Ben Settle

A few months ago, while selling the great A-list copywriter and “Email Players” subscriber Kim Krause Schwalm’s copywriting product, I wrote this in the email:

One of my all-time favorite copywriters — and, frankly, one of the 3 best copywriting minds who ever walked this planet — was the late, great Jim Rutz, who was so good he charged a fat $100k fee. And, Kim not only competed and won against that great master of copywriting, but did so twice.

And, it got the attention of an amateur grammar nazi:

GRAMMAR NAZI: “And, Kim not only competed…” -> “And, Jim not only competed…”

elBENBO: Jim didn’t compete with himself. Your grammar nazi game needs work.

Anyway, the point?

I’m not sure there is one.

Except, maybe, if one is going to be a dorky grammar nazi, at least do it right…

The beauty of my “Email Players” methodology is, even if you horribly mangle your grammar and spelling, you can still make just as many — and probably a lot more for reasons I won’t go into here — sales as if you spend 3 hours polishing every word to sparkling spelling perfection.

If you want to be a proof-reader, you can make a gloriously modest wage doing so.

And, possibly even get away with being a pretentious wannabe advertising critic.

But if you want to make sales?

You’re far better off knowing how to sell than to spell.

Free advice based on years of building a business and not just talking about it on social media…

Subscription info here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

One of the more amusing claims of online marketing is this whole idea of building a huge business by being “lazy.”

Even my slacker-ways take a lot of up-front work.

And, in my case, took around 9 years to get it all dialed in.

And that’s why, to give you a little bit of inspiration to work hard I shalt tell you about something I read yesterday in a Deadline interview with Quentin Tarantino.

The context:

He was being interviewed about his upcoming movie.

And, the plot is about Hollywood actor and his stuntman in the late 60’s.

So to make sure the movie is as authentic as possible, Quentin literally wrote 5 episode scripts of the fictional TV show the actors star in in the movie (the audience who sees this movie will never see), as well as wrote out the main character’s entire fictional back story and filmography, film by film, as well as every single director he worked with, and all the little stories, quirks, and anecdotes on the sets he worked on, how he got his roles, who the casting directors were, which movies worked, which bombed, etc etc etc.

Why did he do all this extra work?

And, why did he do it even though the audiences won’t see it?

Because, as he put it in the interview:

“[The audience] need to know that I take this mythology this history seriously, and that there are answers to these questions. I don’t have to vomit it out but if you ask I could tell you. The writer needs to know that mythology backwards and forwards. You need to be able to throw it off with the expertise of an expert.”

Lots of meat in that thar paragraph.

Especially for marketers, copywriters, and anyone in business.

Anyway, bottom line?

Ain’t no lazy successful people. No matter what your favorite internet goo-roo’s big launch videos and webinars say.

On that note:

My “Email Players” methods are certainly “slacker friendly.”

But, like any skill, you still have to work hard at learning and mastering it first.

Thus, it’s wholly incompatible for lazy do-nothings, new product junkies, and all those excuse-making souls who lack the character to commit to learning it or applying it, even as they haunt people’s social media feeds all day.

More info here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Today is a very special day that should be a national holiday.

And in celebration of this day, I am sharing a video about a lesson inspired by something I read in a book called “Marvel Comics: The Untold Story” about the so-called advertising ghetto:

A shameful confession:

For many years and up until very recently (including in the July “Email Players” issue), I used to aggressively advocate marketers, authors, and assorted other business people do their content creation (whether creating products, writing emails, pounding out sales copy, or whatever their #1 content-creation priority is for the day) the first hour of the day.

The reason?

Because that’s when people are at their most creative.

There’s a lot of evidence backing this up, too.

And all the most productive people I know practically swear by it.

But, I was reading an interview with Stan Lee — easily one of the most prolific writers and content-machines who ever walked the face of the earth — just a few short weeks ago, and realized how horrible that advice is for certain people.

For example, he used to structure his day like so:

• Get up
• Do “people” stuff – like go to the office, have meetings, talk to his assistants, give media interviews, etc
• Go home around 2 pm and write the rest of the day

Now, I can tell you, if I did that, my mind would be mush, my energy levels would be wiped out, and my content, writing, etc would be a phantom shadow of what it could and would be.

But that’s because Yours Reclusive is an introvert.

And, thus, I derive my energy – like Superman getting his power from the sun – from being alone.

Extroverts, on the other paw, like Stan Lee, get their energy from being around people, talking to people, and pleasing people. Thus, if you’re an extrovert, I now advise switching the whole thing around — and doing all your “people” stuff (phone calls, meetings, errands that deal with people, talking to vendors, coaching calls, consulting sessions, etc) during that first hour, instead of writing.

This should make you more productive.

You content more profitable.

And, your day a lot more fun.

More:

And this is especially true if you use the ideas I teach in the July “Email Players” issue which has almost three dozen of the best and fastest ways I know and use for creating content, including:

• Emails
• Social media posts
• Books (non-fiction or fiction)
• Courses
• Videos
• Podcasts
• Articles/blog posts
• Newsletters
• Membership site content
• Premiums & bonuses
• And any other kind of content you might sell or sell with

The deadline to get this issue is less than 24 hours from now.

