Lately I've been searching for tips on how to write faster. I'm not talking about writing articles or ezines... but about refined sales copy. An online sales letter for example, or a direct mail piece.

Personally, I seem to spend hours and hours on bullets and small changes in syntax. Sometimes I'll spend an hour on one paragraph... only to find I've circled back to the phrasing I started out with!

How can I cut down these wasted hours... any tips?

Today I received a newsletter about speed copywriting Daniel Levis - Web Marketing Advisor - Free weekly Ezine #21 I've also seen Lorrie Morgan Fererro's Speed Copywriting Workshop (Copywriting for Dollars)... and there's a book I'm interested in at How to Write a Book - Writing Course Learn how to write a book, become an author

Has anyone tried any of the above? What is your experience?

Or... if you've developed your own tips for speed-writing, please share them here.

Shona,

Some gurus say to start with your bullets before you even begin to write. Get them to be dynamite before you start the body copy. Me, I tend to be linear.

Also... I'm a "toiler" (toiling over every word I write), as I'm thinking you might be. Michel talks about just writing it and not fixing (or toiling over) anything in that first draft. I'm learning this, but it's hard. I think it will speed me up, if I can pull it off.

But even when I wrote tv, I could be halfway through a 60 page script, wake up, put in 8 hours and not add another page because I was busting my ass to become 100% comfortable with the first 30 pages.

I'm really for the first time going to give a concerted effort to NOT toil on first drafts anymore.

Try it... it may work for you.

Shona,

I'm kinda 'visual' guy. After I've done all research for the copy, I use a storyboard to plan a stage. Usually, it takes me only half an hour. Then I'll start writing.

I won't do the bullets and headline first. I only do these when I refine the letter.


Bard

Hi Shona,

I thought the above was referring to this:
How To Write A Book

It's a course, but if you join their email list, they'll eventually send you an offer to buy the ebook for about $40.

It's fantastic, just fantastic. Do the the famous "exercise" in the email "course" and you'll be surprised. It turns out that the faster you write, the better it is, because when you write fast, you're forced to write like you talk. No big words, no awkward grammar, etc.

I'd be interested in learning how the other book you mention compares to this one.

I'm in the process of writing two books. One is going slowly because my co-author hasn't started the speed writing process yet. My own book is going GREAT, until I run into the parts requiring a lot of medical research. I haven't yet figured out how to speed-write technical, researched stuff yet.

Lemonade

OK, I just looked at the website, and it REALLY looks like one of the two book writing sites may be a complete a ripoff of the other. That's just horrible.

Haha, this is great - hey, I met Steve Manning about six years ago when he was speaking at a local meeting I was attending - if you think his speed writing ideas are good - you should see him speak! He's just like Dan Kennedy - he talks fast and had the whole room lined up at the back of the room after his session to buy his book - it was great to watch a great salesman strut his stuff - I bought the book myself and have no idea where it is. The guy is genuine and I believe his ideas are sound - unfortunately I wasn't necessarily on a writing path at the time so I can't tell you from personal experience how it worked for me - if I can find that book I would probably revisit it now. Cheers,

Ron

Well, I don't know about Nick Daws - but as I said I have met Steve Manning - and I personally would buy from him before I would buy from the other guy. My feeling is though that the two courses are different - they just have similar headlines, no?

Shona,
Something I'm learning from listening to Michel is...

Write like hell... run, run, run... go, go, go... and don't stop until you run out of gas.

Then (and only then) you should go back and do all your editing.

Sounds to me that you are trying to edit as you write...

I know, I know, it's a tough habit to break (I have the same problem), but according to Michel, too many people get stuck and even get writers block because of this nasty old habit.

Try it the next time you write, then piece it all together and do your edits.

I -really- don't think so. The copy is an EXACT description of Steve Manning's stuff. Not a close description ... EXACT.

Shona,

For years, I taught courses at adult education centers in the Boston area and on my own on how to be an ultra-productive writer, and produced an audiotape on that topic that won praise from bestselling mystery writer Sue Grafton and was featured by the Writer's Digest Book Club.

You can still order the audiotape from my site for writers:
http://www.yudkin.com/orders.htm
(Click on the secure-server link to place your order)

Or if you prefer an ebook, I excerpted many of the techniques in my report, "No More Writer's Block," available from http://www.yudkin.com/reports.htm

One thing I learned is that it was essential to offer a good handful of techniques rather than just one because people differ in how they respond to various exercises. My favorite exercise, the one that gets me writing great stuff like mad, may not work at all for you and vice versa.

I also collected stories of what worked for the people in my workshops. Here are two of my favorite stories:

1)One woman would begin her writing sessions by typing "Four score and seven years ago..." (The Gettysburg Address) as fast as she could. Inevitably, a few sentences into the speech, she would segue easily and fluently into what she really wanted to write.

2)Another woman who was based in Switzerland had trouble concentrating on her writing at her home or office. So she bought a train pass that was good for unlimited travel, and any time she had something to write, would get on a train to a random destination and write, write, write. She called it "training."

I have tons of stories like this that I would tell in my workshops. Oh, just one more: When Victor Hugo was having trouble cranking out his novels, he would get his man-servant to take away his clothes and give them back to him only after he'd written his daily quota of pages.

Good luck!

Marcia Yudkin