The highest-paying writing niche — and 5 tips for breaking in!

[The Writer’ s Life]( February 8, 2019 Hi {NAME}, I love seeing Jon Stoltzfus at Bootcamp every year … The first time he came to Delray Beach in 2014, it was because he had been laid off from his aerospace engineering job due to contract cutbacks. He was determined not to let anyone else have control over his livelihood again. So, he decided to become a copywriter in the highest-paying niche: financial. Well, from that Bootcamp, Jon's career took off … well, like a rocket. :) At Bootcamp only three years later, he told me he'd be breaking the $500,000 mark — writing only part-time. Amazing! You can follow in Jon's footsteps, and he's here today to give you five tips for breaking in. But first, there are a few popular misconceptions about the financial market I want to clear up: - You have to be a number cruncher. Not true! It's about telling the reader a story, or offering an idea he hasn't heard before. - You have to know something about investing to get started in this niche. Not at all — you just need to be willing to learn. - It takes a long time to make the big money. Jon's story shows that's not true! A final misconception is that they only want well-trained writers. But according to Jon — who now heads up his own successful copy team (!!) — what they're really looking for are good ideas. Of course, it can accelerate your success when you learn from the top experts in the field like Jon did. With our [Financial Copywriting Program](, you'll learn how to research and spot the best ideas, and how to write the copy financial companies are in need of most. (Heads-up — it's on sale! Check out the details now, before the special pricing ends Saturday at midnight.) And if you're brand-new to the world of well-paid writing, check out our [Copywriting Crash Course](. We'll walk you through the basic principles of writing direct-response copy, so you can get started making money as a writer, and see firsthand if copywriting is the path for you. To your success, Rebecca Matter President, AWAI --------------------------------------------------------------- 5 "True Life" Tips for Breaking Into the Lucrative World of Financial Copywriting By Jon Stoltzfus [Financial wealth: Stacks of golden coins and a Dollar symbol on white background] There's no doubt that some of the biggest writing incomes have come from one niche in particular — financial newsletter publishing. Today, many of the industry's most successful and well-known publishers fall under the Agora umbrella — Stansberry Research, Money Map Press, Banyan Hill Publishing, Agora Financial, The Oxford Club, and Charles Street Research, to name a few … In my experience, writing for this niche is the fastest path to becoming a six-figure copywriter. And if you're really good, or let's say really great, seven-figures a year is entirely possible. I started writing financial copy in early 2015 and just three years later, I'd already passed the half-million-dollar mark. And as my track record of success grows, so will my income. Much of that will be due to royalties. If you're not familiar with the term, a royalty is the same as a sales commission. The average across the financial niche right now is about 3%. That means if you write a promotion that brings in $1 million in net sales, you'll rake in an extra $30,000 in royalties. Write a blockbuster $10-million-dollar promotion and you're looking at a check for $300,000. If you're interested in breaking into this niche, here are my five biggest tips: Tip #1: Subscribe to financial newsletters One of the best ways to learn what's working in the industry is to get on mailing lists. Most publishers have a free, daily e-letter you can subscribe to that will get you on the mailing list. (If you're not familiar, this is called "seeding" yourself on a list.) Once you're on the list, you'll start seeing both ads and emails designed to drive traffic to the promotions. I highly recommend you create a separate email account for this. Once you get seeded on the lists, you'll get a ton of email. I also recommend you go one step further … If you've never subscribed to a financial newsletter before, pick one of the low-cost, monthly newsletters and subscribe. As you become a "paid" subscriber instead of just a free member, you'll start seeing other promotions selling higher priced trading services, also called back-end products. Tip #2: Start building a Swipe File Once you've seeded your name on the email lists, be sure to click on the links in the messages that take you to online sales promotions. Pay attention to the promotions you see again and again, especially for more than a week or two. The promotions that have staying power in your inbox are the ones bringing in tons of new subscribers and orders. But don't just collect them … Read at least one promotion a day. Study it closely. Print it and mark it up — making note of what the copywriter did and why. Make note of the emotions the writer is trying to target, the word choice, and the overall flow of the message. And then, try to make connections between what you see in the copy and what you see going on in the news. Tip #3: Start tracking the news to take the pulse of your prospects and to find "Big Ideas" One of the most impactful — and free — steps I've taken was to download an app called Feedly. Feedly is a newsreader app that lets you subscribe to news feeds from around the internet. Install it, sign up, and then subscribe to the feeds from major news sites, financial publications like The Wall Street Journal and Barron's, science and technology sites … you should be following anything with interesting stories. Then, once a day, review the headlines. Look for the