Ben Settle

Started banging out my 3rd novel last Friday:

“Demon Crossfire”

It’s the third part of the “Enoch Wars” series (7 books planned), and so far it’s going exactly as “chaotically planned” as I’d expected. By that I mean, whenever I write a novel, the first draft is a confusing mess of half completed ideas, clumsy sentences, plot contradictions, and editorial lapses (i.e. forgetting character names, street names, etc).

I used to worry about this stuff.

But, not no more.

Why?

Because of a little trick I learned while writing the first two novels — that also happens to work if you are writing a long form sales pitch.

(Especially long video scripts).

And that thing is:

When I finish a chapter (I write one chapter per day), I loosely bullet point what will be in the next chapter before finishing for that day. That way, I don’t sit there all night wondering and obsessing about it. I can let go of the story from my conscious mind which (according to the late copywriter Gene Schwartz) only holds 7 memory “bytes.” Great for solving problems, syllogisms, etc, but terrible for getting actual ideas. The idea part is what your subconscious brain is for. When I let go of the story the rest of the day and night, and will myself not to think about it, all kinds of ideas start pouring into my brain the next day, making it a super easy and fast process.

And, making the story a helluva lot better, to boot.

Anyway, important writer safety tip.

That is, if you value your sanity.

To check out the other books in the series, go to:

www.EnochWars.com

Ben Settle

Watch them grammar nazis squeal

Today’s “Ben Settle Show” podcast sends the grammar nazis out into the streets weeping & gnashing their teeth.

Producer Jonathan and I rap about:

• Why the old school copywriters purposely misspelled words in their ads. (Back then there was no easy credit card or online ordering, people had to go sometimes miles to the bank, then travel more miles to the post office, often taking an entire day, just to order by mail. Here’s how they used bad spelling to not only get more sales, but motivate people to go through the trouble of ordering at all…)

• Why one of history’s greatest novelists condoned and even promoted the idea of misspelling words.

• Why one of the greatest living copywriters brags about mauling the English language in ads. (And, real life examples of when typos HELPED sales).

• How your brain automatically fixes bad spelling as you read.

• Why most people don’t even notice typos. (Even blatant ones.)

• How being “un-okay” makes you more sales.

• The common writing “error” certain great communicators & persuaders have used to motivate millions of people. (Everyone from Winston Churchhill to Martin Luther King Jr. has made this so-called mistake that gives grammar and spelling nazis acid reflux. Best part: It works even better in sales copy and emails…)

• How to put people into a trance when reading your copy.

• How to use bad grammar to make your emails more entertaining.

• The “Avengers” secret to making tons more sales. (HINT: “The Avengers” was one of the highest grossing movies of all time — yet it had more errors and continuity blunders in it than any other movie in 2012.)

• How Producer Jonathan made a ton of sales (450% more clicks) by writing an email that looked like it was written by a complete moron — full of errors, mistakes, misspellings, and butchered grammar.

• And lotza mo’…

Watch the spelling nazis squirm here:

www.BenSettleShow.com/antipreneur

Ben Settle

I loooooove me some typos.

This makes all the writers bristle, of course. But if I listened to what “writers” say I’d be as broke as most of them are. Their anal retentive ways are necessary for writing books, essays, articles, etc. But, can get you killed writing emails.

How?

Because the best communicators are human, not androids.

They communicate like people.

Are more interesting to listen to.

And, thus, more persuasive.

Like it or lump it, great communicators don’t always use perfect grammar. They butcher words to make a point. Keep going without pausing. And, yes, gleefully abuse repetitive words and phrases (like, you know, Winston Churchhill and Martin Luther King Jr. did) that make spelling nazis grumpy.

I remember hearing Matt Furey say writers are rebels.

(Or should be, anyway…)

And that means… rebelling.

Including against the strangling rules choking the creativity out of people too scared to color outside the lines.

I can already here the diehard writers:

“Bullshit, Ben!”

Fair enuff.

Maybe you’ll believe these world class writers and copywriters.

Like Mark Twain, who said:

“I don’t give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way”

Or John Carlton, who once said:

“In all my years of mauling the English language, I have never lost a known sale to someone because of either “bad grammar” or typos.”

Or David Deutsch, who taught:

“Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, olny taht the frist and lsat ltteres are at the rghit pcleas. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by ilstef,but the wrod as a wlohe.”

More:

I once wrote a series of “spelling nazi” emails.

And at least 2 people showed me examples how removing blatant typos (one in a headline!) *hurt* their response.

Finally…

An “inconvenient truth”:

Proof readers earn peanuts compared to even mediocre copywriters who can’t spell to save their lives.

Am I saying to be sloppy?

