Ben Settle

Today’s the 12-year anniversary of my first novel “Zombie Cop.”

It started out as something to do just to do it… and then turned into a 9-part series of novels published over the next 10 years where each one is built around a specific kind of monster with my own “twists” on that monster’s lore, legends, etc.

A lot of people seem to think the books are all about “zombies.”

No.

That is merely the first book.

The rest are about whatever monster is referenced in their respective titles:

* So the 2nd novel (Vampire Apocalypse) is about vampires.

* The 3rd novel (Demon Crossfire) is about demons.

* The 4th novel (Evil’s Child) is about the Tarasque (a monster from French history that’s also prominent in Dungeons & Dragons – and is my version of “The Terminator” basically).

* The 5th novel (Werewolf Bastard) is about werewolves.

* The 6th novel (Hell’s Frankenstein) is my take on Frankenstein.

* The 7th novel (Lucifer’s Favorite) is about the devil.

* The 8th novel (God Blood) is not about monsters, but about various monsters throughout a 2,000 year span of time fighting for control of the Blood of Jesus Christ that was collected at the Crucifixion.

* And the 9th novel (Serpent Seed) is about the devil’s own offspring – literal and spiritual.

Anyway, back to book #1:

In honor of its 12-year anniversary, I want to share a valuable tip from the late, great filmmaker Ray Harryhausen who is the special effects guy whose altar everyone from James Cameron to Steven Spielberg to Peter Jackson bows at to this day.

There is a documentary about him I highly recommend called:

“Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan”

Watch it.

Then watch it again.

Then again, and again, and again… as many times as you can. Do that and I DEFY you not to be a better copywriter, marketer, salesman, business owner – not to mention content creator, too, of course.

There are so many lessons in it I cannot possibly do it justice here.

But, the one lesson I’ll share is related to how I created my own books’ villains.

And that is this:

(A quote from the documentary)

“A good monster has to have personality”

This applies to the “monsters” (i.e. problems) that afflict your market/list, too.

As for my novels:

They are all on Amazon.

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Ben Settle

Writing coach Lauren Sapala reviews the 2nd book in my 9-part Enoch Wars saga:

One of the hallmarks of a truly great writer is the ability to write comedy and horror at the same time. This is one of the many things I love about Ben Settle’s novels. They horrify me and make me laugh, sometimes all in the same scene.

In Vampire Apocalypse (The Enoch Wars Book 2 for superfans), we watch the continued saga of Azriel Creed (weakling-kid-turned-Predator) unfold as Azriel is called to the next phase of his monster-hunting journey.

I say that we “watch” it unfold because reading this story honestly feels more like watching a movie than reading. I noticed that with the first novel in this series too. There is such a strong feeling of having an experience with a movie instead of a book.

Part of it is the graphic imagery, but it’s also the dialogue and the way the action is structured. And the dialogue, by the way, is hilarious.

A big part of the story in this second book is Anghel “Fezziwig” Belasco, a 5,500-year-old vampire who is the Big Daddy Vampire of them all, and everything out of his mouth made me actually laugh out loud.

He was my favorite character by far, and I’m really hoping he shows up again later in the series, although I’m not sure that’s possible considering how it all went down at the end of this book (Don’t worry, I won’t give spoilers).

We also get more of the backstory in this book as to how Azriel came to be the way he is, and what it all means.

And when I say “backstory,” I mean there’s an epic backstory of grand proportions that has a beautiful “great ancient mystery” feel to it that’s woven throughout this series.

This isn’t just a surface-level horror story told in installments, it’s an intricate story made up of many different threads that you have to pay attention to, and that all mean something and come together in a very precise way to form a bigger picture.

That’s why I love it. Because I know it’s something I can come back to again and again, and if I keep reading on, even more of the pieces will be revealed over time.

And now I’m off to read Book 3…

Two things about not only this novel but all of the ones in the 9-part series I’ve written:

1. They are written in “copywriting” style.

If you like my sales copy and emails, you’ll probably enjoy reading them, too. If you don’t, then you almost certainly will not enjoy them. I try to remove all fluff, and I do not try to be a “great writer.”

