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New words, or neologisms, are coined all the time. Not so long ago, we didn’t have blog, downsize, iPod, megatrend, shareware, Wi-Fi… and many others.
But not every newly coined word becomes widely used or even enters the language. As you might expect, there’s a term for this phenomenon: nonce word — one that’s invented “for the nonce,” that is, for the occasion. Nonce words don’t catch on and quickly disappear.
I spend at least half of my time teaching writers how to write better. I’m speaking of writers who work for the information-publishing companies I consult for and for other publishers who pay me to help them make more money.
Over the 30 odd years I’ve been doing this, I’ve developed many complicated theories about good writing. But now I use a brief, straightforward definition. And it applies to every sort of non-fiction writing that I can think of. It applies to writing books, magazine articles, and direct-mail sales letters. It applies to business correspondence, telemarketing scripts, and speeches.
The other day, a guy — a real sad sack — left a post on my blog. Said he’s been a copywriter for decades but has not been very successful at it.
It’s not his fault, of course. It’s the world’s fault. More specifically, it’s the direct-response marketing world’s fault. And to get even more specific, it’s ultimately the fault of our prospective customers.
What downside could there be to owning a cherry-red Porsche 911? And what does that have to do with creating compelling advertising copy? Clayton Makepeace has the answer in his essay today.
——————————————Highly Recommended—————————————
“The First Major Shift in Business Thinking Since the 1937 Publication of Think and Grow Rich“
Michael Masterson’s New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, Ready, Fire, Aim, lays out a completely new approach to business and life.
It’s the blueprint that helped Michael go from pool installer to self-employed multimillionaire before his 40th birthday.
And it’s so practical and sensible that anyone with an average intelligence can use it to make their first $1 million… $50 million… $100 million… or more!
To eschew (es-CHOO) — from the French — is to abstain or keep away from; to shun or avoid.
Example (as used by Clayton Makepeace today): “By eschewing the use of hype in his sales copy, is he telling me that he is opposed to saying, for example, ‘I could eat a horse’ unless he had substantiation proving beyond a doubt that he does, in fact, have the digestive capacity to process 1,200 pounds of horseflesh at one sitting?”
Something that’s vapid (VAP-id) — from the Latin for “flat, insipid” — is dull or tedious; lacks life, sharpness, or flavor.
Example (as used by Paul Hollingshead today): “[A] lot of people do like to write… And the very idea of being able to say ‘goodbye’ to a vapid job, work from the comfort of their own home, live anywhere they want, choose their own hours, and know that once they learn this ‘high demand’ skill they’ll never have to worry about money again… Well, a lot of people see copywriting as the way to a better, more fulfilling and in control life.”