"Close the door, Ed," he said. "Have a seat."

I closed the door and sat down. Across from me was the editor who, days earlier, hired me on as a jr. copywriter.  

"I read your first draft," he said. "It’s good…"

"Thanks."

"Good for an English major, I mean — nice and flowery,” he said, “but you're not in college anymore, are you?"

"No."

"No," he said. "You're a professional copywriter now,” he held up my contract, “have been since you signed this."

Damn, I thought, am I getting fired?

"I guess I saw this coming,” he said, “based on your samples…” he pursed his lips. “You know, you can't write like this anymore, all long-winded, like you're some Alexandre fuckin’ DOO-MAH..." 

I just sat there, blinking, bracing myself. 

"You’re a copywriter," he said, "copywriters keep things tight." He pressed a key on his laptop. "Just sent you an email…" he said.

I went back to my cube, opened my email, and there it was:

“Ed,” he wrote, “I like the way you think. That's why I hired you. But your writing sounds overlong, like the books you studied in college. This won’t do, sorry. I need clear, concise copy from you. And here's how I'm going to get it:

In his email, my editor included links to classic sales letters by several direct-response masters, including Gary Bencivenga, Gary Halbert and John Caples.

“I want you to transcribe this copy by hand — twice over,” he wrote. “Trust me.”

Transcribing another writer's work is called “copyworking” — and it will help you internalize the writer’s syntax and diction, her punctuation and cadence, her voice: it’s all there for the taking. You just have to slow down to absorb it.

(Jack London and Hunter S. Thompson and even Ben Franklin all copyworked their writing heroes.)

“Do you understand why I’m asking you to do this?”

I looked up. My editor was standing there, leaning on my cubicle wall.

“Yeh,” I said. “I understand.”

“You have to be more concise,” he said. “You write like a water hose. I need you to be a nail gun."

I nodded. “And I have to write these out by hand?”

“Yes,” he said. “It sticks better if you do.”

So I did.

Want to develop your copywriting voice?

Transcribe the greats by hand, slowly, meticulously, over and over.

And soon, your work will sound “great” too.

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Hey there, thanks for reading. :)

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Eddie Shleyner
VeryGoodCopy, founder

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