Video:
Write Now! Persuasive Writing Prompts:
Copy Your Hero’s Copy
Practice your copywriting skills with this prompt from The Professional Writers’ Alliance (PWA).
In this Write Now! exercise, discover a fun way to practice your writing skills.
Watch this video by author, popular speaker, copywriter, Steve Slaunwhite, to learn how to advance your copywriting by copying from a copywriter you admire. (Or read the transcript below.)
Back in the 1990s when I was learning copywriting, one of the things I would do is study copy written by copywriters that I admire. And I just didn’t read their copy. I would copy their copy. And what I mean by that is this. I would find a sample of their work, an email or a sales letter. I would print it off. And then I would actually type it in to my computer word for word.
And as I was doing that, I would gain the experience of what it must have been like to write that copy from scratch. I would get a sense of the structure and the style and the words that they use. And it was really a great way to learn copywriting.
So here's my writing prompt for you. Find a sample of copy written by a copywriter that you admire. And it doesn’t have to be long, just a page or so. And print it off and retype that copy into your computer. And what you'll find will happen was that you'll get a sense of what it’s like to write that copy. And it will very quickly build your copywriting muscle. And the great thing about this writing prompt is you can do it right away today. It doesn’t take that long.
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Write Now! persuasive writing prompts are presented by the Professional Writers’ Alliance (PWA) — a professional association just for direct-response industry writers. Learn about the many benefits of a PWA membership.
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Thanks for this reminder to rewrite great copy --to go beyond reading. I'm still learning the basics of copywriting and The AWAI Hall of fame is a wonderful resource, and easy to access!
lisa25 –
That is a great tip. Thanks for sharing. I spend on average 2 hours per day copying great sales letters. Word by word. And in many case more than once - WSJ Tale of two men is the one that I have copied the most -41 times to be exact. Maybe its a bit excessive but this was one of the first sales letters I read and it has remained one of my favourites.
Only thing that I do differently is that I do not type them into PC. I use a pen and paper. I was told that writing with a pen engages more parts in your brain than just typing it out. Im not sure whether its true or not, its just how I do it.
Guest (Kendrick ) –
I've heard about this idea of copying sales letters word for word and even multiple times. I'd also learnt that copying them through pen and paper tends to activate something in the brain better than typing. Now that I've seen it here, I'd love to try my hands on it. Thanks for the tip.
Vickie50 –
Steve Thank you so much. I think this is what I needed to break my block of trying/starting. Heard the same about handwriting as well. Thanks all!
EllenWrites –