topics that come up over and over again. Use this research to identify what people are talking about. But also, look for stories that grab your attention and pique your curiosity. These are potential Big Ideas to use as marketing hooks. Being an idea generator is one of the keys to getting on the fast track in this niche. Now that you've got some ideas … Tip #4: Start small One of the hardest things to do in financial copy is to sit down and write a long-form sales letter for the first time. That's even more true when it's the first piece of copy you've ever written. So, start small. Instead of trying to write a long-form letter, take one from your Swipe File and start with the short-form "collateral" copy. Write a cart page. Write email lifts and space ads to drive prospects to the promotion. Write an advertorial. Look at how each piece ties into the main promotion — establishing congruency between the various pieces is critical to success. Once you've proven yourself with collateral copy, it's much easier to make the leap to writing full promotions and Video Sales Letters. More importantly, it builds the confidence you'll need to … Tip #5: Throw yourself out there The financial niche is ultra-competitive … not just competing for customers, but also competing for talent. Publishers are constantly on the lookout for the next blockbuster Big Idea and good copywriters will find a lot of opportunity in this niche. And, unless you already have a track record of success, none of the publishers expect you to come in and write a blockbuster on day one. Many will work with you, helping further develop the idea as well as refine your writing. It's a great experience, one that could put you on the path to earning six- or seven-figures annually. And if you get stuck, reach out the wonderful team here at AWAI and they can help point you in the right direction. They've helped me many times. I got started with [The Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting](, and then I focused on the financial industry with [Secrets of Writing Blockbuster Financial Market Controls](. Do you have any questions about how to become a financial copywriter? Share with us in the comments [here](. This is a monster market with a ton of opportunity and we want to help you get started. Editorial Note: Want to break into financial copywriting? [Check out this once in a lifetime opportunity to train "in-house" with Clayton Makepeace and the rest of the Money Map Press.]( Money Map Press is in serious need of copywriters. And they're willing to pay $12,500 plus royalties for your first assignment. Money Map Press has NEVER taught their copywriting method to anyone outside of their own copy team. But because they are growing so fast and want to hire more writers ASAP, they're making an exception this one time. You do NOT need any previous experience. You can know absolutely nothing about the stock market and still qualify to be a part of this training. This event is being led by one of their Senior Copy Chiefs, a copywriting legend in his own right — Clayton Makepeace. If you don't know Clayton, he's been in this business for nearly 50 years, and in that time has made more money than any other copywriter I know. He's also one of the best copy teachers out there, having trained many of the "million-dollar" copywriters in our industry, like Carline Anglade-Cole and Parris Lampropoulos. This is an amazingly rare opportunity to leapfrog your way to copywriting success in the financial niche. And I really don't know if it'll ever happen again. If you're interested, I highly suggest you check it out today. At this time only 3 spots remain. [Click here for all the details.]( FLASH SALE! Save $150 on Secrets of Writing Blockbuster Financial Market Controls Master writing in the most exclusive — and highest paying — direct-response niche and start getting four- and five-figure paychecks deposited into your bank account like clockwork. High fees and massive royalties are why this niche produces more millionaire copywriters at a faster pace than any other. You could be the next millionaire copywriter. [Special Offer: Order by February 9th and save $150]( HOT! Copywriting Crash Course Copywriting is the most in-demand and well-paying job for writers today. Give us 3 hours, and we'll teach you the basics of writing great copy … AND how to land the best paying assignments. [Get all the details now before the doors close.]( Thanks to Bootcamp, he's now closing in on $500K in copywriting income: Jon put off launching his copywriting career until he attended Bootcamp. He developed a 5-step system that helped him land clients. Now his career has taken off and his income has been growing every year. You can use the same system to launch your career. [Find out more here.]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Trouble viewing this email? [View in your browser, here](. For questions or requests: [contact us online](. --------------------------------------------------------------- ©2019 American Writers & Artists Inc. Do you know of someone who would benefit from reading The Writer's Life? Simply direct them [here](. --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- American Writers & Artists Inc. 101 SE 6th Avenue, Suite A Delray Beach, FL 33483 (561) 278-5557 or (866) 879-2924 Ensure your subscription delivery. AWAI Whitelisting info available [here](. --------------------------------------------------------------- You are subscribed to this newsletter as {EMAIL}. To unsubscribe from any future issues of The Writer's Life, please click here: [Unsubscribe from The Writer's Life](. To unsubscribe from all AWAI broadcasts click here. [I want to permanently unsubscribe from all AWAI emails](.