Category Archives: Copywriting

Copywriting: J. Peterman’s style

Posted on by
Reply

I recently approached a previous client regarding the possibility of more copywriting work, emboldened by The Well-Fed Writer’s claims that cold calling works, but “lukewarm calling” is often more lucrative. The editor I queried wrote back to ask if I had any experience writing in the style of the inimitable J. Peterman.

I promptly went to the J. Peterman website, perused some of their copy, and set to work spinning a few Peterman-esque short tales of my own that might work for the client’s website, using some of their current merchandise as inspiration.

I also posted on Twitter about it, saying “One potential employer I contacted wants copy in the form of the J. Peterman catalogue. I’ve been browsing the monocle: http://bit.ly/65wW0l.” (Seriously, who can pass up a real, honest-to-goodness monocle?!)

J. Peterman is, naturally, on Twitter, and responded accordingly:

Unfortunately, I’m still in suspense myself. But I promise to let you all know if I do end up landing any work of this type, as I will clearly be shadowing the footsteps of genius.

And, of course, watching all of the old Seinfeld episodes with Peterman in them to serve as a secondary source of inspiration. Despite the show’s ribbing, they did manage to get Peterman’s sometimes overblown tone down, emphasizing the fine line between creative copy and impenetrably ridiculous wordsmithing (see, for example, the episode entitled “The Foundation,” where Elaine takes over for Peterman and puts the “urban sombrero” on the cover of the catalogue). Still, the real J. Peterman’s descriptions do work well: if you’ve ever read through the catalogue, you’ll find yourself agreeing with the company’s Twitter summary of what they do: “People want things that are hard to find. Things that have romance, but a factual romance, about them.”

In short, J. Peterman’s style is about both romantic product descriptions and the whiff of exclusion. Not everyone can afford the items for sale in the catalogue, and that’s what gives them an edge. It’s this idea that the product you are buying is, if not one-of-a-kind, then at least one-of-very-few. It’s that rarity that puts the item in demand, and the copywriter’s sexy description helps nudge the customer’s hand toward the “buy now” button. It’s an elegant form of salesmanship, and one that clearly gets results, as the company has been thriving since 1987.

It also makes for a great writing exercise, as demonstrated by this article in Writing Fix, “A Six-Trait Writing Lesson That Uses the J. Peterman Catalogue.” (Seriously, try it. You’ll be waxing lyrical in no time!)

In the meantime, if anyone would care to gift me with one of Peterman’s (discounted) Get Around Vespa Jackets, I promise to use this inspiration toward writing brilliant copy for the sender of said inspiration. Hey, J. Peterman: need any new writers for your site? Will work for designer duds*!

*Fee negotiable

Don Draper vs Anaïs Nin on blogging, transparency and trust

Posted on by
9

Blogging has always been fun for me, but I’ve never given it much serious thought. I have always been the type to throw down a few words, and then unleash them on the Internet. This style offers great things in the way of instantaneous feedback as well as blowing off steam, but can definitely go wrong in the TMI and personal privacy departments.

Don Draper (via Glory Fades)

Don Draper (via Glory Fades)

CT Moore has recently been writing about the concepts of transparency and trust on the Internet, and he says in his post What Would Donald Draper Blog? that building your personal brand is not about sharing everything. He notes that Don Draper “wouldn’t talk about his personal life or what he likes doing on the weekend. And he definitely wouldn’t gossip. Neither of these would do anything to help him fill the demand of his audience.” Indeed, being personal or authentic isn’t the same as being transparent. In fact, he argues that Don Draper wouldn’t be transparent at all, because his personality is actually a brand he has built to hide his true identity, Dick Whitman.

So what does this have to do with me, Laura Roberts, the person, or the “brand”? Do I even have a brand? To some extent, yes, I have several. I’m the face of Black Heart Magazine. I’m V for Vixen. But here, on my personal website, I’m Laura Roberts, Writer. And that brand needs developing.