To riddle your emails with mistakes?

Not at all, babycakes.

I’m saying don’t obsess over every jot and tittle.

Learn how to write your emails fast.

And, in a way people want to buy from.

The rest’ll take care of itself.

Anyway, I’ve got more to say about this.

And, I do on tomorrow’s “Ben Settle Show” podcast.

Until then, download past shows here:

www.BenSettleShow.com/antipreneur

Ben Settle

Subject line: 14 minutes left to get your Titans DVD’s and pile of bonuses

The Titans of Direct Response DVD offer with the $5k+ in bonuses I will send you if you order from my affiliate link (below) before midnight, ends in 14 minutes:

www.EmailPlayers.com/titans

This email is for the procrastinators.

Those of you who ALWAYS wait until the last minute.

(Then, email me the next day saying, “I didn’t see your 15+ other emails over the weekend…)

Also, one more thing:

If you are on a smart phone or somewhere you can’t easily (or safely) order from, send me an email to ben ( at ) bensettle.com before the midnight deadline and I will hook you up with the link.

That’s it.

No email from me tomorrow.

I’m sleeping in…

(Tell your inbox I said “you’re welcome”)

Ben Settle

Dan Kennedy once said that knowing the history of the industry you’re in is one of the prerequisites of making real money in it.

Very few people online “get” the history of direct response.

Or, the men who made it all happen, and what they teach.

(Which is why so many people wander the IM goo-roo casino.)

That’s the bad news.

The good news is:

The Titans of Direct response DVD’s offer (which ends in two short hours from now) is packed with advice, ideas, strategies, tips, techniques, and experiences from the best-of-the-best old school copywriters, direct mailers, Internet marketers, informerical kings, and masters of persuasion who ever lived. And, as a carrot to get you to try them, if you order before midnight from the link below and I’ll send you $5,974.00+ in “for real” value bonuses — yours to keep no matter what.

But time’s almost out.

Make your decision fast.

Then, go here to my affiliate link:

www.EmailPlayers.com/titans

Ben Settle

P.S. Here are more details about the bonuses I want to send you:

1. Crypto Marketing Secrets book

This is the entire 30-issue run of The Crypto Marketing Newsletter.

(Which ran from early 2010 through mid 2012).

This book is not for sale anywhere else. Less than 50 people — give or take — on the planet possess it (and if you are one of the few who already has it, simply give this second copy away to a colleague as a gift or as a contest bonus, or sell it on eBay if you want).

NOTE:

This is a *physical* book that will be sent by mail.

(At my expense).

Retail value: $810.00 (30-issue run, each issue costed $27)

2. The Agora Tapes

Last December Agora Financial ($200 million dollar publisher of books, newsletters and, now, health supplements) flew me in to Baltimore to teach their copywriters and editorial writers about:

• Infotainment (the single most valuable skill you can learn, IMHO)
• Selling with storytelling
• Email marketing

They also taped my talks and gave me copies.

This bundle of recordings are not for sale for any price. But, I will give them to you (via mp3 download) when you try the Titans of Direct Response DVD’s.

Value: $5,000 — the fee Agora paid to teach it

3. Free Email Players back issue

You’ll get a pdf of my most current “Email Players” issue catalog. Pick any one issue you want and I’ll send it to you (at my expense, anywhere in the world).

Retail value: $97.00 — what back issues sell for

4. “Gary Halbert Secrets From Beyond The Grave” interview

I did this interview with Doberman Dan years ago. Dan used to live with Gary, and they did a bunch of projects together. During that time, Dan learned lessons that have made him (literally) millions of bucks in sales since.

This interview contains tips like:

• How to virtually guarantee you get someone’s attention (i.e. potential JV partners, clients, customers, etc)

• A secret way of writing world-class ads while goofing off (how else do you think a fun-loving guy like Gary Halbert pumped out so many profitable ads?)

• Why blatantly copy & pasting Gary Halbert’s copy for your promos can destroy your sales

• How to never get “writers block”

• The single most important copywriting “trick” ever created (and that can help you do all kinds of other tasks, too — like write high selling ads, find a car and accomplish just about anything else)

• And a ho’ bunch more

Retail value: $67.00

(Doberman Dan and I agreed to never sell this for less than $67.00 or give it away as a bonus for a product that was less than that amount)

5. Ten Copyright-Free “Dark Knight” Emails To Use, Abuse, And Profit From However You Want

These are ten 100% copyright free emails I originally wrote for my own business while watching “Batman: The Dark Knight”. But you will have my permission to use these 10 emails however you want, in any way you want, without any compensation, attribution, or extra permission from me. You can use them “as is”, lift whatever copy you want from them (story, subject lines, etc), even sell them to your clients (if’n you do freelancing) for all I care. There’s nothing like having some emails you can use and abuse however you want, ready to go at a moment’s notice if you’re tired, or feeling lazy, or just don’t want to have to “think.”

