VOLUME 22, ISSUE 8 – AUGUST 2023
THIS MONTH’S MENU:
I. APPETIZER: EASY WRITING ISN’T
What Stephen King Can Teach Us About Writing Well
II. “FIELD” GREENS: “CURRENT STATE OF FREELANCING”?
Yours Truly: There’s No Such Thing. Worry About YOUR Practice
III. MAIN “MEAT” COURSE: ADJECTIVES 101
Web-Writing Pro Serves Up the Dos & Don’ts of Descriptors
IV. DESSERT: READERS WEIGH IN ON AI!
Curated Comments and Relevant Expert Links
I. APPETIZER: EASY WRITING ISN’T
What Stephen King Can Teach Us About Writing Well
I’m a big Stephen King fan—read virtually everything he’s written. Too many avoid him, because he’s a “horror writer” when in truth, precious few of his books are true horror (but, the ones that are, ARE…see “Pet Cemetery” and “Salem’s Lot”…shiver…).
Fact is, first and foremost, he’s just an outstanding writer. “The Stand” is on my Top Five Books of All Time list. Talk about a great summer read. Weighs in at nearly 1150 pages, but you won’t want it to end.
In Bazaar of Bad Dreams, one of his short story collections (a great way to introduce yourself to him in small bites; others include Night Shift, Skeleton Crew, Four Past Midnight & Just After Sunset), I stumbled on this quote:
“Easy reading is the product of hard writing.”
Love it. Think about any creative endeavor, whether a favorite movie, a painting, song, etc. Anything that’s easy on the eyes, ears and mind was no doubt agonized over forever, in order to yield that smooth, frictionless and effective final experience.
Take a favorite movie. That finished masterpiece—that touches, moves, transports, thrills, chills and brings tears—is the result of a gargantuan process of filming, culling, editing, smoothing, and fine-tuning.
But when it’s done well, it allows us to “suspend disbelief” and imagine—against all evidence—that the story we just watched actually happened.
Same with writing. When a book works, you don’t even notice the words, but rather, the images and feelings those words evoke. Pulling that off is a serious feat, and underscores the paradox: enormous blood, sweat and tears go into creating writing that’s easy to digest.
Same for folks like us. We may not be writing the next literary gem (yet!), but our calling to create easily grasped text that helps a company put their best foot forward and reach more customers is no less important, and something we can be proud of.
Yet, ironically, when some people see how effortlessly effective a piece of marketing copy is, they can mistakenly conclude that the process is as easy as the outcome—not realizing how much chopping, paring, slicing, dicing, reshuffling, trimming and tweaking takes place along the way.
With AI now in our spaces and faces, it’s more important than ever to get, on a gut level, the value we human scribes bring to the process (see “Dessert” for more) that a computer program can’t. And work hard to convey that value to clients.
Maybe the machines will take over some day, but until then, make your case and find those clients that also get it. On that “irreplaceable-human-factor” note, let’s eat!
II. “FIELD” GREENS: “CURRENT STATE OF FREELANCING”?
Yours Truly: There’s No Such Thing. Worry About YOUR Practice
Some years back, in the midst of a bad economic downturn, I was asked by a blogger to address a question she’d gotten from a lot of her readers in the writing community.
While not quite the same thing, AI’s created a similar level of uncertainty. As such, it seemed worthwhile to revisit the discussion. The blogger wrote:
Can you sum up “the current state of freelancing” in two sentences?
Sounds like a logical question, right? After all, there’s the current State of the Union, of healthcare, of male/female relationships, etc. So, this is no different, right? Wrong.
“The current state of freelancing” (CSOF) implies some condition common to the ENTIRE freelancing market, affecting everyone. Hardly. There’s MY CSOF, yours, and everyone else’s, and none of them have much to do with the others.
Our respective states are dependent on how good a writer each of us is, how broad a network we have, how aggressively we’ve tapped that network, how adaptable we are, and a ton of other things inherent to us alone and how we run our businesses.
Buying into the idea of a CSOF implies there’s a force beyond our control, and that it’s best to just ride the wave along with everyone else, and “wait for things to turn around.” Which is the epitome of victimhood.
I’ve said it a million times: you need an infinitesimal slice of the overall copywriting pie to make a really good living. As such, the CSOF—or “state of the economy” for that matter—has very little bearing on one person’s quest for financial self-sufficiency.
Stop listening to talking heads, and focus on what YOU want to accomplish, and how little you actually need to build a thriving business.
Another thing. In a recent email exchange with a good friend (and fellow FLCW), she spoke of the solid-gold value of a pleasant personality. She wrote:
I guarantee I’ve kept ABC Company (one of her long-term clients)—and have gone from having one paying client contact there to having five additional paying contacts—because they simply like working with me.
Ideal commercial-writing clients are nearly all overworked and overextended, and as such, will welcome those who take things OFF their plate.
Control the things YOU can control. Be that “cool-breeze” writer that makes clients’ lives easier and is great to work with. AND be crystal clear in your communications and on your web site) and deeds that that’s who you are.
III. MAIN “MEAT” COURSE: ADJECTIVES 101
Web-Writing Pro Serves Up the Dos & Don’ts of Descriptors
This late-summer, writing-craft-related fare comes from Atlanta copywriter and web content writer, Tom Tortorici.
