Gary Halbert Copywriting Course

From:
W-A-Y West of Jewfish Creek

Dear Friend & Subscriber,

Every once in a while, someone comes to me and says something like this:
"Gary, I've got to learn how to write copy. I've never done it before and
I've got just 30-days to learn how to create a world class promotion. Can you
help me? Can you make me into a world class copywriter in just 30-days? Can
you, huh? Can you? Huh? Huh?"

Strangely enough, the answer is yes. Sort of. At least, I can give a
"qualified yes" answer to such a question. Actually, I may not be able to
make someone "world class" in just 30-days, but I can almost certainly make
such a person better than anyone he or she is likely to be able to hire.

Providing, of course, that the person in question has at least a modicum

of talent and, much more importantly, the ability to follow directions and an
appetite for very hard work.

Here's how I'd do it: If you were my student, the first thing I'd ask you
to do is give yourself a basic education in valid advertising principles. To
begin with, I'd want you to read everything listed below:

"Scientific Advertising"
-by Claude Hopkins
"The Robert Collier Letter Book"
-by Robert Collier
"Tested Advertising Methods"
-by John Caples
"How To Write A Good Advertisement"
-by Vic Schwab
"The Gary Halbert Letter" (all back issues)
-by Gary Halbert
"The Boron Letters"
-by Gary Halbert
"The Lazy Man's Way to Riches"
-by Joe Karbo
"Break-Through Advertising"
-by Eugene M. Schwartz
"7-Steps To Freedom"
 -by Ben Suarez

O.K., after you had read all of the above, I would further instruct you to
read nothing else and not take notes. You know, getting a good education in
any field is tricky and, in advertising, it borders impossible. You see, most
books written abut advertising are not just bad; they are downright
dangerous! Many years ago, Claude Hopkins (the greatest ad man who ever
lived) was asked to critique and offer suggestions on how to improve some
college textbooks on advertising. His suggestion?

"Burn Them!"

Truly. Claude further went on to say that the "educators" involved had no
right to impose such erroneous BS on a group of naive students, that it would
take years of front-line experience to "deprogram" the students and free them
up from all that garbage.

So listen: Not only is it important what you do learn; it is equally

important what you do not learn. So, step one is to read only the material I
have listed.

Now, about this business of not taking notes: Don't worry. We're not
finished with those books, newsletters, and Boron Letters after just one
reading. No Sir. Not by a long shot. Those books and those letters should
become your lifetime companions.

However, for now, I want you to just rip right through them, non-stop.

O.K., now that you've read all that material, what's next? This: I want
you to get a copy of the following ads and direct mail letters:

"Do You Make These Mistakes In English?"

"What Everybody Should Know About This Stock And Bond

Business"

"The Nancy L. Halbert Heraldry Letter"

"How To Burn Off Body Fat, Hour-By-Hour"

"At 60 Miles An Hour The Loudest Noise In This Rolls Royce

Is The Ticking Of The Electric Clock"

"Why Men Crack"

"How To Collect From Social Security At Any Age"

"The Admiral Byrd Transpolar Expedition Letter"

"The Lazy Man's Way To Riches"

 And, in general, anything you can get your hands on that was written by
Gary Bencivenga, Dan Rosenthal, Joe E. Kennedy, Pat Garrard, Steve Brown,
Drew Kaplan, Claude Hopkins, Joe Karbo, Ben Suarez, Joe Sugarman, Gene
Schwartz and, of course, yours truly.

Onward. Now that you've obtained copies of these ads and letters, I want
you to sit down and copy them out word-for-word in your own handwriting.
Next, I want you to create a hand-drawn layout of each ad and direct mail
package. Listen: The goal here is to get you to create a professional package
(completely "comped up") that is all ready to go first to a typist and then
to a typesetter.

Now, after you've done all this, I want you to actually take one of these
packages to a typist and then to a typesetter and have the ad or direct mail
package typeset. Then proof the ad and, after making any necessary
corrections, have a velox (stat) made of it.

Alright. What you have just completed is all the necessary "end steps" of
writing out the final draft of an ad, laying it out and getting it typeset
and stated and totally (and perfectly) "camera-ready" so it can be given to a
"no-brainer" publication printer.

Do this. Do it. Do it. Don't be simple-minded. Don't come to me and say,

"O.K., Gary, I've got the idea. I know what you're getting at. It really
wasn't necessary for me to do all that mechanical stuff as long as I
understand what you're driving at, right Gary?"

Sorry Buckwheat; it doesn't work that way. If you really want to know it,
you've really got to do it.

There are no shortcuts.

You know, I'm sick to death of people who can't be bothered with the
little nitty-gritty details of "hands on" experience. Of people who believe
that somehow they can know a thing without experiencing it. Listen: It is
possible to be "conversant" with something and really not have any kind of
"gut understanding" of it at all. I'm sorry, but no matter what your Mommy
and Daddy told you, men can never really understand the pain of childbirth,
priests cannot comprehend the joys of sex, "normies" can never understand
alcoholics, and not one speck of true advertising wisdom has ever been
written by a PhD.

By the way, did you ever see all those ads by copywriters in DM News and
the Reporter of Direct Marketing? The ones where they mention all
their awards?

Know this: Not one of the legends mentioned so far in this letter care one
iota about awards. No, my friend, if you would ever hear Ben Suarez,
Sugarman, or any of the rest of us talking about our achievements, we won't
be talking about awards, we'll be talking about numbers!

Forgive me, I digress. Let us press on. So far, we've only done the "end
steps" of creating an ad. In actuality, there's a hell of a lot more involved
before we ever get to that point. It's time to go back to work. It's time to
prepare your "tool kit." First, I now want you to go back and reread all
those advertising books and back issues of my newsletters (including the
Boron Letters and, this time, take notes. Write down every good idea, every
important insight and every nugget of wisdom that is contained in all that
material. What this means, my friend, is that by the time you are finished,
you should have hundreds of notes.

Put these notes aside. Next, go back over all that material and write out
every headline you find therein. Also, get a bunch of back issues of The
National Enquirer and Cosmopolitan Magazine and copy all the headlines you
will find that seem to be repeated over and over. Especially copy a lot of
the "cover blurbs" from Cosmo; they are superb. Another good source of
headlines is "2001 Headlines" which was compiled by Jay Abraham.

Let us review. Here's what you should have done so far:

1. You should have read all the books and newsletters I

have recommended.

2. You should have copied out all the ads and direct mail
letters I have listed.

3. You should've had at least one of those promotions

comped up and typeset.

4. You should've reread all the books and newsletters and

taken hundreds of notes.

5. You should've read all those "headline sources" and

copied down mucho headlines.

Enough review. Next, take all your notes and headlines and put each
individual note and each individual headline on a white 3 x 5 index card. And
finally, take all those cards and put them in shoe boxes and then go take
some time off. At least time off from this stuff. Go play golf for a few days
or go back to your normal work routine or take a short vacation or whatever.

All rested?

Guess what? We are now ready, after all this "prep", to begin writing that
first ad or direct mail letter. And so, let us begin. The first thing I want
you to do is read and reread every ad or direct mail package that has already
been written about what you are trying to sell. Take notes. Secondly, read
and take notes on every ad or direct mail piece you can find that has been
written for a competing or similar product or service.

Next, carefully examine the product or service and find out everything you
can about it. If it's a book, read it. If it's a product, examine it. If it's
a service, use it and ask questions.

Take notes on all this.

 Put those notes on 3 x 5 index cards (one note per card) and put all those
notes in a shoe box.

Go do something else for a few days. And listen: If you have a good idea
during that time, don't verbalize it, don't write it down, don't tell anybody
and try not to think about it. The idea here is to let everything ferment and
boil and bubble up inside of you.

Back to work. We are now about to write the first draft of our ad. Go
isolate yourself in a library or an office somewhere. Take all your shoe
boxes with you. First, take out the 3 x 5 cards on the product or service
you're going to write about. Shuffle through those cards. Read them. Say,
"hmn?" every once in a while.

Now start shuffling through all your other 3 x 5 cards. Think about how
all those good ideas and insights could be applied to your current project.
Look at all of those hundreds of proven headlines. Think about how all those
headlines could be modified to work for your current project. Maybe you could
change "Do You Make These Mistakes In English?" to "Do You Say Any Of These
Dumb Things Every Time You Call Your Stockbroker?" or maybe "Tova Borgnine
Swears Under Oath That Her New Perfume Does Not Contain An Illegal Sexual
Stimulant" could be transmuted to:

"Local Jeweler Swears Under Oath

That None Of Those Diamonds He Sells So Cheaply
Have Been Stolen!"

Get the idea? Of course you do. Keep shuffling those cards. Keep reading
them. Jot down ideas as they occur to you. Actually shuffle the index cards
like they were playing cards. Write out a couple "dumb" headline ideas. Write
out some headlines that make more sense. Write a few that start with "How
To...." Some that start with "17 Ways To...." And some that begin with "An
Amazing...." And some that say "A Little Secret That...."

And so on. Write. Write. Write. Write. Write. Write. Write.