After that, it’ll be too late.

So if you’re the procrastinating type, best hop to it, Pokey.

Here’s the link:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

A couple months ago, Yours Crotchety wrote an email about a common “theme” that runs through the lives of those who have made exceptional incomes via writing (copywriting and otherwise). And it revealed the only two things you really have to do to make all the green stuff your greedy heart desires with your keyboard:

1. Write more words than you do now

2. Write those words faster than you do now

Notice, I did not say anything about talent.

Or decades of building your skills.

Or, having to be the best at writing, having to sell the best product, or having to tell the best stories.

Take the late, great Stan Lee, for example.

In his book “Excelsior!” he writes:

“Anytime we needed extra money, I could always write more scripts. If Joanie wanted to buy a new wardrobe or I wanted to get a new TV or the latest camera equipment, I’d say, ‘Well, I’ll write a couple of extra stories and that’ll take care of it.’ I guess that’s one of the reasons I wrote so much. I could buy almost anything I wanted because I could pay by writing stories…”

i.e. the more he wrote, and the faster he wrote, the more he made.

And, bear in mind:

At that time, he was writing nonsensical characters he was embarrassed by and stories his boss made him write — hardly “great writing” — based on his boss following trends and underestimating his audience’s intelligence — which Stan did not at all enjoy doing, having to write dumbed-down stories about dumbed-down characters.

I heard the great Dan Kennedy tell a somewhat similar story.

But, in his case, it was about copywriting, specifically.

He basically said he is the highest paid copywriter probably on the planet.

But, not because he is necessarily the “best” writer.

But because he is the fastest.

Since he can write more sales copy, faster, than any other copywriter in his league, he can complete more assignments per year, which equals both more upfront fees per year and more royalties concurrently pouring in per year, all presumably compounding on themselves.

Again, without being the “best.”

Or the most “talented.”

Or, even necessarily selling the highest quality products and services.

(There is always a better mousetrap…)

Anyway, the good news is, this is very, very simple:

Write more words faster = make more income faster.

And guess what?

You can apply this “formula” to any kind of content your business uses, I have found — emails, social media posts, books (non-fiction or fiction), courses, videos, podcasts, articles, blog posts, newsletters, membership site content, premiums & bonuses, and the list natters on…

It’s so simple:

The more content you create, the more you can sell.

The more you sell, the more your business makes.

The more your business makes, the fatter your righteous piggy bank grows.

Do it right, and that piggy bank not only gets fat, it gets downright obese.

Enter the July “Email Players” issue.

It reveals my 34 best content-creation secrets I’ve been using for years to “out-content” my competition, peers, colleagues, trolls, haters, and anyone else I compete against, without sacrificing all my energy and time to the content devil, and in ways that make it all much faster and way less painless than it is for all the millions of marketers who writhe around in agony when creating content.

The deadline to get this issue is tomorrow.

That’s when I send it to the printer.

And after that, it’ll be too late to get it.

(I turn off “Email Players” in the shopping cart after the deadline, I don’t cater to stragglers and procrastinators — if anything, I take a sadistic glee in pissing them off.)

Here’s the link for your clicking displeasure:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

True story:

Once upon a time, the late, great comicbook creator Stan Lee noticed when he started signing off his Stan’s Soapbox articles with things like ‘nuff said and some of his other clever little endings… the idiots at DC Comics and other comicbook companies started doing the same thing, making everything look derivative.

i.e. fans who saw other companies do it, probably thought Stan was copying them.

Stan’s solution?

He started using the word “Excelsior!” which nobody copied.

Or, if they did, they were so insignificant — even for copycats, who are inherently insignificant anyway — nobody knew.

Anyway, why am I regaling you with this tale?

The answer is simple:

If there’s one thing that’ll piss you off once you start knocking out lots of content — especially using the ways I reveal in the July “Email Players” issue — it’s the incessant copycatting nature of the internet and marketing world.

It not only is stealing your ideas and hard work.

But, it also waters things down for you to new people who see it going on.

But, there is a secret content-protection secret based on an old, mostly-obscure Superman villain that not only foils these idiot content thieves and copycats… but exposes them as the hacks they are. Plus, it also lets you tap into something the late, great copywriter Gene Schwartz did in his mailings that can make your content inherently more profitable, too.

I talk about this in detail on pages 5 & 6 in the July “Email Players” issue.

The entire issue is about how to quickly & painlessly create profitable content like:

• Emails
• Social media posts
• Books (non-fiction or fiction)
• Courses
• Videos
• Podcasts
• Articles/blog posts
• Newsletters
• Membership site content
• Premiums & bonuses
• And any other kind of content you might sell or sell with

But that rascally old deadline is almost upon you.

To subscribe in time to get it, go here immediately:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

One of the questions that pops up every now and then from “Email Players” subscribers (one of the “perks” of being a subscriber is asking me questions via email) is:

“What’s the best music to write to?”

