What has been your experience?

I've been teaching myself the techniques of CopyWriting through this forum, books mentioned through the Halbert Letter, and actual writing of copy.

A recurring theme I see in my readings & research is the habit of copying sales letters by hand.

Who am I to argue with those who are established copywriters and have been successful? I'm not...

So that's exactly what I've been doing for the last 3-weeks (each one 3 times). Trying to spend some time during the day (I work a regular J.O.B.) to copy some portion of a sales letter.

- Do you make these mistakes in English?
- The Nancy Halbert Letter
- The Lazy Man's Way to Riches

I'm interested in other's opinions on hand writing copy and whether or not there's a difference in hand writing or typing them.

Thanks in Advance!

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

By all means, keep copying those sales letters out by hand!

I don't have a scientific explanation for you, but there's something about "putting pen to paper" as you hand write those letters.

You will find you "absorb" the information in a way - and to a degree - that other methods don't quite match. The way the copy comes across, it's sequence and flow, the phraseology, conversational tone, etc.

And before long, I think you'll discover your own writing taking on a new, powerful cadence. You can't help becoming a better writer by hand writing letters.

Great letters, that is.

Copy the classics. And, current controls by writers like Gary Bencivenga, Doug D'Anna, David Deutsch, and many others. Not to mention a handful from this forum as well!

But rather than always copying an entire letter, you might employ the Pareto Principle or 80/20 Rule, which states that approximately 80% of the output, results, effectiveness, etc. of something comes from approximately 20% of the effort or other aspects.

For example, in sales letter writing, headlines are an enormous factor in determining whether an ad will be profitable.

Why not focus your hand writing on copying out headlines? That's why I used to do all the time, and I've gotten away from it a bit...

Ken McCarthy and many other top writers say your ability to write bullets - or fascinations - is the most important copywriting skill.

And if you can write great bullets, you most assuredly can write great headlines!

So, if you wish, focus on hand writing parts of ads that carry the most weight in terms of what's responsible for results.

Headlines, bullets, and the offer are great places to start.

The difference it makes is truly amazing!

Just recently, one of my professors mentioned that he provided his notes
to students hoping that they'll do better since they didn't have to take
notes in class ...

RESULTS? Test scores dropped.

From a copywriting point of view we know how "involvement devices" used to
get the prospects involved with the sales copy can boost conversions. The
more involved you are with the copy the more you'll remember.

It's the simple principle of "by beholding we become changed" (-Bible)

-Ray L.,

Jeff,

I remember when I first realized there was something special about copying material by hand. Back in high school, a week before a test, I would take all my notes and reorganize and rewrite them into a different notebook. I think this allowed me to further ingrain the subject matter into my memory.

And nowadays I've noticed that my best work comes after I've written my stuff (notes or drafts) by hand into a paper notebook before typing it into the computer by keyboard.

I also realized early on that doing rewrites at night would increase the retention of the subject matter. I didn't know what it was at the time, but now I know it has to do with the idea of "sleeping on it" (I think this is explained in the Psycho Cybernetics books).

This might sound weird, but I can remember some of the deep sleeps that I had during those nights when I was studying for tests. I remember one time when I was studying for a calculus test. I was having trouble with one of the mathematical formulas, but I rewrote my notes from class and kept trying to figure it out. A few hours after I went to bed that night, I woke up to realize that I had been working on the problem in my sleep, like in a dream. And somehow, in this dreamlike state, the problem finally made sense to me.

Another time, I was studying for a test in another subject and I was having trouble making some connections with different parts of the subject matter. Then one morning after a note-rewrite session, I woke up and it all made sense to me.

I use this a lot now. I often wake up in the middle of the night or wake up to start the day and I'll have an answer or an idea I was looking for. The idea doesn't always work, but you can train your brain to give you good stuff, especially if you feed it good stuff (in this case, we're talking about classic sales letters).

So I think for me, it's not only the rewriting by hand. It's also doing it at night. It's like getting twice the practice with a single effort (doing it once, then doing it again in your sleep). Practice this and you'll see what I mean.

Bill

Thank you all very much for your Feedback!

I'll keep pressing on with hand writing proven sales copy along with reading books, and actual copy writing.

Jeff

In my opinion, it's not about memorizing a few sales letters. It's learning the psychology and writing patterns that are contained in successful letters.

Studies have shown that if you can use more than one sense in learning, you will retain more of the information.

By rewriting by hand the sales letters, you are using both visual sense and tactile (writing). If you want to retain a higher percentage of the information, then read it out loud as you are writing it (verbal and auditory).

Good luck,

Mike

Hi Jeff,

First an apology. This might get a little scientific, or at least PSEUDO science anyway. Second, please don't ask for research citations, if anyone is interested...google is still working. I will give you some keywords and a few references, fair enough.

The REASON you want to write out those ads in LONGHAND is because:

{in layman's terms}

you want to fire off certain neurons in the part of your brain that oversees writing. That's the short and sweet version.

You've written Sir Gary's NANCY letter. Great. Now do it again in the dark. Can you pretend you have no electricity? No running water? No gas? You're sitting in the dark, and you've made a list of things you'll put in your letter to get a response.

IF you don't get a response, the guy with the gun to your head is going to pull the trigger.

Pretty EMOTIONAL setting for one of the greatest pieces of copy ever written. Twice a year I make the 7 mile journey to the house where Sir Gary wrote the Nancy letter. I sit in the drive and try to imagine what he was feeling. NOT thinking, but what was Gary feeling?

He threw out every piece of EXPERTISE he had acquired and operated on one premise...what if his life depended on the PERSON getting the letter taking action...and it sort of did.

That is why he used a real stamp. That is why it was handwritten envelope (at least in the beginning). Every single word on that paper was put there to evoke a response.

SO, when you copy his letter in your own handwriting, you are triggering parts of your brain, much the same as Gary did, and through a process known only by a handful of geniuses (I think Harlan is one, since we don't hold meetings, it's hard to be sure...HA!)...

And that is the use of REVERSE ideomotor activity. I may have my legs broken for even talking about it. Here is the first reference to it:

Angel Drawings Research: a scientific case study of automatic drawing

Ideomotor Signaling. It is a tool of the hypnotherapist. David B. Cheek, M.D., gynecologist and surgeon, and Leslie LeCron, clinical psychologist were renowned clinical hypnotherapists and early pioneers. They were the authors of numerous scientific publications that reported their methods and results to the medical and psychotherapy communities.

The use of the Chevreul Pendulum has been used since 1833. We all have seen or experienced ideomotor...ever play Ouija? Or hang a ring from a string? Parlor games and tricks. YET...

many renown therapists, such as Clark Cameron, have used the pendulum to access subconscious thoughts, and in his work, the BLOCKS that prevent a person from making progress...were released.

Think of The Secret. It is HOT. Latest thing in Law of Attraction. Yet most of that was written in the 1880's. But the thing is...and this explains why so many self help programs fail...the thing is...

IF the person has hidden blocks, it doesn't matter what form the therapy takes, the blocks have to be released FIRST. And ONE tool a therapist may use to uncover these are by doing an end around the conscious mind and accessing the subconscious directly. A slight detour here:

This explains why so many millions of people have taken the Tony Robbins course, or (name your guru)...Wayne Dyer, Tom Hopkins, etc. etc. and have studied the SECRET (and the other programs like it) ...and still have not been able to MANIFEST THEIR DESIRES.

If it were easy, they'd sell it in a box...OH wait, they do. What in the dickens does this have to do with writing promotions by longhand...?????

When you hold the pen in your hand, and when you are reading the promotion, you are using the REVERSE ideomotor skills that were used to write it.

And by accessing the part of the brain that created the promotion, you will with time absorb the neurology behind the skill. The NLP gods know all about neurons, axons and dendrites and firing those off.

The REASON you want to keep writing in longhand is because it WORKS.

gjabiz

PS. I reserve the right to be full of crap...probably am.