I simply strive to engage & entertain..

2. I loosely merge some Method Acting into my sales copy.

Specifically, for when I write in others’ voices.

Take the character Fezziwig Laura mentioned and got such a kick out of. His personality is something that came about as a result of writing in a certain client’s “voice” for several years. A crotchety old grizzled guy who was an a genious at buying businesses using none of his own money.

I didn’t even realize it at the time.

But nowadays it’s very obvious his voice is in my head to this day.

In fact I have many “voices” in my head from my client days.

And a litmus test to know if you’re a freelancer doing your research correct is, you should literally have multiple personalities that sit in your psyche from writing in their voices/personalities/thought patterns.

That’s my opinion, at least.

Do what you want with it.

You can read the novels on Amazon if they interest you.

Otherwise?

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Ben Settle

P.S. It was good to see Fezziwig finally getting the lovin’ he’s always wanted.

I really appreciated Lauren’s review. And I can assure her and others who have read the 2nd book, you have not seen the last of Fezziwig. He pops up all across the 9-books in all kinds of unexpected, sick, and completely twisted ways..

Last year I read this ditty about the movie theater business:

“Movie theater owners reportedly spent over $1.5 billion remodeling and updating cinemas last year in an attempt to reel people back in. This question is for those of you who have entirely or mostly stopped going to movie theaters: what would it take for YOU to be excited to go to the cinema again on a regular basis?”

If I owned a movie theater, here’s what I’d want to do:

* Have bouncers in the theaters who ruthlessly kick out anyone who talks, or whose phones light up, or who’s being disruptive/obnoxious/loud/distracting

* Lock entrance doors (exits unlocked only in case of fire) after the trailers start

* Prioritize cleanliness – like chairs, floors, etc between showtimes

* TRIPLE movie ticket prices so only Players with Money want to go anyway, who pay for the privilege of the novelty, lower crowds, and consequences of others’ low class behaviors

* Build the theater near the high end car dealerships, where customers have long waits, so they figure, “I’ll catch a movie while waiting…”

* I doubt the lawyers would let me, but my ultimate movie theater fantasy would have anyone who talks/disrupts during a film, or who is even so much on their phone, would trigger a mechanism where the seat drops out from under them, and they plunge into a hot fire like Mustafa did in Austin Powers…

I don’t know where else I’m going with this.

But notice none of the above is about metrics or A/B split tests.

It’s about Experiences.

Something you cannot really track with a spreadsheet.

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Ben Settle

I saw this take on my Facebook feed a while back:

“i think people forget this lineup sole purpose was to push diversity bc the original xmen was flopping, the new characters completely revived the brand and became more popular than the original 5. imagine xmen without storm, wolverine, colossus and nightcrawler bc “diversity bad”

It had a pic of the X-Men team introduced in Giant Sized X-Men #1.

i.e., most of the team/characters people recognize in the movies, cartoons, etc.

That team’s fake diversity is something the social media virtue signalers still get very precious about to this day. Because while it’s true Marvel wanted to appeal to a bigger worldwide audience in 1975, it’s also true:

1. Colossus, the white Russian guy, was meant to be the draw, thus his bold costume colors and him leading the charge on the Giant Sized X-Men #1 cover

2. Thunderbird, the brown Apache guy, was killed off right away

3. Sunfire, the Japanese guy, was written out right away

4. Nightcrawler was the artist (Dave Cockrum’s) favorite and was German, and who used an “image inducer” to change his blue, demonic appearance into a white guy who looked like Errol Flynn

5. Banshee was a white Irishman

6. Wolverine was a white Canadian

7. Storm was the only black character, yet they even gave her long flowing hair and blue eyes like a white chick

8. Professor X, the founder and mastermind of the team, was white

9. So this “diverse” team was 99% white – with Cyclops, the white man, as leader

10. All of which was totally in line with Marvel’s policy at the time to only give the “illusion of change” but not actually change anything, mostly to appease the toy companies

