This writer is worth $500 million in net worth
Last week I was getting coached by my intuitive coach, and she mentioned Stephen King.
She told me to go look up his net worth, and when I did…
My jaw dropped.
Stephen King is worth $500 million in net worth.
He’s probably the wealthiest writer to ever live.
Why does this matter to you?
A few years ago I read On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft…
A brilliant book King wrote about his writing process that I recommend every copywriter reads.
Think about this…
This guy has written on average 1000 words a day for over 50 years.
That’s some crazy math - 18.2 million words written over his career.
There are copywriters who struggle to write 3 emails a day.
In his memoir, you can find all sorts of copywriting gems that make your writing jump off the page and come alive in your reader’s mind.
For example…
Stephen King Writing Tip #1:
Avoid adjectives and adverbs - they suck. Focus on verbs and nouns instead.
^^ That’s something I’ve been teaching copywriters for years.
As an example for why…
Check out Stephen King’s description of the book Lord of the Flies, which he read in his youth:
"It was, so far as I can remember, the first book with hands—strong ones that reached out of the pages and seized me by the throat. It said to me, 'This is not just entertainment; it's life or death.'
Now ask any average writer to describe a book, they may say it’s “really interesting” or even “extremely captivating” or whatever boring ADVERB ADJECTIVE combo they can find…
But it’s far cry from describing a book like it has hands that “seized him by the throat” and wouldn’t let go.
Remember…
Paint a picture with your sentences on the canvas of your reader’s mind.
^^ Be specific and visual.
These are copywriting lessons I’ve repeated, over and over again, for 5 years at this point.
Stephen King Writing Tip #2:
"If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all: read a lot and write a lot."
King is a voracious reader.
Comb through his memoir, and you’ll see: the dude has an encyclopedia of books in his brain dating back 80 years.
He’ll spit back out whole passages that he remembers as brilliant writing.
You should do the same as a copywriter.
Not just with fiction, but with winning sales copy.
If you’re learning how to write health copy, you should be reading a health sales letter a day.
Do it often enough, and you’ll see the same patterns and the same structure pop up over and over again.
Which are good?
Which need work?
This is how you learn the language of copy.
When I wrote one of the top blood sugar VSLs earlier this year…
I STARTED by reading, transcribing, and diagramming over a dozen other blood sugar VSLs.
It’s a winning strategy - you should do it.
Stephen King Writing Tip #3:
Focus your writing on HOOKS - big ideas that are unique - that your reader’s never seen before.
When asked about his book Carrie, King recalls:
"Two unrelated ideas, adolescent cruelty and telekinesis, came together." It began as a short story intended for Cavalier; King tossed the first three pages in the trash but his wife, Tabitha, recovered them, saying she wanted to know what happened next. He followed her advice and expanded it into a novel. She told him: "You've got something here. I really think you do.”
Here are some more BIG IDEAS that turned into some of his best-selling novels:
In 1983, he published Christine, "A love triangle involving 17-year-old misfit Arnie Cunningham, his new girlfriend and a haunted 1958 Plymouth Fury (a car)." Later that year, he published Pet Sematary, which he had written in the late 1970s, when his family was living near a highway that "used up a lot of animals" as a neighbor put it. His daughter's cat was killed, and they buried it in a pet cemetery built by the local children. King imagined a burial ground beyond it that could raise the dead, albeit imperfectly.
Interesting, right?
In the last Zero to 5K coaching round, I went into depth for 5 weeks on writing what I call million dollar hooks…
Crafting big ideas that turn into millions of dollars.
One of the biggest things to watch out for in your copywriting pieces is that you have to present me with something new… unique… that I haven’t seen before.
As soon as your reader gets a whiff of “I’ve seen that before,” the retention rate of your copy drops through the floor.
Give me NEW.
Give me UNIQUE.
Give me EXCITING.
Stephen King Writing Tip #4:
“Channeling” is a copywriting superpower, and creates REAL, unforgettable writing.
I’m pretty sure no “copywriting gurus” have talked about channeling before…
But it’s honestly one of my superpowers I use in my copy.
And I was shocked when I read that Stephen King’s main method of storytelling is ALSO channeling.
Let me explain what the heck channeling even is.
Channeling is the ability to tap into different channels, or frequencies, of thought and emotion.
“Switching channels” is a skill, like anything else.
Some gifted people are naturally good at it (empaths especially).
Others (like me) acquire it through practice.
Years ago I coached a student who was writing emails for a client selling candles to a female audience.
His go-to method (like virtually all copywriters I coach) was to reach for templates and write all these curiosity, conspiracy, and contrarian emails…
But the tone was all wrong.
It didn’t sound like a woman talking to another woman about candles.
It sounded like a copywriter trying to write copy using templates.
I told him he literally needs to tap into “his inner woman,” and sit down and say out loud in the mirror…
“Heyyy gurrrrl. OMG I love your nails. That dress looks so cute on you. OMG did you hear what Christie said? No way!”
Then I told him needed to write to a woman who’s stressed out after a long day, wants to relax in a bath, with some soft music, a bubble bath, some wine, and - you guessed - some scented candles.
THAT’S what channeling is.
You have to channel your target reader, tap into their thoughts, emotions, and beliefs, to sell to them effectively.
Now check out this blurb from Wikipedia describing how Stephen King writes:
King often starts with a "what-if" scenario, asking what would happen if an alcoholic writer was stranded with his family in a haunted hotel (The Shining), or if one could see the outcome of future events (The Dead Zone), or if one could travel in time to alter the course of history (11/22/63). He writes that "The situation comes first. The characters—always flat and unfeatured, to begin with—come next. Once these things are fixed in my mind, I begin to narrate. I often have an idea of what the outcome may be, but I have never demanded a set of characters that they do things my way. On the contrary, I want them to do things their way. In some instances, the outcome is what I visualized. In most, however, it's something I never expected."
Did you catch the subtle clue?
Stephen King doesn’t outline his stories, or construct his plot.
He starts with an interesting HOOK…
Then he CHANNELS his characters to see what they do.
I’ve talked about “downloading” copy from the universe into my brain during my meditations…
He essentially does the same thing, and transcribes the scenes he sees in his head.
Kobe Bryant (rest in peace) used to listen to “theme music from the Jason slasher movies” before his basketball games.
Why?
To channel the “Black Mamba,” his basketball alter ego who’s a ruthless killer on the court.
I’m coaching a copywriter from PaleoHacks right now on health supplement VSLs…
And I literally said to him last week:
“There’s 3 people you need to be able to channel when you write this VSL. The 80-year old grandma suffering from a health condition (the reader / viewer)... the doctor who’s providing interesting information and telling them what to do for their health (the narrator)... and a 3rd grade biology teacher (explaining why their problem exists in the mechanism section).”
I could go on and on about channeling (which is also closely tied to manifestation)...
But it’s often hard for copywriters to switch out of the channel of “frustrated writer battling perfectionism who resorts to templates when they’re at their wits end.”
They’ve never been taught how.
If this topic interests you, let me know and I can share more in future emails.
It’s one of the things I will be exploring in my super secret project I’m launching in a couple weeks on June 20, 2024.
Until then, keep writing my friend.
And always, to higher conversions…
