Syntax to Storytelling: Seeking Copywriting Comrades for Insight and Fun

[alchemist42]

Hello Everyone,
I am Prashant Saini

Was a fullstack developer.
Didn't enjoy the works as it stressed me out.
One of the main reasons was a lack of community.

Now transitioning to a freelance copywriter.

I always had a fascination with english.
I don't know why. Maybe reading can take you to all kinds of places.

Now I'm studying to be a freelance email copywriter.
Looking to make friends and meet mentors.

I have read books:
Scientific Advertising,
Great Leads by Michael Masterson,
Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz
and The Ultimate Sales Letter by Dan Kennedy,
The AdWeek Copywriting Handbook by Joe Sugarman.
The book with the biggest impact on me is Breakthrough Advertising.

Now i can't figure out:
how to practice effectively,
which specialisation to choose(as a freelancer) for email copywriting.
and how to build portfolio.

Feel free to connect via forum or email.

Opportunity for learning and work is welcome.
Guidance and Critique on my work by experienced copywriters is hugely appreciated.

[Franklin]

Hello Prashant Saini
Welcome to the forums.

[alchemist42]

Hello Prashant Saini
Welcome to the forums.

Thanks Franklin

[SARubin]

I have read books:
Scientific Advertising,
Great Leads by Michael Masterson,
Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz
and The Ultimate Sales Letter by Dan Kennedy,
The AdWeek Copywriting Handbook by Joe Sugarman.
The book with the biggest impact on me is Breakthrough Advertising.

Hi Prashant, and welcome to the copywriters forum...
That's an impressive list of books you've read. Especially for someone just starting out with copywriting.

Now i can't figure out:

how to practice effectively,

You say you want to get into email copywriting ?

The first thing I recommend, if you haven't done it already, is to get on the email lists from companies that are making money with their emails. And if it's a company you might like to write for some day, that's even better.

This way you can get the pulse for what kinds of emails are working for different businesses. If you see the same style of email coming from them over and over, there's a pretty good chance it's working. If it wasn't working they would stop sending them and change their approach, right?

Study these emails and learn their approach, starting with the subject line (aka. headline), the opening lede (first sentence or two), the offer and the call to action.

For practice you can write these emails out yourself, word-for-word. And eventually start to re-write them but changing it around a little to make it your own. (Keep the basic style and format intact)

Then, once you get your confidence up, you might want to reach out to these companies and ask them to consider you as their back-up email writer, in case their current writers are ever unavailable. If they ask to see your portfolio you can show them all the emails you re-wrote for their products which will be similar to the style they're already using.

Of course this is just one approach, and it's not the right approach for everybody, but it's worked for me in the past and it's an approach I would try again if I was starting over.

which specialisation to choose(as a freelancer) for email copywriting.

I believe only you can decide what's best for you, Prashant. (just like the rest of us mere mortals )

Are you drawn to a particular niche or product line? Or maybe an email style like corporate emails, or non-profits, or pure consumer emails? That could be a good place to start.

All the best,
Steve

[alchemist42]

Thanks for the respone Steve.

The first thing I recommend, if you haven't done it already, is to get on the email lists from companies that are making money with their emails. And if it's a company you might like to write for some day, that's even better.

This way you can get the pulse for what kinds of emails are working for different businesses. If you see the same style of email coming from them over and over, there's a pretty good chance it's working. If it wasn't working they would stop sending them and change their approach, right?

Study these emails and learn their approach, starting with the subject line (aka. headline), the opening lede (first sentence or two), the offer and the call to action.

For practice you can write these emails out yourself, word-for-word. And eventually start to re-write them but changing it around a little to make it your own. (Keep the basic style and format intact)

Then, once you get your confidence up, you might want to reach out to these companies and ask them to consider you as their back-up email writer, in case their current writers are ever unavailable. If they ask to see your portfolio you can show them all the emails you re-wrote for their products which will be similar to the style they're already using.

How do i know which companies are making money with their emails?

Are you drawn to a particular niche or product line? Or maybe an email style like corporate emails, or non-profits, or pure consumer emails? That could be a good place to start.

I will see different email styles.

[SARubin]

How do i know which companies are making money with their emails?

You probably won't know for sure, unless you can get them to tell you.

But you can look at companies that have been in business for a while. And one's that are obviously making money (or they wouldn't be in business very long).

And if they have an email list, you can get on it. If the don't have a sign-up form on their website you might need to buy something from them (even just something small) and then you'll probably end up on a list whether you want to or not .

[alchemist42]

Thanks, Steve

[roark]

Welcome, alchemist. I'm new here too.

One thing I do with the Facebook Ad library which can be applied elsewhere too...

when writing FB ads, I do a query going months or even years back until now and see what ads have been running for awhile. That's a sign that it's been somewhat successful.

Similarly with other ads, if they've been running them repeatedly over a long-ish period of time (maybe with some tweaks here and there along the way), chances are it's been successful. This may not apply to small organizations but more for established ones.

Anyway I'm not an expert by any stretch but this is something I learned along the way.

I'm thinking this was a more reliable way to guess an ad's success back when direct response was more popular since the cost of mailing out letters needed to be worth it.

Thanks for the respone Steve.

The first thing I recommend, if you haven't done it already, is to get on the email lists from companies that are making money with their emails. And if it's a company you might like to write for some day, that's even better.

This way you can get the pulse for what kinds of emails are working for different businesses. If you see the same style of email coming from them over and over, there's a pretty good chance it's working. If it wasn't working they would stop sending them and change their approach, right?

Study these emails and learn their approach, starting with the subject line (aka. headline), the opening lede (first sentence or two), the offer and the call to action.

For practice you can write these emails out yourself, word-for-word. And eventually start to re-write them but changing it around a little to make it your own. (Keep the basic style and format intact)

Then, once you get your confidence up, you might want to reach out to these companies and ask them to consider you as their back-up email writer, in case their current writers are ever unavailable. If they ask to see your portfolio you can show them all the emails you re-wrote for their products which will be similar to the style they're already using.

How do i know which companies are making money with their emails?

Are you drawn to a particular niche or product line? Or maybe an email style like corporate emails, or non-profits, or pure consumer emails? That could be a good place to start.

I will see different email styles.

[alchemist42]

Welcome, alchemist. I'm new here too.

One thing I do with the Facebook Ad library which can be applied elsewhere too...

when writing FB ads, I do a query going months or even years back until now and see what ads have been running for awhile. That's a sign that it's been somewhat successful.

Similarly with other ads, if they've been running them repeatedly over a long-ish period of time (maybe with some tweaks here and there along the way), chances are it's been successful. This may not apply to small organizations but more for established ones.

Anyway I'm not an expert by any stretch but this is something I learned along the way.

I'm thinking this was a more reliable way to guess an ad's success back when direct response was more popular since the cost of mailing out letters needed to be worth it.

Good suggestion roark.