How does one develop a writer brand? By writing, of course. But also by writing about writing. Not to the extent that your writing is overshadowed by talk about the writing process, but enough that it helps you to clarify your own thoughts on that process and how to move through it.

The other day I wrote a blog about How to Get Published. I was tired of people asking me the same old questions, of coming to me for advice that they won’t even take, of pumping me for information that is freely available. But you know what? The fact is, that information is freely available, so what does it matter if they want to get it from me instead of from Google? It’s already free, and it doesn’t damage me in any way to share what is already known and available. In fact, it may even increase the trust people have in my writer brand, so why not do it?

Should I charge for these pearls of wisdom? If I can, yes, that would be great. But if someone asks me for an opinion, or advice, why should I be stingy, or tell them I’m not going to give them the information they’re looking for unless they pay me for my time? The information is already out there. The fact that I will pass it along for free can really only make me look good. It’s something for you, and something for me. No money needs to exchange hands.

Anaïs Nin (via Famous Poets & Poems)

Anaïs Nin (via SLGA)

So yes, I can answer your questions about writing. I can share a few “secrets.” And I can keep a few to myself, too. But blogging—and writing in general—is about setting people free and giving everything you’ve got to the page (or the screen). To quote Anaïs Nin:

“To write means to give all. No witholding is possible. The best writers are those who give all. However, there is the choice of clothing: fiction, symbolism, poetry, etc.”

In the end, I subscribe more to the Anaïs Nin school of writing everything and choosing the veils through which things are presented than the Don Draper method of building mysteries from the ground up, though each has its value in different situations. Here, as my writer self, I choose not to withold anything, whether we’re talking about writing, art, sex, life, the universe, or anything else. That authenticity is important, even if transparency isn’t.

Which type of blogger are you: Don Draper or Anaïs Nin… or someone else entirely?

Help name the MediaBistro blog, or forever hold your TK

Posted on by
2

namefailOkay, I will admit that I am not tops at coming up with brilliant names, headlines, sub-heads and so forth, but I definitely know a clunker when I see one. MediaBistro is starting up a blog that will allow their AvantGuild members to showcase some of their work, comment on the media fields in which they work, etc., and currently their chosen blog title is… TK.

That’s right, TK. For those not in the media, “TK” is what you write in a piece when you think “Hmm, there should be a fact or figure here, but I don’t happen to have it right now, so I will have to go look it up later.” It’s a placeholder meaning “to come” that makes it easier to return to the spot in your manuscript once you have the info, or else it acts as a reminder that you have to look something up. It’s perfectly helpful and reasonable for a writer to use TK in their drafts, but as the title for a blog, it stinks. Total name fail.

Here’s why:

  • It implies that the people writing the blog don’t actually know anything, because they will have to go look it up later (as this is what TK literally means)
  • It looks like the name of the blog is, itself, a placeholder, which implies that the people who started it have no idea what to call it and have given up
  • It’s trying to play on some “insider” knowledge, but TK is pretty low on the list of things an insider would need to know to get ahead in the field
  • Seth Godin (writer, speaker and agent of change) says you should never use a placeholder name for your blog, as people will fall in love with it, and then changing it will be impossible. Please, for the love of dog, listen to Seth Godin!

That being said, it’s better than all their other idiotic suggestions, which include 4UXU (“for you by you”), The Mediabistro Bump (supposedly “an homage to Stephen Colbert’s The Colbert Bump”), UFTW (“you for the win”), and the possibly-maybe facetious “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Blogorium.” Seriously.

I know media types love puns (hell, I sure do), and riffing on already-famous titles, song lyrics, etc., but 4UXU? UFTW? These are pathetic. We can do better… can’t we?

In the comments section, there were a few good suggestions. Greg Vogel suggested “BistroVision,” and Ed Cohen went for “In Communicado.” These are both far better than “TK.” As I said in my comment, the blog needs something that suggests its connection to MediaBistro, something that’s clever but not precious, and avoids being a lame variant on “for us, by us.” I certainly don’t think “BistroBlog” is the most original name in the world, but at least it’d be honest.

So what would you name a MediaBistro blog?