Retail value: Unknown

(I don’t write emails for hire)

6. The Exact Bullet Points Template I Use

Last but not least:

This document contains the bullet points template I have on my desk (it’s next to my left arm now, as I type this, and is always there) that I use in emails and sales letters.

It’s shortcut my writing time by a factor 10.

And, it’s based on all the best bullets I’ve ever studied.

The only other way to get this is buying my $297 “Copywriting Grab Bag” product. But, I’ll include it in the same package with your free “Email Players” back issue and “Crypto Marketing Secrets” book when you buy the Titans DVD’s.

Whew!

Add ’em up and it’s a cool $5,974.00+ in retail value bonuses.

(What people actually paid, not made up goo-roo figures.)

They’re worth even more when you count the copyright-free emails
and bullet point templates. And again, they are all yours to
*keep*, even if you (gasp!) refund the Titans DVD’s.

This way you simply cannot lose.

Only I can lose in this deal.

(Since I pay the expensive hard costs to print and mail you the
“Crypto Marketing Secrets” book, free “Email Players” issue, and
bullet point templates.)

Time is almost out.

Grab it all here before midnight (PST) tonight:

http://www.EmailPlayers.com/titans

Brian Kurtz kinda reminds me of King Josiah in the Old Testament.

King Josiah (or KJ as I call him) was an ancient Israelite kings.

And after a few hundreds years of it being forgotten, he rediscovered the book of the law while his high priest was renovating the temple — complete with realizing all the judgements that were about to befall the land for not following the law for so many years (worshipping other gods, pagan idolatry, setting up high places to worship false gods, etc).

Again, reminds me of what Brian Kurtz did in marketing.

He assembled all the best old school marketers.

Unearthed all kinds of lost marketing ideas.

And has forced me to rediscover and re-examine certain laws of direct response marketing — as if they’d been lost and forgotten.

It’s been both humbling and exciting.

And, I realized some dumb things I’ve been doing hurting sales.

(Judgements, if’n you catch my drift.)

Of course, it’s also been profitable, too.

I’ve been using the ideas, for example, in the Dan Kennedy training to bang out dozens and dozens of profitable emails — and it’s making my system (which is already extremely effective) even more potent and profitable. The Jay Abraham teaching gave me a great opt in page idea, and listening to the copywriters and old school marketers has had me adding all kinds of ideas to my email “fodder file.”

Will it do the same for you?

Only one way to know:

By getting the DVD’s.

(The entire event is also on MP3’s that come with it.)

If you order before midnight tonight (Pacific time) I will even give you $5,974.00+ in retail value (i.e. what people actually pay for it, not phony made up goo-roo value) bonuses.

They include:

1. Crypto Marketing Secrets book
2. The Agora tapes downloads
3. 10 Copyright-free emails you can use however you want
4. Gary Halbert Secrets From Beyond The Grave interview
5. Free back issue of any “Email Players” issue you want
6. Bullet Points template (same one I use)

Some of these I mail to you (at my expense).

Some are downloadable.

But, either way, they are yours to keep — even if you decide to take Brian up on his guarantee.

But there’s no time to lose.

This offer ends in a few hours.

Here is my affiliate link:

www.EmailPlayers.com/titans

Ben Settle

True story:

Few months ago, I had the privilege of having an ad I was working on get jabbed, stabbed, shot, and tied inside a room full of oil drums rigged to explode by one of my favorite “A List” copywriters David Deutsch.

Turns out I was playing it WAY too safe in the headline.

Especially for the niche I was writing in.

I needed to get crazier.

I needed to (as he said):

“Go hardcore Ben Settle” in the headline.

Most of us are WAY too safe in headlines, when we should be going the opposite way — going more dramatic, more bold, more ballsy.

(It was a priceless tip, I’ve never forgotten.)

The point?

That one off the cuff comment he made, forced me to re-examine the entire way in which I write ads (especially headlines). There is just nothing like having someone who is at the top of their game chew your ads and ideas up and spit them out. Just ONE idea from a guy like David changes everything — and can put a ton of dough in your pocket.

Enter the Titans of Direct Response.

David is on a panel in it.

And, so are some of his A List copywriting super friends.

It’s a cool round table talk where these guys are just throwing out all kinds of wisdom and experiences and ideas — letting us get a good look at how top copywriters (who are the best of the best) think, write, and make lots of sales using nothing but the written word.

The deadline to get these DVD’s approaches fast.

It’ll be upon you, soon.