11. After Uncanny X-Men writer Chris Claremont left 17-years later, writers Scott Lobdell and Fabian Niceiza started pushing the diversity themes harder vs Claremont’s usually more subversive approach – as Claremont did use race as an allegory, he just didn’t shove it down readers’ throats as much, focusing more on character & drama (he was a theater guy) than virtue signaling

12. Modern Marvel comics are constantly pushing social activism, and from what I hear don’t make any profit anymore, with movie studios propping them up

13. The movies are mostly all hemorrhaging cash, too, though

14. That probably won’t change until the current Hollywood system collapses

15. The Marvel movies are making all the same mistakes the comics did starting 30+ years ago, as described in the book “Marvel Comics: The Untold Story”

16. The biggest mistake being: executives enslaved to metrics & perceived trends

17. All of which is yet another reason to read The Tyranny of Metrics book I think all direct marketers should possess

Businesses driven by “metrics” & chasing social activist approval are doomed to fail.

Add in virtue signaling about whatever topic, and it’s only worse.

Yes, these billion dollar brands can get away with this sort of thing for a while. But smaller businesses are out of their minds if they think that will translate to sales, long term customer loyalty, and profits.

Anyway, so that’s that.

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Ben Settle

The question of the hour is asked:

“I got a quick question, how do you have time to do this volume of reading, especially times when you have to read a book 10 times, considering the volume of writing you do yearly, the number of businesses you run, spending time with family and being a great dad to Willis? What’s your principle to reading fast and not losing vital information?”

The short answer is:

I’m not a “fast” reader at all, just consistent.

The longer answer is:

I also am in a constant state of not just “urgency” but emergency.

If I have a time management & productivity “system” that is it.

The complacency people have right now is astounding to me.

The way the normies keep falling for one obvious scam after another (covid, so-called AI, bull shyt wars, etc) have made it so my business goals are totally bent around having enough money to escape the consequences of their idiotic voting patterns, celebrity worship, nanny-state dependence, media narrative shilling, corporate CEO (big pharma, AI, etc) simping, and the list goes on.

So my time is heavily invested in that mostly.

Business mornings (approx 4 hours) are split between my book/newsletter & Trading businesses.

Although I only spend about 10 minutes per week on the trading, barely a “blip” in my schedule. I am actually launching a course to Low Stress Trading students in a couple weeks about exactly how I do this, to exact stocks I trade, and some other stuff I won’t go into here.

Then the rest of my day?

Is spent prepping – spiritually, physically, and mentally.

I also walk a lot with my thoughts, talk a lot with Stefania, and play a lot with Willis.

This is why I don’t have time to haunt social media all day.

If I’m on there at all, it’s as a break and for entertainment purposes on Twitter, mostly, or to “pre-write” content by posting in my free Settleheads group. I also, at certain times during any given year, spend an hour each day for my own selfish purposes working on my next series of novels.

No money goals or grand scheme for the fiction.

I do it purely for love the of the game.

Whatever happens, happens.

As for how I go about marketing and running my businesses, see the paid Email Players newsletter here:

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Ben Settle

A couple months ago I wrote an email about what I call the:

“Copywriting shyt show”

You can see it playing out in real time like watching a car crash in process.

And, in the at email, I said:

“I’d predict a lot of what you’re seeing around you in the direct response world, the goo-roos you see currently, the lies they push, the fake numbers/claims about so-called AI, etc… will all collapse, with copywriting going back to being more of a niche thing again, and not a Redditor-bait “career” or something people with no skill whatsoever LARP about on social media… in the next 5-10 years.”

To which I got this bit of interesting feedback:

I’ve been a copywriter since 2019.

Right now I don’t have a client or job. I’ve worked remotely since 2019. Gotten about 15 clients so far.

It’s been way harder to get clients recently. I’ve niched down to e-commerce and also applied to other roles such as creative strategist, digital marketer, email marketer, and scriptwriter.

Been doing more cold emails also too recently compared to before.

Anyway, I hope that what you said here comes true.

I hope that copywriting becomes niche again so that guys like me who actually wants to work as a copywriter in the next coming decades becomes more successful and in demand.

