The sinister secret of Sin City copywriting

Back in the 90’s, a guy named Frank Miller created a comicbook called: "Sin City” A dark and gritty comic book with lots of violence, crime and action. And as is always the case when a popular new "style" emerges in a business, niche, or industry… the comicbook store shelves became glutted with imitations. Everyone started shamelessly aping Frank Miller's stories, drawing style, and characters. The result? Every single "copycat" title was eventually cancelled. Some within just a few issues of their debut. And this happened even though there was a huge demand for these dark and gritty crime comics, and even though many of Frank Miller's competitors had a lot of talent. Question is, why? Why did they fail while Frank Miller comics & back issues still thrive today in the same niche — including with two movies based on his Sin City title? The answer is because the imitators simply copied the surface elements of Frank Miller's comics — and never bothered to figure out exactly what makes them "tick." All the stuff that makes Miller's stories work: the balance of humor and drama, the three dimensional characters, the themes that surface as the stories progress… were completely absent. What does this have to do with your copywriting? With your emails? With your business' social media influence, engagement, client-acquisition, and overall attractiveness to customers, clients, JV partners, and everything else? Everything, my little Golden Rooster. Because this is one of the main reasons so many ads fail today — and have always failed since the beginning of direct response marketing. Far too many ads are nothing more than retreaded & swiped (and now I guess fapGPT'd?) formulas with a bunch of product benefits "plugged" into them. Structurally, these sales letters correct: They have the headline. The opening paragraph. The story. The bullets. The offer. The P.S., etc. But there's nothing people can sink their teeth into to think about that gets them to buy, consume, refer, and then want to buy the next thing - sometimes even sight unseen. It’s like these dorks who read my emails and think they have to sound, write, and behave like I do. Which is as stupid as the wannabes who copied Frank Miller. Copying what others are writing or doing in their ads/emails/social media, whatever… simply makes you a warmed over version of someone else’s left overs from a week ago that’s now growing mold in the fridge. Which is why if you want to write what the great Ken McCarthy calls "Battleship copy” — the kind that can potentially launch entire product lines almost overnight for businesses — you have to get out your righteous shovel, roll up your sleeves, and dig deeper. You have to think bigger, too. And, yes, you have to work smarter. This is the sort of info Ken teaches in his Advanced Copywriting For Serious Info Marketers course I’ve been yammering on about all week. Ken’s not just an 8-figure “copywriter.” And he doesn’t just teach “copywriting.” Where he shines & blows away everyone in the industry is in teaching even people who have busiensses but who have no copywriting or info marketing skills to speak of exactly how to (1) write great copy without needing to be a “great” copywriter, and then (2) use that copy and the business & inner game (as he describes it) side of it to potentially grow to 6, 7, & even 8 figure info businesses. This is not something the new product junkie or swipe-a-holic or the guy fapping in the AI sock is capable of doing. Thus the title where it says “serious info marketers.” Speaking of which: Ken’s offering it at a gigantic discount to businesses in my Horde only, until tonight, Friday 1/12 at midnight EST. Plus, if you use my affiliate link and send me your receipt, the title of the book you want me to send you, & the shipping address by that deadline (not after — to be clear, you must send your receipt, shipping address, and the title you want to me, not just buy the course, BEFORE the deadline to get it), I will send you: 1. Free copy of any ONE book I sell I don’t care if it’s one of the bigger ticket ones or one of the more inexpensive ones. Simply buy Ken’s course by the deadline and then email me your receipt with your shipping address & the book you want me to send you (also by the deadline — if you send me your receipt, the title of the book you want, and your shipping address AFTER the above deadline, I am not sending you the book, let me be very clear about that here) 2. Live call with me and Ken about: The end of the world! Not only will we talk about copywriting (of course), but I want to grill him about the economy. Understand that Ken “came of age” in finance during the 80’s in Wall Street. I have learned more from him (and I told him this recently) about not just basic economics that is not taught in school than from anyone else, but he genuinely has given me a lot of peace of mind knowing what he does on this topic. Those who read this month’s Email Players issue will know what I mean by that. Not only peace of mind, but he has helped me position and adjust my own finances, what I invest in (it’s not investing advice, just by understanding what’s going on you can make better decisions), what I buy and don’t buy, how I think of money, how I am planning for the fallout of what’s been going on for over a decade and is about to completely unravel probably this year — maybe sooner than the end of the year, maybe later, but it’s inevitable — and the list goes on. This call (day & time TBA) will be live to customers of this promo. (NOTE: this is not for those who bought from earlier promos for this course from me, you got different valuable bonuses. I say this for the greedy guy who always haunts my inbox as if he doesn’t understand how basic, 101 marketing and merchandising works — these are the goobers who probably go to JC Penny and complain that the current sale on dress shirts is great, and as someone who bought one of the shirts a year earlier at a different price, they should still get the current deal prorated for them this time…) All right ‘nuff said about that. The deadline is tonight, Friday 1/12 at midnight EST to get Ken’s course at the discount, get any ONE book I sell (if you send me your receipt, shipping address, and the title of the book you want me to send you by the deadline, if you send the above to me after the deadline I will NOT send you the book, many-a-disappointed-customer who couldn’t tell time has learned this hard way…), plus access to the live call above. Hopefully that is all clear. Whatever the case, here is the link: [https∶//www.EmailPlayers.com/secret-course]( Ben Settle P.S. A word of warning to the new product junkies, marketing hobbyists, and opportunity seekers chasing after “hacks” or fapGPT or whatever bright shiny object horse pewp they think will make them a fortune: This course is not sexy or “cool.” It’s purely fundamentals mixed with decades of info marketing experience combined with sound, principled thought & the rules of human psychology. That’s why I call it “meat & potatoes.” Learning from this man, from this course (as I went through it some 15 times to write the sales letter for it many years ago) was by far the best education I ever got on the raw mechanics of writing sales copy. If you’re in business but a newbie at copywriting, this is the kind of info I highly recommend. If you’re a veteran business owner and copywriter, I think you’ll still pick a lot of gems up. Even seasoned A-list copywriters like, for example, the great David Deutsch, and other world-class “name” marketers like Perry Marshall have given this course testimonials about this over the years. The point? If you want "ninja" go to another lame internet marketing seminar or free blog, or be a bar fly in yet another copywriting facebook group. They'll fill your head with all kinds of nonsensical short term tactics that sound cool and sexy, but don't work long term, or for anyone but the person teaching them. If you want to write ads that make lots of sales, I recommend (biased though I am, this IS an affiliate offer, after all...) this course. Here’s my affiliate link: [http∶//www.EmailPlayers.com/secret-course]( This email was sent by Ben Settle as owner of Settle, LLC. Copyright © 2024 Settle, LLC. All Rights Reserved. No part of this email may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from Settle, LLC. 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