If you order them from my affiliate link below, I’ll send you a pile of valuable bonuses worth (retail – what others pay for them) well over $5k — yours to keep, even if you were to take advantage of the Titans DVD’s guarantee. Since some of the bonuses will be printed and mailed to you at my expense, that means the only one who can possibly lose here is me.

But I ain’t worried.

Not by a sight.

This is the best marketing product I’ve bought in 8 years.

The deadline to get it with the $5,000+ in bonuses is midnight.

(Pacific time)

Mere hours from now.

Here is my affiliate link:

www.EmailPlayers.com/titans

Ben Settle

P.S. Here are the bonuses I will send you:

1. Crypto Marketing Secrets book
2. The Agora tapes downloads
3. 10 Copyright-free emails you can use however you want
4. Gary Halbert Secrets From Beyond The Grave interview
5. Free back issue of any “Email Players” issue you want
6. Bullet Points template (same one I use)

This subject line is from a talk the late, great copywriter Gene Schwartz gave to Phillips Publishing back in the early 1990’s.

The context was this:

Gene was talking about the power of listening.

Specifically, to your market.

And how, if you get people talking and telling you stories about themselves, they will tell you things they didn’t even know they knew. When you apply this to writing ads (getting stories from clients, the market, etc) you’ll have more fodder (for emails, ads, blogs, videos, webinars, whatever it is you sell with) than you can ever possibly use.

All that “TMI” fodder is handed to you on a silver platter.

Absolutely free.

And, without you doing any work.

(Other than asking questions.)

Now, “fast forward” to today:

One of the many things direct marketing legend Jay Abraham taught in the Titans DVD was an advanced method he uses to draw information out of clients and his market that works even more powerfully than stories. His method is based on the ancient philosopher Socrates… and after hearing it, I finally “got” how he is able to invade and conquer markets at ease (not selling eBooks, but to put his clients at the top of entire industries — like he did with Icy Hot), and create an endless string of super successful marketing campaigns seemingly out of thin air.

(Which is one of the things he’s known for.)

He doesn’t spend a lot of time on this in the DVD’s.

But, even the little time he does spend is a power education in market and product analysis you simply aren’t going to hear in any Internet marketing guru course.

Just another example of what’s inside.

More:

The deadline to get these DVD’s along with the $5k+ of bonuses I will send you when you order from my affiliate link below is looming.

Tonight at midnight the link goes down.

And, so does your chance to get:

1. Crypto Marketing Secrets book
2. The Agora tapes downloads
3. 10 Copyright-free emails you can use however you want
4. Gary Halbert Secrets From Beyond The Grave interview
5. Free back issue of any “Email Players” issue you want
6. Bullet Points template (same one I use)

(Well over $5k in real retail value.)

It’s all waiting for you patiently here:

www.EmailPlayers.com/titans

Ben Settle

A private email I sent Brian Kurtz:

“Hey Brian, was just listening to the Jay Abraham interview you did at Titans while walking my dog, he said something very profound that I am going to test on my opt in page. It was the part where he talked about how saying something free isn’t as effective as saying______. I was so excited to try that on my opt in page (where______), I cut the dog walk short, ran home, typed up a quick bit and sent it to my web guy. I got most of his ideas in for that (limited space on the page and all), but it should be interesting to see what happens.”

Anyway, we’ll be testing this bad-boy soon.

(When my current opt-in page test experiment ends.)

I suspect it’ll give heart burn to the usual squeeze page goo-roos who wouldn’t even think to test it. (No doubt saying, “That’s too much copy for a squeeze page!”)

The ironic part?

Jay Abraham wasn’t even talking about opt-in pages.

(He was talking about sales letters, etc, when it came time to talk about free bonuses and premiums, but all this stuff applies to email, opt in pages, anything you’re doing online).

So many bars of gold in these DVD’s.

So many different ways of looking at things.

But, deadline to get these DVD’s with the $5k+ in bonuses I will send you if you order with my affiliate link below ends at midnight tonight (PST).

No time for dilly-dally on this.

Here is my affiliate link:

www.EmailPlayers.com/titans

Ben Settle

P.S. Here are the bonuses I will send you (some by direct mail, others by digital download):

1. Crypto Marketing Secrets book
2. The Agora tapes downloads
3. 10 Copyright-free emails you can use however you want
4. Gary Halbert Secrets From Beyond The Grave interview
5. Free back issue of any “Email Players” issue you want
6. Bullet Points template (same one I use)

Well over $5k in legitimate retail value.

(Not phony goo-roo “just slap a value next to it” value.)

And, all yours to keep.

But, only if you try the DVD’s by using my affiliate link here:

www.EmailPlayers.com/titans