He didn’t ask, but in his case I’d “hedge” my odds with these two things:

First, by becoming your own client

i.e., what I call a “Client-less Copywriter”

I realize many copywriters are submissive by nature, and enjoy being told what to do, what to say, what to write. To each their own, I suppose. But I despise taking orders and there mere thought of making someone else more money from the fruits of my labors than I do for my own business.

But even if you like working on client stuff:

Why not also work your own business, on your own projects in, within your own schedule, too?

i.e., work your own projects in your client rotation.

That way you do not rely on anyone else.

And if a client flakes on you, cheats you out of fees, ghosts you… you won’t care.

You’re eating steak either way.

And secondly:

Learning to trade options using our Low Stress Trading framework.

More and more copywriters – and other service providers – up in my World are doing this. And they are seeing that as their future instead of chasing fees and clients and sales. If I was a freelancer I’d learn our framework.

It’s so safe the government even allows you to do it in a child’s custodial account.

(They would NOT allow that if it was super risky).

Yet it’s also so profitable one could potentially start trading with as little as $10k and retire within 5 years. And that claim is being “conservative” about it. In fact, across our own companies (software, LST, etc) they each have a trading account.

And those trading accounts are set to dwarf the sales of the actual businesses themselves.

That’s the whole goal:

To turn our companies into trading account “skin suits.”

Where we can focus on serving our customers while also using our own tools in our own businesses, but with the profits as “gravy”, where employees and vendors are paid from the trading, where bonuses can be paid with the trading, etc, and the sales of the actual companies are distributed or reinvested or even set on fire “Joker” style if we wanted, as they become a pittance of what the trading creates.

I know this all sounds exaggerated.

In fact, we had to double the price for Low Stress Trading this year because of this.

The original $1000 we used to charge was not realistic for how well it works.

People really do judge info by price (I know I do), and this was no different.

Plus, the ridiculous number of 5-star Trust Pilot reviews (we get so many, TP has made it so new reviewers have to show them proof of purchase, if that tells you something), not to mention how it blows away anything you see places like Agora, etc doing who charge 15x what we do while delivering maybe 10% of what we deliver.

At least, that is, going by one of their ex CMO’s said.

Specifically the CMO for their Legacy Research Division – who oversaw $1.4 billion in newsletter sales during his tenure, and publicly said how ours is the only trading framework he uses, and has even taught it to his wife, kids, etc.

Do what you want with that info.

And if I have my way we will be doubling the price again this year. I will be selling it to my list with an extremely valuable bonus (a course I just created last weekend showing how I get my entire trading week down to just 10-minutes or less) next month for those interested.

Anyway, until then?

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Ben Settle

“You read the Bible in 41 days and some people can’t even read a 20-page newsletter?”

So said Stefania a few weeks ago.

Specifically, after I’d just finished my latest read-through of the Bible, which I do 3-4 times per year. It’s not a race, I just prefer the sense of continuity I experience from reading it that way. So this last time I started January 1st and finished on February 10th.

Plus, during those same 41 days I also:

* Recorded and tediously edited an 8+ hour audio course about copywriting

* Strategized and then helped implement a promo & be on all the daily 2+ hour webinars for a major Low Stress Trading campaign that got us close to $1 million revenue in January, and got us firmly on track to do our first 8-figure year this year

* Wrote and edited the upcoming April Email Players issue

* Created/wrote full email campaigns for two other affiliate offers

* Completely revamped my opt-in page and blog design

* Wrote most of my daily emails for February and March in advance

* Spent 2-3 hours per day most of those days walking & doing business via Marco Polo with my various biz ventures + listening to various training for Low Stress Training as well as an additional (totally separate from the above) Bible study going through it being taught chapter by chapter and verse by verse, as I got my steps in each day

* Played with Willis every single day starting with when he wakes up because I don’t want to miss anything about him growing up, and spending much of the day with him

* Did a bunch of other ticky-tack stuff (like tax stuff) I have to do as a grownup

* Plus still found a little bit of time here and there to diddle around on Twitter (my entertainment these days) and in my Settleheads Facebook group

This is why I never take anyone seriously who whines to me about having no time.

Most peoples’ problem is they have TOO much time.

