weak. On the contrary though, good copy is real, and it’s honest. If it’s sales copy, it asks for sales. If it’s fundraising copy, it asks for money. It backs it up, sure - it tells you why you should give money. But it never shirks from the point. Good copy isn’t ashamed of what it is. It stands on it’s own, self-validated (and more powerful).
Example: I wrote the following for a client the other day: At the Auditory Oral School of New York, we’re doing some amazing things. We’re teaching deaf and hearing-impaired children to listen and speak normally. We’re teaching them to interact normally in the world, and we’re giving them the ability to live normal lives. Lives not hindered by what’s regarded as a tragic anomaly… but lives enriched by sound, and lives open to whatever experiences these children seek.
…However, as you can imagine, doing amazing work is difficult. It takes persistence, energy, and money. We’ve got the first two covered, but we need more money...
I think it’s good. I think it’s to-the-point, and I think it’s powerful. But, the response came back negative - they thought it was too “aw shucks.” Too informal. Translation? It made them uncomfortable, and they didn’t want to make their donors uncomfortable. Translation? They didn’t actually want to ask for money. They just wanted to imply it, and wanted rich people to comply. That’s bullshit. It’s waste of time (for me and for them). If you don’t want to ask for money, don’t hire a writer to do it. If you do, than go ahead and do it. Be comfortable with what you’re doing, then write stuff that backs it up. Don’t write stuff that compromises what you’d like to say… write stuff that enhances it. Have some personal power, and write powerful stuff.
Anything else sucks.
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