Justin Blackman

Brand Ventriloquist. Writer of Wrongs. Brand Voice Expert. Abandoner of Twitter.

[du @thedulab]

Easiest way to stand out is to unabashedly give a shit. Obsess over things. Rep your interests wholeheartedly. Tell people how you feel about them. Cast your energy out into the world to be absorbed. While everyone tries to look cool, be cool by not thinking about looking cool.

[Justin Blackman @PrettyFlyCopy]

@wordmancopy Sounds like the perfect chorus to a Beatles song

[Justin Blackman @PrettyFlyCopy]

Bad copy in the right voice is still bad copy.

Good copy in the wrong voice is not good copy.

Good copy in the right voice is gold.

[Justin Blackman @PrettyFlyCopy]

@swaycopy @SilvestriChris @copyhackers @JoelKlettke @punchlinecopy @samwoods Same, bud. Same.

[Justin Blackman @PrettyFlyCopy]

@copystu @Email_Engineer Super proud of you, Stuart! And yeah, Nic Moors is another good one to learn from. She was an early student of mine who's gone on do to great things.

[Justin Blackman @PrettyFlyCopy]

@JoelKlettke I've been able to improve the outputs with some pretty specific guidelines but it's far from perfect and keeps defaulting back to average.

Basically... No.

[Justin Blackman @PrettyFlyCopy]

@JoelKlettke I researched this a while back and there's a good chance it's changed, but computers could determine someone's styleometry with 74% accuracy but still couldn't replicate it well.

Basically, AI could tell if something is written by a particular person, but couldn't mirror it.

[Justin Blackman @PrettyFlyCopy]

@MightyFineCopy_ @dannybster Way ahead of you

[Eddie Shleyner 🇺🇦 @VeryGoodCopy]

𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙬:

Whatever your politics, it’s impossible to deny Barack Obama’s communication prowess.

He’s a magnificent storyteller, and as fine a writer as they come. And in the preface of his memoir, 𝘈 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘥, Obama shares how he writes first drafts:

“I only write longhand,” he explains, “computer word processors give the first draft too much polish, and more opportunity to make half-baked ideas tidy enough to appear passable.”

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗜 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀, 𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝗹𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗿.

I recognized the sentiment, though I’d never fully acknowledged it in my own process:

I don’t write longhand (my hand cramps) but I write on my phone a lot, using one finger, 𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨. In fact, almost every idea, note, and yes, first draft I've ever produced for VeryGoodCopy have been written on my phone, in a Google doc, pecking away, slow and steady, 𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘬-𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘬-𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘬.

Writing this way — with a self-imposed physical restriction — forces me to be thoughtful and intentional and rational about every word, every punctuation mark, everything I put down. When I’m on my phone, the idea is expressed slowly, methodically, unlike when I’m typing on a keyboard at 60 words per minute and everything is suddenly there and seemingly right.

Writing slow is thinking slow, which, according to Nobel Prize winner, Daniel Kahneman, is how we 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 be thinking if we want clear, coherent thoughts.

And what’s good copy if it’s not clear and coherent?

𝗧𝗼 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹, 𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝘄𝗿𝗶����𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙬.

And to write slow, create bottlenecks between your thoughts and the words you put on the page, especially when writing a first draft:

Write longhand.
Write with one finger.
Write with physical restrictions.

𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲, 𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙬.

Go on.

———
Image: Pete Souza/Wikimedia Commons

[0xDesigner @0xDesigner]

Probably the best thing you'll see today.

In 2017, a group of developers hilariously competed for who could create worst volume control interface in the world.

The results 🧵

1/22

[Justin Blackman @PrettyFlyCopy]

@lovevalgeisler Savannah GA is pretty fun. Charleston or Hilton Head, SC too.

[Rachael Pilcher | Copywriter @MightyFineCopy_]

🔥 New article up now! Curious about how to collect and actually USE voice of customer research to create more compelling, high-performance copywriting for your clients, or your company?

Get expert never-before-seen tips from:

@Copyhackers
@jenhavice
@JoelKlettke
@PrettyFlyCopy
@swaycopy

Link in the comments 👇👇👇

This was originally a collaboration with @unbounce which didn't make it to final production—but it took a lot of people a lot of time, so I feel it deserves to be finally published somewhere!

P.S. I'd love to hear if it helps you in any way :)

[Justin Blackman @PrettyFlyCopy]

Good copy that's not on brand is not good copy.

[Roy Peter Clark @RoyRoy000A7]

For today Sunday, only, Amazon offers huge discount on digital version of "Murder Your Darlings: And Other Gentle Writing Advice from Aristotle to Zinsser." It's $2.99, and ranks #1 in a category of writing books. A writing book that culls best tips from best writing books.

[Benyamin Elias @BenyaminElias]

I'm #hiring a director of marketing for my team at Podia.

Podia is a SaaS platform for creators — it gives creators everything to make a website, sell an online course or digital products, and build a community. Since 2014, creators on Podia have earned hundreds of millions.

[Justin Blackman @PrettyFlyCopy]

@SilvestriChris @lifeandwriting

[Chris Silvestri @SilvestriChris]

Shoutout to @PrettyFlyCopy and @lifeandwriting for their insane free tool:

[Justin Blackman @PrettyFlyCopy]

I sneakily released this new copywriting tool into the world.
It's *not* AI.
It's a side-by-side editor so you can see before & after versions of your content and how your edits affect the voice.
Early feedback is insanely positive.
https://t.co/DQzXDvNBm8

[Justin Blackman @PrettyFlyCopy]

@DanaHerra @__nca I heard a rumor that you can still download 93 super fun signoffs at pretty fly copy dot com. My favorite is still, "have fun storming the castle"

[Justin Blackman @PrettyFlyCopy]

You follow super fun copywriter, @KateToon, right? And you know she has a new podcast?

Sweet. Then blast this in your favorite auditory face hole and soak up the Brand Voice Vindication
@CopywritingSch

https://t.co/0X2y9mN7cx