Copywriting tips: How to get into a great mood to write your sales letters

I have written, quite literally, probably over 1,000 sales letters in the last 11 years.

And I don’t think — with the exception of the first few sales letters I ever wrote — I’ve ever really been in a bad mood or uptight when I sat down to write them.

However, writing a sales letter is like writing a piece of music.  Your current emotional state is almost always going to be reflected in what tumbles out onto that piece of paper (or computer screen).

This is an important thing to keep in mind.  Because if you’re feeling needy and desperate… that’s going to come through.  If you’re feeling scattered and unfocused, then guess what?

Your letter’s going to be scattered and unfocused.

For me, there are three things I’ve always done, that get me in the right mood to create strong sales letters, and I thought sharing them might help you out.

1.  With rare exception, I never just decide to write a sales letter, spur of the moment.

I always have this planned out on my To-Do list or on my calendar — this way I’m preparing for it in the back of my mind, simply by knowing it’s coming up.

This way it’s like any other appointment — you can’t say you didn’t know about it, you can’t say you weren’t prepared for it, or any other bullshit excuses like that.

Even if you’ve avoided dealing with it, at least if you know it’s approaching, in the back of you’re mind, you were at least preparing for it, and ideas were brewing.

In fact, in anticipation of the actual writing… ideas are brewing and percolating all the time, getting ready to spill out once the race starts.

You will find, the same thing happening to you, if you do this.

2.  Know how much you’re going to get done on any given day.

Setting realistic expectations makes you stress out a lot less, and it gives you much more control over the process.  In fact, in general when you plan anything out, you always have a greater sense of control.

Planning gives you choices, and choices empower you and give you control.

For me — when I’m writing a long detailed sales letter, say 16 pages or so — here’s how this works:

I typically take one or two or three intense days to do all my research.

Then I take another day to compile all the facts from my research into the various sections of my sales letter (read Chapter 23 in my book, to get the details on each of these 12 sections)

And then I take usually one or two days to put this information into the sales letter format.

Then I’ll do a first edit and make my corrections.  This is usually where all the blood and sweat come in.

Everything else prior to this is sort of by rote, systematic stuff.

And then I rest a day.

If you keep reading your stuff over and over again… it gets muddy – like a drink that’s got too many different ingredients tossed in, and when you look at it, all you see are the bits and pieces floating around, instead of a tasty beverage.

Something’s just not right about it.

And it’s like that with your sales letters.  If you don’t take a “breather” at some point, it’s just not going to sit right.  Plus, you need a break, mentally.

This is a very intense process and you need to put it down after a while and come up for air.

3.  OK, this part of preparation is more important than anything else.

If you do this, really nothing else matters, because this is what it’s all about.

This is like training for the big race.  If you’ve done all the training you need, and you’ve prepared your body physically as much as you possibly can… then the race should be more mental than anything else.

And that’s what this part is — it’s like your physical preparation.

Do this right, and your sales letter will basically write itself.

And that is… research.

The more (smart) research you do, the better prepared you’ll be, and the easier it’ll be to write your sales letter.

I mean, think about it — if you haven’t done your research… what are you possibly going to write about?

The price of cheese in Western Europe?  Toothpaste scandals no one knows about?

Come on, now.

When it comes to writing sales letters, your research will either make you… or break you.

If you’ve done your research, done your planning, and set reasonable expectations… you can’t HELP but be in a great mood when it comes time to sitting down and writing.

See, this stuff is easy, lol…

Now go sell something,  Craig Garber

P.S.  Maybe we’ll hit it off, and maybe we wont — no one knows for sure.  But one thing I do know, is… (see page 319 for the rest of the story)

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