Tom works directly with businesses, web designers and marketing agencies, helping companies make a genuine connection with their audience. Enjoy this solid primer on how to use adjectives in your copywriting for optimal impact.
In marketing communications, using the right adjectives can help highlight the shining qualities of your products or services.
And to throw shade on the alternatives.
Remember: specific, descriptive adjectives are more compelling and revealing than general, common ones. Some examples: which sounds better?
Great Coffee
OR
Fresh, Steaming Hot Coffee
Enjoyable Roller-Coaster Rides
OR
Screaming, Heart-Thumping Roller-Coaster Rides
Quality Software Support
OR
Attentive, Friendly Software Support
If you were in the market for any of those offerings, you’d likely pick the second one, and perhaps not even be aware of what prompted that choice.
Adjectives also work the other way, when you’re warning people away from competing options, including not taking action.
So, which seems more disturbing?
Inexpensive Back-Up Drives
OR
Cheap, Unreliable Back-Up Drives
Your Original Kitchen Décor
OR
Your Outdated, Faded Kitchen Décor
Other Auto Mechanics
OR
Inexperienced, Uncertified Auto Mechanics
But, be careful… First, be sure whatever you’re claiming has a basis in fact.
Patently misrepresenting the offerings or capabilities of your or competitive businesses is always wrong, and will bite you in the end.
But since this is marketing, and not an academic paper on spine surgery, you have more leeway in wording things to put your firm’s best foot forward.
In fact, readers expect it.
Second, don’t overdo it with the adjectives, to the point where your writing seems spammy or hard to believe. If what you say seems fishy to the reader, your company will likely never have a chance to win their trust back:
Jaw-dropping, world-changing tax-accounting services
Stay within the realm of reality. People are persuadable, but they’re not stupid.
If your product or service includes a unique feature, the right descriptive adjective can help you rise above, in the prospective buyer’s mind.
Some classic examples include:
Self-Cleaning Oven
No-Wax Floors
Vitamin-Enhanced Water
When hunting for adjectives, a thesaurus has always been the go-to reference for writers. But these days, you just search online for, say, “dependable – synonym” to describe your lawn-maintenance service.
A number of reference websites will come up, each with a list of possible words, to help you find the exact nuance you’re looking for.
Of course, a search for “dependable – antonym” will serve up some opposites, for describing the lawn service the homeowner is currently frustrated with.
Why are the right adjectives so effective?
Because they help engage people’s emotions. And emotions have a lot more to do with people’s purchase decisions than most marketers realize.
Plus, that qualifying word can also provide a helpful data point to someone who’s trying to make a decision.
Now, when editing your own web site/marketing materials or those of your clients, put the power of adjectives to work for you.
PB Note: Nothing wrong with Tom’s online thesaurus recommendation, but I still maintain that the 1361-page, analog, Synonym Finder by Rodale is THE Mack Daddy of thesauri, and should grace every serious writer’s bookshelf.
IV. DESSERT: READERS & GURUS WEIGH IN ON AI!
Curated Comments and Relevant Expert Links
In the wake of July’s E-PUB Appetizer on AI, readers shared their thoughts with me, much of it downplaying the threat of AI to folks like us and offering ideas on putting it to work.
I’m also including some relevant links from a few copywriting “influencers.”
1) One reader wrote:
“I so often hear, ‘Why pay a writer when you can use AI?’ They don’t see the bad, high-school-level copy it churns out. Plus, it can take longer to rewrite badly-written copy than having a pro writer do it well (and faster) in the first place.
“I was recently asked if I would be interested in a writing job REWRITING AI copy. Needless to say, I turned it down.
“I have been using it for first drafts, just to get some ideas going. It helps get past the blank screen blues. But then I take it from there because, frankly, the writing it gives me is so wordy and awful it’s useless.”
(PB: I might not have turned down the gig rewriting the bad AI copy, unless it paid crappy wages. If we can condition clients to realize that AI copy will have to be rewritten, they might just hire us to begin with.)
2) Another reader shared this article, noting, “Here’s another persuasive article on why AI writing doesn’t cut it….”
This noteworthy quote from the piece caught my eye:
“As with all AI, ChatGPT is only as good as its training data. Its training data is online content. So, it’s going to produce content that is not too dissimilar from online content. In fact, its whole goal is to blend in with its training data so it hides the fact that it was made by a machine.
“Marketers want to stand out. ChatGPT wants to blend in.”
3) Diane Holcomb, who contributed the tip in July’s E-PUB, wrote:
“While AI can generate a press release in seconds, I still have to feed it all the relevant information, edit out the redundancies, and edit it for voice. Meanwhile, a good copywriter can capture the appropriate voice for a business.
“AI uses a lot of the same phrases, so every piece starts to sound alike. It’s also a bit heavy-handed on the adjectives, especially for a press release.”
4) SEO copywriting pro Kathy Andes penned an Easy Web Tips post on the subject, where she echoed my and others’ observation, saying:
“So far, I’ve found it very useful for taking the drudgery out of a first draft.”
(Emphasis hers).
5) Way back in January of this year, longtime copywriting guru and coach Nick Usborne talked about how he’s put ChatGPT to work in his business.
And just last month, he blogged again about the subject with this post, essentially asserting that empathy is out of AI’s wheelhouse. Good stuff!
6) And just to mention it again, DO check out Ed Gandia’s great June podcast with podcast with That White-Paper Guy, Gordon Graham.