The Poetry Pharmacy The fourth instalment in my occasional series on how what you read can help you improve your own writing. Please don’t think of poetry as the often turgid rhymes you had to learn by rote back in school, when you were far too young to understand the meaning and emotion the poet…
Read this and you will… (3)
Prospect Magazine The third instalment in my series on what to read to improve your own writing The best writing can do many things. It can inform. Entertain. Educate. Inspire. Challenge. And reading the best writing can help you improve your own. Do you ever read a line and then read it again, straight away, because…
Copywriting lessons (1): What you can learn from… PolicyBee
How do you know where to find the best words? Copywriting lessons for people in a hurry The best copywriting lessons are often free. Lots of writers, including me, will advise you to read widely because you can learn from other people and use their writing to improve your own. But how do you know…
Altogether now, Tis the season to…
…avoid festive folly in your headline, tra la la la, tra la la la Do you ever read something that stops you dead in your tracks? It can be something so good you wish you’d written it yourself. Or so bad you’re glad you didn’t. It happened to me last week when Boots,…
Read this and you will… (2)
Write to the Point This is the second in my series where I recommend books that I’ve been impressed by, learned from or simply enjoyed. We’re all writers these days. You may be creating a new marketing campaign, writing your company’s call scripts or updating your website. You may want your email to raise more…
Read this and you will… (1)
Write to Sell: the first in my new series of book recommendations and reviews If you want to improve your writing, one of the best things you can do is read widely (you can see another blog I wrote about this here). Because the more you read – and the more widely you read…
The value of a human voice at the end of the line
And why you must replicate it in your writing This is a true story about a close call, mismatch and a quest for human comfort. Last Friday afternoon I ordered a new armchair from Dunelm. As the chair cost £550 I didn’t want to make a mistake so I spent ages taking measurements…
How to write killer copy with the first rule of comedy
How you can write killer copy when you follow the first rule of comedy It’s mid-February in the UK. We’ve just had a long period of freezing, wet and windy weather. As happens in this country, the wintry weather at times brought everything to a standstill and the language of the weather forecasters became increasingly…
This one simple thing will improve your copywriting (from the minute you start)
And continue to help you for as long as you do it There’s no degree in copywriting. No one way to get into the business. No one stand-out course that all the best copywriters take. Anyone can become a copywriter. At least, anyone can call themselves a copywriter. But saying you’re a copywriter and actually…
How to target your copy so your words hit home
With a seasonal nod to the 2018 John Lewis ad Here’s a challenge for you. Try and guess which one song got three 12-year-old girls and one 51-year-old woman belting it out together in joyful harmony? Which artist managed to bridge our generational and cultural chasm? Ed Sheeran seems obvious? Perhaps Little Mix? Or maybe…