7 Basic Things I Learned About Writing from Copywriting Pro Gary Halbert
In case you were (or weren’t) wondering.
Today we’re going to talk about some basic information, basic as in good information. Not basic as in bottom-rung. This article? So basic.
The topic is on two Chapters from “The Boron Letters,” which I read about a month ago. It’s my last article on the topic considering I’ve written about most of the other chapters already.
Published with either “The Writing Cooperative” or “The Ascent.” Thanks!
What are “The Boron Letters,” you ask? Good question. Let me quickly explain.
The TL:DR version is that these letters are 25 chapters of writing and life advice from pro copywriter Gary Halbert, published in 1984.
Gary Halbert is referenced by many as a great copywriter and direct mail marketer. So I thought I would check him out.
These 7 lessons stem mainly from Chapters 17 and 18.
A Quick Note About Awkwardness
Halbert wrote the letters while in jail serving a sentence for mail fraud. The Boron Federal Prison Camp, hence the name. The letters were to offer advice to his son during an obviously difficult period in his life.
The strange thing to me is that he is still regarded highly after being in jail. Most people can’t get away with this, especially if you’re of certain demographics. (You do that math.)
Yet it didn’t mar his legacy, and seemingly added to it.
I do wonder why. I think, “Is it because he is a white guy? Or he had that great of relationships and was considered that great of a writer? Or maybe that mail fraud wasn’t as bad of a criminal offense as far as crime goes? One, two or a combination of the three? I don’t know, but I did wonder about this.
I thought I’d mention it, because maybe you’d wonder too…and it adds a little mystique to things, I think.
I hope this intuitive tug serves me right.
/end note.
So if you’re still with me, let’s now move onto the lessons. 3–2–1…Go.
The 7 Indelible Lessons
Lesson 1: Copy writing that you like to understand good writing at the “cellular” level.
(Yes, copy writing and not copywriting, just to clarify. Thanks.)
In Chapter 17, Halbert shares the example of the writer Alex Haley, the author of the saga Roots, which is the story of how Africans became Americans, essentially. Tearjerker type sh!(t).
Haley would copy the authors he liked, even boarding a “freighter” to understand on a micro level the experience of humans shoveled on as human cargo for slavery.
On a less depressing note, Halbert also says that writers should write out ads and direct mail pieces they like:
“You see, what happens when you actually write out a good ad in your own handwriting is that the words and the flow and the sentence structure and the sequence of information and everything else about the writing of that ad becomes a part of you.” -Gary Halbert, “The Boron Letters” (Chapter 17)
Copying quality writing from others gives us a mind-body imprint of the process. Learning, at the soul-level.
Lesson 2: Use simple words.
Simple words make a message easy to understand and help place the focus solely on that message (Chapter 17).
“Get” is better than “procure,” he says. Another example would be actually not avoiding a basic word like “a lot” and using this word instead of one like “substantial” or “numerous.”
Lesson 3: Ask questions and then answer them.
One thing that was prevalent throughout “The Boron Letters” was the use of this tactic. I did find this intriguing because it didn’t wait for me to answer.
You would think that someone asking and then answering a question for you would interrupt your thought process. It doesn’t, really. Instead, it moves the narrative along nicely.
Two examples from the letters: “Did all of this pay off? You bet it did” (Chapter 17) or “You did notice? Good” (Chapter 13).
Lesson 4: Use transitions.
This one is pretty common, a concept that we learn in general when we write. So it’s important for a direct mail marketer like Halbert, a thesis your senior year, an essay in English 101 or a website for an entrepreneur.
Et cetera, et cetera.
Transition words and phrases keep a reader moving along seamlessly through the text. A few examples are “And so on,” “Onward,” “Well,” “Now,” and “And,” “But,” “So.”
Here is a pretty little list of more transition words from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Lesson 5: Create word pictures.
This sounds like a synonym for imagery. Essentially, we should get a reader to imagine an idea in their minds, vividly (Chapter 17).
Songwriters are great with this. I’ll share a lyric from an album I like — many people, actually, so I’ll use this example for, you know, commonus groundus. The album is The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
These lyrics are from the song “Nothing Even Matters” — towards the end of the album — and talks about Hill with a man she is in love with:
These buildings could drift out to sea
Some natural catastrophe
Still there’s no place I’d rather be
’Cause nothin’ even matters to me
These images are powerful. A hurricane— as frightening as this is — could displace the buildings, but still, not their love. This image shows the captivating power of what they feel for one another.
Also, would you rather have this image or a lyric of, “We were really, really in love”? Me, the image 100 to 1. It’s far prettier and visual. I see and feel this image, and probably connect more on an emotional level, too. (You?)
Lesson 6: Use parentheses.
A “judicious use of parenthesis” (like this, for example) provides eye relief to the reader, Halbert says in Chapter 18.
Parentheses can also make writing easier to read and understand. (That is all for this succinct lesson.)
Lesson 7: The formatting should be inviting.
Good formatting includes having white space; using short words, sentences and paragraphs; and having a good amount of spacing between lines.
Formatting can help us to quickly get what is being said. I will also add bulleted lists and bolding key text to the list as well.
These are just a few of many lessons I’ve learned from “The Boron Letters.” Basic lessons, in a positive way. On that note, I hope this information from Chapters 17 and 18 can be useful for you, too, these 7 lessons.
Thanks for reading.
Obinna Morton
