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Johnny’s Copyblogger Wrap-Up: Week of June 28, 2010

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After Brian didn’t run last week’s Wrap-up due to alleged technical issues, I got nervous and decided that I’d better secure my position around here by showing some evil initiative. Eventually, after agonizing seconds of brain-wracking agony, I got the idea to defraud advertisers. So I called Xerox. “This site has nothing to do with copying things,” the Xerox ad rep told me after clicking through a few posts. “Are you crazy?” I said. “‘Copy’ is in the title. We’re running a series this summer on the many joys of having handy multiples of any document. First up: Filing. Then: Passing brochures out to friends.” At that point, the Xerox rep hung up on me. So, while I ponder my next evil plan to secure my position at Copyblogger (and also to rule the entire tri-state area), you might as well read what happened this week: Monday: The Grateful Dead 4-Step Guide to the Magical Influence of Content Marketing I’ve never liked the Grateful Dead, so I laughed out loud at the joke Brian told in the intro to this post. But then I kept reading and realized that those stoned dudes DID in fact know a thing or two about content marketing, as strange as it may seem. It’s enough to make me contemplate the color of the wind in my mind. Woah… heavy. Think about it: Why would you possibly encourage bootlegging the way the Dead did? Because hippies or not, that band made a lot of money doing their thing and gained a ton of notoriety. So either it was chance, or they knew what they were up to from the beginning. Either way, I’ll bet they liked brownies. Read on to find out how you can learn to be just as effective, and also maybe how you can get these huge pink elephants in my office to go away. I tried reading poetry to them, but that only made them turn into tie-dyed screwdrivers that begin disassembling the injustices of the world while Hendrix showed me the true path to zen neuroticism. Read the full post here . Tuesday: Charles Bukowski and the Secret to Immortal Writing As a budding student of diabolical evil, I really related to what Robert Bruce wrote about Charles Bukowski, “I’ve only spent a few minutes with his now 16-year-old corpse lying in San Pedro.” Which is so funny because I was just lying around with several corpses I have here yesterday, albeit ones far less famous than Bukowski’s. What a coincidence! What Robert learned from his chat with Bukowski’s corpse (I’m not totally certain here and may have that detail wrong; I was reading this post while hang gliding into a coral reef while on fire) was one tiny little should-be-obvious maxim that can make all the difference for anyone struggling to improve their writing. You don’t need a big instruction manual. You can’t just focus on hooks and structure and whatnot. You need to truly pay attention to one little thing. I forgot what that one thing is, though. You’ll have to read to find out. I’d look for myself, but I can’t right now because I’m writing this while fighting reanimated mummies with nunchucks. Read the full post here . Wednesday: The 7 Essential Steps to Creating Your Content Masterpiece Finally, a handy guide to keep your blog from being used to wrap discarded fish! This post by Mark McGuinness is all about how to make your content last longer, and how to get the most out of your writing. You can write a stream of mediocrity with no real plan for use and have people forgetting your stuff the day after you write it, or you can find ways to use it as part of a whole that becomes your content masterpiece. Just like Bach and that large poodle he wore on his head had going for them. Honestly: How are you going to do any real evil in the world if nobody remembers what you do and instead uses your stuff to wrap fish and chips? Read the full post here . Thursday: Landing Page Makeover Clinic #27: HiddenSoy.com In this latest installment of the Landing Page Makeover Clinic, Roberta Rosenberg turns her watchful eye on HiddenSoy.com, a site dedicated to sniffing out (wait for it) the hidden dangers of soy in everyday foods — soy being something the site’s owner isn’t a fan of and doesn’t exactly think is health food, to put it mildly. In this post, Roberta gives her 10-point critique of the site’s landing page, identifying ways that it can better convert visitors into more sales of the book The Hidden Dangers of Soy . But the bigger question (one that remains unasked and therefore suspiciously unanswered) is “WHO exactly is behind this nefarious soy plot?” Because it’s a sublimely evil plot, on par with a scheme to SET FIRE TO THE SUN! And what’s their purpose? Is it to decrease consumption of animal protein? Is it about eliminating a soy surplus? Does it have anything to do with “big laundry?” (I forgot what that means, but I promise you it’s evil.) Anyway, check this post out if for no other reason than to fight Big Soy. It’s more important than just you or me. Read the full post here . Friday: The Writer Runs This Show Friday’s post was kind of poetic, so it doesn’t lend itself well to me writing a teaser other than for me to say “read it,” so I’ll just offer two quick things before repeating that you should read it: 1. Stephen King said “The book is the boss,” and Brian Clark said, “The writer runs this show.” Coincidence? Or are they the same person? Yet another unsolved and persistent mystery. 2. If I were invited to a dinner party thrown by zombies, I’d never go. Aside from the constant worry over whether I was there FOR dinner or AS dinner, I’ll bet the whole situation would be really awkward. And you know the conversation would be absolutely terrible: “So, where do you and the family summer?” “Brains!” You get the idea. Anyway, read brains Brian’s manifesto on the real importance of writing here . About the Author: Johnny B. Truant is a cartoonish supervillain who blogs at JohnnyBTruant.com and is behind many extraordinarily evil schemes involving space laser-inators and giant baking soda volcanos.

