The Golden Thread – The Week in Review
June 1–7, 2003
Welcome to The Golden Thread Online, your free e-letter from American Writers & Artists Inc. Every Saturday, you will receive this recap of all the strategies, insights and opportunities we send to you and your fellow AWAIers each week. Whether it’s a message from a fellow writer about how he landed a new client … a technique from a Master copywriter for writing a control … an insight into how to succeed in a new market … news of a brand new writing job or business opportunity for you … you’ll find it here in this easy-to-access and always available “Week in Review.”
In This Issue:
- How to Turn Your Ideas into a Million Dollars
How you can use your copywriting skills to build a million dollar business. - Quick Tip: The Real Meaning of "Good Writing"
John Forde reveals a powerful secret that will help you become a better writer.
How to Turn Your Ideas into a Million Dollars
Writing copy for others isn't the only way for you to profit from the powerful selling techniques you're learning. Many copywriters are using their skills to sell their own products and start their own direct-mail businesses.
About 10 years ago, for example, a young married couple in South Florida started a mail-order business in the garage of their home. They bought merchandise, produced a catalog, and were on their way. Today, that company, Levenger, is still selling quality products through the mail – with annual earnings in excess of $50 million.
Levenger is not the only mega-success in the industry. Lillian Vernon, L.L. Bean, and countless others started from their kitchen tables. And if they could do it, so can you!
One of the best things about the direct-response business is that you truly can run a profitable company from your kitchen table. All you have to do is choose a product and write a dynamite sales package for it. Once the orders come rolling in, there are professionals who will (for a fee, of course) handle every other phase of your business for you.
Maybe you've dreamed of starting your own business, but don't know what to sell. If that's the case, take a look at the following list of the 20 most popular direct-mail products for inspiration:
- Artwork – all kinds
- Audiotapes – music, books, entertainment
- Auto-care products
- Books – self-published, self-help, out-of-print
- Cleaning supplies – home and office
- Clothing – special sizes, imported, and unusual
- Clothing accessories
- Collectibles – coins, stamps, miniatures, sports or war memorabilia
- Do-it-yourself kits
- Food – gourmet items, special recipes, health foods
- Gifts – unique items, often imported
- Health and beauty aids – including vitamins and perfumes
- Hobby tips and supplies
- Home furnishings and housewares
- Information booklets – how-to or special information for targeted markets
- Jewelry – high quality costume, religious theme
- Novelty items – unique, trendy, many from abroad
- Pet-care products
- Stationery – imprinted, family calendars, unique items
- Toys and games
If anything on this list gets your entrepreneurial juices flowing – or if you have an original idea for your own product – you'll want to check out Michael Masterson's new program, Mail Order Mastery. To learn how you can turn your dream into reality and make your own direct-mail business happen, visit:
http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/700SCBMO/W700D7MG/
Quick Tip: The Real Meaning of "Good Writing"
Michael Masterson once said, "If any wish to write in a clear style, let him be first clear in his thoughts; and if any would write in a noble style, let him first possess a noble soul."
No, wait. Goethe said that.
But I assure you, Masterson meant the same thing when he said, over the phone the other day, "You know what makes good writing? A good thought, tightly expressed. Clear thinking. If you haven't got that, it doesn't matter how pretty you make your prose."
How true … how humbling.
How many times have you tried to climb into a book dripping with delicious adjectives and adverbs … only to find it bores you silly?
How many tight, plot-powered novels have to sell out before the literary glitterati 'fess up and pay due homage?
Good copy sticks to the same principle. "One idea, tightly expressed," says Masterson, "is much stronger than a heap of notions tangled in a mess."
