AWAI – Secrets of Writing for the Catalog Market

AWAI – Secrets of Writing for the Catalog Market

Word for Word, This Just May be the Best and Most Lucrative Opportunity for Up-and-Coming Copywriters

From the desk of Paul Hollingshead …

Dear Reader,

The thing I hear a lot from people starting up their copywriting careers is: “Do I have to write letters that are as long as the ones you and a lot of copywriters write?”

I asked the same thing when I started writing years ago. “Does it really take 8, 12, or 20 pages to sell something in the mail?”

And time after time I was told: “Yes. Long copy sells better – tests have proven it.”

Fact is, long copy does work better – but it often depends on what you’re selling … and how you’re selling it.

For me, it takes at least a dozen pages to sell a financial newsletter. Why? Because when it comes right down to it, you’re selling someone’s opinion of where the stock market is going to go … or why one kind of investing is better than another. And to do that right, you need to show a lot of examples … build a lot of credibility … and do a lot of convincing that your way is better.

But some things don’t need as much persuasion.

In fact, there’s one very large copywriting niche where “long” copy is the enemy. In this realm of the copywriting universe, you simply can’t write 12 pages of copy …

Or six …

Or two …

Or even one.

It’s very rare you can ever write more than 100 words!

Does this sound more up your alley?

Sound a lot more appealing to you than writing page after page after page of copy?

Wait. It gets even better.

• There’s big demand – simply because there aren’t many people around who are good at it.
• Since the average “sales letter” you’ll be writing is less than 100 words, you could spend as little as an hour “per project.”
• And the money’s good. (Better than good, actually. It pays, on average, about $50 to $75 an hour.)

But before I tell you what it is, I want to introduce you to the gentleman who brought this opportunity to light for us.

His name is Steve Leveen, a good friend of Michael Masterson.

Steve is a lot of things – a writer, a reader, a successful businessman. He’s active in the community too.

But his main passion is a little catalog company he started 20 years ago called Levenger. You may have heard of it. It’s a business that sells everything to do with reading and writing – lamps, bookmarks, journals, pens, chairs, and desks. You name it.

Steve has spoken at our Bootcamp in the past because, after all, he’s in the business of selling through words as well. And he really knows his stuff.

During his presentation, Steve talked about catalog copy – how it works, how it’s different from the kind of long copy we do.

But what stuck out in my mind is that people in his business have the same problem that people in the direct-response business have …

There just aren’t enough people out there who know how to write good, lean, effective catalog copy!

Frankly, I was surprised. “How tough can it be to write a paragraph of copy that describes a product?” I thought.

But I discovered it’s much more than that.

Just like our business, there are tricks to writing catalog copy that work … techniques that get the reader to say to himself, “Wow – I want to buy that.”

For instance, in listening to Steve, I learned that there’s a special technique catalog copywriters use to whittle down what’s essentially a page of copy into a tiny paragraph … and not lose a smidgen of its impact.

I learned that there are certain products where bullets work better than text … and others where bullets will actually kill the sale.

I learned the importance of going easy on adjectives – which ones you should never use in catalog copy … along with the 5 most powerful adjectives you can and should use.

I learned other things too – great stuff to know about the inner workings of the catalog business, so I can go to virtually any cataloger and be able to talk in their language. That’s important. That’s the kind of thing that says to a prospective employer: “Hey, this guy knows what he’s doing. Let’s give him a shot.”

Other things too …

For instance, I never knew why certain products got more “space” in catalogs than others. I assumed it had something to do with the fact that they were big moneymakers … but that’s wrong. The reason will surprise you – and help you enormously in your quest to become a catalog copy specialist.

Then I thought, “This would be great for our people.” You’re already developing the skill of selling through AWAI’s copywriting program. And this is very much the same thing – only there are very specific rules for writing effective catalog copy … just as our long copy has very specific rules about language, pace, and structure.

Plus, this is a great way to reinforce the basics of selling. Let’s face it. It’ll only make you a better writer in the long run. And it’s a great way to earn some substantial “pocket cash” while you’re mastering the art of copywriting.

So that’s the reason for this letter. We wanted to make this opportunity available to you … or at least make you aware of it. And then, if you decided you’d like to take a crack at it – and earn yourself a couple hundred or a thousand a week, or more – you could.

But there was a problem.

None of us here at AWAI are catalog copy experts. I’m not. Don’s not either. Michael knows the basics, but he’s never sat down for any length of time and written catalog copy. Michael’s friend, Steve, is an expert, but (though he agreed to give us his input) he’s far too busy running his successful business to create a new program for us.

So we went to the pros and we asked: “Who’s the best in the business when it comes to writing catalog copy?”

One name kept coming up: Herschell Gordon Lewis. Herschell’s a master marketer – and a great copywriter. But I had no idea he’d spent so much of his career writing catalog copy.

And not just for run-of-the-mill catalog outfits. He’s written for such prestigious companies as Ethel M Chocolates, Omaha Steaks, Wine Enthusiast, ProFlowers.com, San Francisco Music Box Company … and he consults regularly with Harry & David and Orvis.

Sale Page : https://www.awai.com/copywriting/catalog/learn/copywriting-niche/