Another topic, for another time..

Anyway, I don’t expect people to have my appetite for reading, working, or writing.

There are, frankly, several people I know who make me look downright LAZY.

But, I do have a certain level of expectation for those who claim to be in business as a whole amongst my horde. And this “I don’t have time to read” lie is one of the main reasons I have my “No Coming Back” policy for Email Players.

If the trash takes itself out, I don’t try to bring it back in.

That analogy always offends the fluffers on my list when they hear it.

But I’ve also admittedly been lax on the policy the last 12-months after switching carts.

There has been an unofficial and unannounced “year of Jubilee” with that policy since last March, when my old cart went out of business and we scrambled to get everyone switched, along with many ongoing hiccups… and where I did not care, or even check, and let anyone come back during that time.

That’ll be a-changing starting this month though.

Whatever the case, here is the point of all this:

I simply cannot help people in that “I don’t have time to read” head space.

And that is, from what I can see, more and more people.

It may or may not be related to something Dan Kennedy said last year, about how nobody wants to be successful anymore. Not Americans, at least. America used to celebrate, seek out, and chase success.

Now?

Most seek out, celebrate, and chase… something else.

Exactly what they’re chasing, I don’t pretend to know. I suspect it’s something they find in their social media feeds. Or in their TikTok shorts or favorite Disney+, or Netflix, or OnlyFans algorithm vortex.

Whatever it is, it clearly ain’t anything I have to offer.

And so, for BOTH their own good and my own good, I cut them out and seal the doors behind them so they become someone else’s problem, and not mine. This is one reason I was telling a customer recently how I’ve gradually been switching things up to just focusing on Email Players and Low Stress Trading.

Those in both are still interested in, reveling in, and mired in success.

They actually can’t get enough of the stuff.

Success is like a drug to them.

And it’s also intoxicating serving them, and they’re just a joy to deal with.

But in the online marketing space as a whole?

It’s the exact opposite:

* Entitlement.

* Loser think.

* Doomscrolling.

* Parroting tech CEO’s shilling generative so-called AI leading them off a financial cliff.

* Marketing goo-roo worship.

* Social media echo chambers making people arrogant of their own ignorance.

* And the list goes on.

So over the past couple years, since January 2024 to be exact, I’ve been getting more and more and more of my best customers over to Low Stress Trading. I even have a “sub group” in that community just for MY people.

And in the not-too-distant future this list will probably look like this:

1. Selling Email Players at the end of each month like I do now

2. Selling Low Stress trading primarily during the rest of the month

3. With my books (not newsletter) probably licensed out to a small handful of interested marketers who have the patience and willingness to deal with the guppie-attention spans of the online marketing community I no longer tolerate, and those books they license and sell being natural lead gen back to me, with the guppies mostly curated out, who I can then sell Email Players & Low Stress Trading to.

So that’s the semi-exit strategy ‘round these parts.

Actually, now that I think about it, I got to amend this a little.

I will also, at least a few days per month, continue promoting my fiction, too.

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Ben Settle

Currently I’m reading a biography about a Biblical scholar named E.W. Bullinger.

I’ve been reading his stuff since 1996, at least.

But I didn’t know his two biggest “red pill” moments when just starting to preach were:

1. After delivering his first sermon a snarky old lady left a comment about his sermon:

“Poor blind young man”

Something that really messed with his head.

So much so, he said it radically changed the seriousness of how he approached the manuscripts and his faith to the point where it ultimately led to his life’s work which, without any exaggeration, has changed the (after)lives of multiple millions of people.

He also said one of his regrets was never tracking the snarky old lady down to thank her.

2. Later he did a sermon at another church he got a job at that everyone enjoyed, but he also got a bit of feedback that it needed more “vigour”, and also that:

“…nothing tends more to this than the impression on the mind of the hearer that the preacher feels what he says. It is the strongest proof of the heart being in the work as well as the head.”

The AI geek chorus all thinks they’re ascot-wearing movie directors lately.

But ain’t nobody feeling anything they’re putting out there.

Except, maybe, boredom.