When it comes to writing and content-creation I refer you to something the guy who not only publishes many of my books but is also the world’s most-published author of computer books likes to say:

“If it ain’t Baroque, don’t fix it!”

And, I have to agree.

When in doubt, go Baroque.

More:

There is a secret “trick” to making content creation — especially written content, like emails, sales copy, bonus reports, blog posts, social media content, etc — I learned years ago from an old business partner who was very lazy, yet wrote thousands of pages of content very quickly…. to make your content even more profitable, and far more quickly and easily. This little ditty can also ramp up your concentration through the roof.

And yes, it applies to any kind of music you listen to.

But, it is especially powerful with Baroque and instrumental music.

It’s also something I’ve been using for years to pound out more content in a week than most of my peers and colleagues create in a month, or even several months.

And you know what?

I reveal this power trick on page 4 in the upcoming July “Email Players” issue.

Plus, this issue contains 33 additional ways to quickly and as painlessly as possible bang out all kinds of content for your business, including:

• Emails
• Social media posts
• Books (non-fiction or fiction)
• Courses
• Videos
• Podcasts
• Articles/blog posts
• Newsletters
• Membership site content
• Premiums & bonuses
• And any other kind of content you might sell or sell with

The deadline to subscribe is coming up fast.

Here’s the link to subscribe in time to get the next issue, while you still can:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Once upon a time, I read a book about the late John Hughes.

He was the screenwriter and director for some of my favorite movies back in the 80’s and early 90’s. One guy in the book described Hughes as eccentric, prone to emotional mood swings, brilliant, a genius, and someone who tired of hanging out with the liberals in Hollywood before he dropped out of the game altogether to be a recluse with his family until his death in 2009. He also wrote tons of movie scripts — including some that were never even made into movies, and at least one that was made but was so dumb (the movie “Dumb & Dumber”, ironically…) he didn’t want his name attached to it.

Frankly, he was a writing machine.

And, I have always enjoyed some of his movies.

Especially Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club. and Home Alone.

Incidentally, the late brilliant copywriter Gene Schwartz said every copywriter should watch Home Alone at least 2 or 3 times — something to think about, my little droogie, the next time you’re scrolling through Amazon Prime looking for a movie to watch…

But you know what my favorite thing about him was?

The thing I did not realize until reading this book?

John Hughes was a speed writer.

Apparently, he would write entire scripts in 1-3 days!

One story the director Chris Columbus (who directed Home Alone) said was, John Hughes was a night owl. And he had Chris come over one evening only to get an idea and then disappear for the rest of the night while Chris slept on the couch. In the morning, John woke him up having wrote an entire first draft of a movie script.

Now that’s fast!

And, it’s one of the keys to his success:

Fast writing.

Way too many people in copywriting, email, content-marketing, content publishing, etc spend far too much time writing. They are always trying to get things perfect. Always waiting to be “inspired.” And, always making writing far harder than it needs to be. Screw that sideways. I’m all about fast writing. It’s why my latest novel first draft this month took me just 12 days. It’s why some of my highest performing sales letters were banged out in days (sometimes hours) instead of weeks and months. And, it’s why I can easily churn out emails when needed to sell my products while the mush-cookies afraid to even begin are still waiting around trying to get their swans in a row.

And you know what?

Fast writing is easy when you know what you’re doing.

Enter the July “Email Players” newsletter.

It contains 34 ways to quickly and as painlessly as possible bang out all kinds of content for your business, including:

• Emails
• Social media posts
• Books (non-fiction or fiction)
• Courses
• Videos
• Podcasts
• Articles
• Newsletters
• Membership site content
• Premiums & bonuses
• And any other kind of content you might sell or sell with

But time is getting short to subscribe in time for this issue.

Here’s the link:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

P.S. I timed it, I originally wrote *this* email in less than 7 minutes.

See?

It works.

Now stop being a donkey and start writing…

The #1 thing that holds people back from creating a smooooothe-as-honey lifestyle, where you can just get up, pound out an email, and be done with your day (if you choose), is…

(Drum roll)

Not having a product to sell.

You can have all the email know-how in the world.

But, if you got nuttin’ to sell, it’s like having a souped-up car without a steering wheel. It’s also the nagging thing that prevents people from subscribing to my “Email Players” newsletter.

And you know what?

That’s unacceptable to a guy like me.

Thus, I have dedicated the entire July “Email Players” issue to listing almost 3 dozens secrets, tips, and methods for banging out all the content you can use to create products, as well as emails, videos, blog posts, bonuses, whatever you need for your business… very quickly and with as little pain as possible, and sometimes in just minutes per day.

Yes, I want to help make your business as successful as possible.

But mostly, it’s pure, unadulterated selfishness.

I want more people to know how to create content so they can create products so they have use of MY product.

So to help me, help you, help ourselves, here’s what to do:

1. Subscribe to the newsletter before the July issue deadline

2. Read the July issue the minute it arrives

3. Implement immediately, then start selling said content using my diabolical ways you’ll learn in the book I send to new subscribers.

Here’s the selfish link to serve my selfish purposes:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle