Copyresearching

In 1994…

Copywriting genius, Eugene Schwartz, spoke at a seminar. And he shared a valuable anecdote:

Over his career, Schwartz wrote 30 sales letters for Rodale Press, a publishing company that sold wellness books by mail.

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His letters sold more than 8 million books and generated over $200 million. (Unprecedented.)

His process? 

It was simple but not easy: he would read the book, cover to cover, highlighting every claim he found. Then he would use the most valuable claims to assemble a compelling sales letter. Then he would send the letter to the author (often a Medical Doctor) for review. 

Once a doctor made only 1 edit to his letter: he omitted the word “eggs” from a subhead. 

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Schwartz called him.

“Hello, Doctor,” he said. “This is Gene Schwartz, your copywriter.”

“Hello.”

“May I ask why you crossed out ‘eggs’ in the 3rd subhead?”

“Ah,” said the doctor. “It’s false.”

“But Doctor,” said the copywriter, “on page 164 of your book...”

Schwartz quoted a line supporting his claim about eggs.

The doctor laughed. “Wow,” he said. “You’re right.”

“I want to know the book as well as or even BETTER than the author!” Schwartz said at the seminar. “THIS is what makes marketing success!”

I think a better name for “copywriting” is “copyresearching.”

Copywriting is 80% research, 5% writing, 15% rewriting.

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