More:

This also reminds me of what Arnold Schwartldhkdjhkher says in his book “Be Useful” about James Cameron when he made Titanic. Like the movie or despise it, you can’t argue with the box office gross.

And Arnold specifically talks about how Cameron:

* Used all his clout and powers of persuasion to get the studio to spend $200 million on making it (almost half a billion in today’s money)

* Did deep dives into the ocean to see and personally experience (the wreckage himself so he could make the audience FEEL what he felt when he saw it, not just imagine it.

* Immersed himself as much into the history and back stories behind the Titanic, and the people on it, as he did into the ocean depths to see, experience, and viscerally understand it.

* Painstakingly and expensively built his own Titanic inside a gigantic $40 million water tank – 775 feet long, a full-scale, nearly exact replica of the real thing, with the same front & rear sections to get the exact gravitational “tilt” inside and outside.

* Ensured every single detail of the sets were as historically accurate as he could get it no matter how expensive, frustrating, or time consuming it had to be to get it right, with no half measures or skimming corners of even the smallest details literally nobody would notice.

* Like, for example, as Arnold put it:

“The carpet, the furniture, the silverware, the chandelier glass, the type of wood for the railings—it was all exactly as it would have been in 1912. He had all the dishes stamped with the White Star Line emblem.”

* Personally talked with each and every extra – even if they only had “blink & miss” screen time – and painstakingly gave THEM their own backstories… so even a split second of an NPC’s body language, for instance, if nothing else, would convey realism.

* The result was $1.8 billion at the worldwide box office ($3.6 billion in today’s money).

* The punchline was when Arnold said:

“Did Jim’s willingness and ability to go all in like he does make the difference for Titanic and then for Avatar? I don’t know. But I guarantee you it would have been the difference if he didn’t.”

A lot of people think Cameron is full of it.

And he is in a lot of ways, imo.

He frankly says some of the dumbest things imaginable.

And in many aspects of life he is demonstrably not exactly the brightest bulb in the drawer.

Yet, the guy always gets what he wants from people.

Including whatever outrageous sums of money he needs to make his movies. Or, in a truly extreme case: when he was directing Piranha 2 where he literally broke into the locked studio after hours to re-cut the movie the way he intended, and breaking God-only-knows how many laws in France where he was at the time, just to get what he wanted.

That’s passion.

And if you watch James’ interviews, and read his stuff, one thing is obvious:

He absolutely does go “all in.”

He doesn’t half ass anything – and does whatever it takes to win.

Doesn’t mean he always wins.

But he is always in the game, fighting, at least.

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Ben Settle

Tolkien ‘splains how he turned boredom into a literal multi-billion dollar idea:

The actual beginning though it’s not really the beginning, but the actual flash point was, I remember very clearly I took, um, I can still see the corner in my house in 20 Northmoor Road…

I’ve got an enormous pile of exam papers there and marking school examinations in the summertime is enormous, very laborious, and unfortunately also boring.

And I remember picking up a paper and actually I nearly gave an extra mark for it, extra five marks actually. One page of this particular page of this paper was left blank. Glorious. Nothing to read.

So I scribbled on it, I can’t remember why:

‘In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.’

I think that was eventually published in 1937.

I now wanted to try my hand at writing a really stupendously long narrative and to see whether I had sufficient art, cunning, or material to make a really long narrative which would hold the average reader right through.

There is so much writing wisdom in that short bit to learn from.

But probably the most practical lessons is when he used the term:

“flash point”

Which he proceeded to immediately WRITE down.

Arguably an entire multi-billion dollar industry unto himself sprung from that decision.

But, imagine if he took the writing goo-roo route and instead thought:

“I’ll remember this line about a hobbit living in a hole in the ground for later” – and didn’t immediately write it down, got back to grading papers, totally forgot it, and then went and got distracted by some new FOMO or bright shiny object instead.

If Tolkien teaches us anything it’s the fleeting nature of great ideas.

It only takes ONE to radically change your business.

And “It pays to be paranoid” is a good attitude to have.

In a lot of ways, that’s how I approach ideas when it comes to daily emails.

As far as that goes?

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Ben Settle