And guess what? Out of all this, if you really have done everything I have
suggested, exactly as I have instructed - out will pop a "central selling
idea" so powerful, so fresh and so compelling that you will know it
is exactly right for the ad or direct mail package you are struggling to
create.

I promise. It happens every time.

And when it does, write it down. If you are writing a direct mail letter,
work that central selling idea into your first sentence. If you are writing
any ad, use that CSI in the headline.

Now listen up. This is important. What will happen at this point is that
your "mental floodgates" will be wide open. Ideas will come gushing out like
water from a broken fire hydrant. Capture those ideas. Forget form. Forget
grammar.
 Write. Write. Write. Write. As fast as you can. Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!
Hurry!

Don't stop for anything. Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!

Write. Write. Write. Write. Page after page. Tell everything. Every
detail. Every nuance. Every benefit. Every product feature. Every advantage.

Get it all. Get it all. Get it all.

Write. Write. Write. Write.

Rave! Rave! Rave! Rave! Crow! Describe! Enthuse! Give details. Don't worry
about getting it perfect. Don't worry about spelling. Don't worry about
formulas. Just keep writing. Go fast. Get it all. Write! Write! Write! Write!

And when you are done, set all this work aside and go do something else
for a day or so. Let it cool.

And when you are ready to go back to work, I want you to go back to your
first draft and now rework it in the following sequence:

1. Say something that gets attention.

2. Tell them why they should be interested. (Expand on CSI)

3. Tell them why they should believe what you are saying is
true.

4. Prove it is true.

5. Itemize and describe all benefits.

6. Tell them how to order.

7. Tell them to order now.

O.K., after you have rearranged all your material so it conforms to the
above sequence, you should now check your spelling, correct your grammar,
edit and, in general, tighten up your copy.

Next, read your copy aloud. When you do this, you will discover all those
little snags where your copy isn't smooth, where it doesn't flow well, where
the transition from one sentence to another or from one paragraph to another
or simply from one thought to another is less than seamless.

Now edit again. Make it tight. Use short sentences. Short paragraphs.
Everyday English. Use some one word sentences. Use some one sentence
paragraphs. Use subheads that make your copy look interesting and...

Easy To Read!
 You could do more. A lot more. This is not, by a long shot, all you need
to know to write "world class" copy. But, believe it or not, if you just do
(I mean actually do it) everything I've described here, you'll be better than
99% of all those frauds who brag about their Golden Mailbox and Echo Awards.

And, isn't it wonderful how easy it is? Heck, I bet you thought it was
going to be work.

Sincerely,

Gary C. Halbert
The Ravin' Maven
of Marketing

P.S. You want to know what a truly world-class, no-excuse, no-BS

copywriter ought to be able to do? It's this: He ought to be able
to write an ad that tells how good he is. Hell, if he can't sell
himself, how can you expect him to sell your goods or services.

Pray check out the enclosure.

Ad Creators Collect and bill-boards.

Prizes Ad Nauseam, there are so many

awards-about 500 by one
count-that Adweek, a
Almost Ad Infinitum trade publication, has
started a monthly
* * * magazine called
“Winners” just to talk
Some Entries Are Really about them. Competitions
Bad, have multiplied so much
that sometimes there
Including Some Winners; aren’t enough judges to
go around.
Judges Are Hard To Find
‘Never Too Bad to Win’
___________________
“If you want to win
awards, there’s a show
By Joanne Lipman for you. You’re never
too bad to win,” says
Staff Reporter of The Tom McElligott, the
Wall Street Journal creative director of
Minneapolis-based
Hollywood has its Fallon McElligott, one
Oscars. Television has of the winningest ad
its Emmys. Broadway has agencies. (The press
its Tonys. And loves awards, too, but
advertising has its that’s another story.)
Clios.
No ad is too small or
And its Andys, Addys, obscure to be nominated
Effies and Obies. And for an award from within
117 other assorted or without the industry.
awards. Consider:

And those are just the -The Aqua awards for the
big ones. best waterbed
advertising.
It seems that the ad
business just can’t -The Batchy awards for
honor itself too much. the finest state lottery
At scores of black-tie campaign.
galas around the
country, participants in -The PAW (Pets Are
sequins and silk await Wonderful) awards for
breathlessly, white- non-pet product ads that
knuckled, praying to be illustrate “responsible
tapped for the best pet ownership.” (One
beauty-aids ad or the recent reject: the
light-bulb commercial in
which the light blows
 Yea Verily!
funniest packaged-goods out and a woman
radio commercial. accidentally vacuums up
her cat.) You can read the Rest
of this article in the
There are contests for
3/26/87 edition of the
TV ads and radio ads,
Wall Street Journal.
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