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Johnny’s Copyblogger Wrap-Up: Week of June 28, 2010

Charles Bukowski and the Secret to Immortal Writing

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Henry Charles Bukowski, Jr. was arguably the greatest American fiction writer of the last half of the 20th century. Fortunately for his book sales, most think of him as the archetypal drunk, misanthropic male pig. Don’t let the hype fool you, though. Bukowski possessed the secret to something nearly every blogger wants: what makes truly immortal writing. As I’ve only spent a few minutes with his now 16-year-old corpse lying in San Pedro (see photo above), I can’t speak to his personal life. But the words, the lines, the books, they are evidence of a generous, staggeringly imperfect, stoic genius and lover of life. Sure, a stack of tangled contradictions, who isn’t? Before (and after) his relatively minor fame hit, Bukowski spent decades mailing his poems and stories to small press magazines, mimeographed booklet makers and the like. Thousands of pages, hundreds of thousands of words. Usually these would go out as originals, no carbon copies. He once estimated that he’d lost hundreds of poems this way, the publisher usually wouldn’t return the rejected work, and it was gone forever. It forced him to move on, to work deliberately, to punch through again and again and again without sentiment. The poetry business, in my opinion, is largely an inbred, favor-driven, audience-less racket. Most folks don’t think about poetry until Terry Gross drags some poor, expressive soul into her studio for a literary interview. And when he or she begins to talk, most folks switch the channel. Bukowski eventually acquired a raving audience despite this reality. An audience that continues to grow exponentially 16 years after his death. An audience that begs, borrows and steals to get his stuff. An audience that he famously never chased down. An audience that he, in fact, largely pushed away . How did he do it? How did he go on to sell endless books of poetry and finally lay down in the dirt making an almost six-figure literary income? Several reasons of course, but try this one on for size … The secret is in the line. ~ Charles Bukowski Yeah, I know. Don’t dismiss that. Read it again. The secret is in the line. ~ Charles Bukowski No 10 point PR plan. No elaborate structure. No budget. No reader polls. No blog. The secret is in the line. ~ Charles Bukowski Sure, Twitter wasn’t around in 1980. And he eventually had John Martin at Black Sparrow Press backing him. But Bukowski himself attributed so much weight to the single line that it eclipsed all else in his philosophy of writing. If the single line was magnificent, the rest would take care of itself. In a 60,000 word novel, the working focus was on the single line . In the dirty stories sold to skin mags for money, the working focus was on the single line . In a small poem that maybe 50 people would read, the working focus was on the single line . Not easy. Not fast. But this must certainly be the path to immortal (and powerfully influential) writing. If you can stomach it. If not, there’s always a place for you in the pedestrian lane . About the Author: Robert Bruce is an American writer. And day job man. And beer drinker. And Presbyterian. All from the rain and fog of Portland, Ore. Get him on Twitter .

bruce bukowski Charles Bukowski and the Secret to Immortal Writing

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Johnny’s Copyblogger Wrap-Up: Week of April 12, 2010

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I blogcrastinated (see Tuesday’s post below) on writing this for a long time because I’ve been busy perfecting the my Rock Band drumming. Nobody warns you about the time-suck danger that Wii holds for the self-employed. I only got down to it and wrote these summaries for you when, somewhere between some kick-butt drumming for The Donnas and Bikini Kill, my 5-year-old son came in and told me to turn the music down. Man, as soon as I graduate, I am so out of here. Anyway, here’s what happened this week on Copyblogger: Monday: The Mercenary’s Guide to Building Your Internet Marketing Empire There’s a really cool knife in this post’s photo, so you should without a doubt read the post or that knife may kill you. (I got a knife like it once, after I saw the first Rambo movie. To date, I have killed no boars or communists with it. But I still like to read about marketing, just like Rambo.) Be like Nathanbo. Jump off cliffs and make things explode (with profit). You can have it all by reading the full post here . P.S: Rambo wasn’t in it for profit. He was in it for justice. Just so we’re clear. Tuesday: 5 Warning Signs You Might be a Blogcrastinator I keep trying to blogcrastinate with these wrapups, but I’m apparently doing it wrong. Just last week, I sent Brian my review for the week of December 10, 2008 and he made me go back and do it for the week immediately prior instead. This despite my argument that while people might remember last week’s posts, probably nobody was thinking about the ones that ran on 12/10-14 of ‘08. Luckily, Michelle Russell has five symptoms that will smack blogcrastinators back to December of ‘08 and help them get on the right track again. Read the full post here . Wednesday: 5 Dumb Design Mistakes That Crush Copy (And How to Fix Them) Pamela Wilson deserves an “Amen, sister!” for this post because it’s so spot on. See, there are two types of people in the world: copy people and design people. (That’s right — there are literally no other kinds of people in the world.) Copy people think that only the words themselves matter. And design people wear black berets and smoke clove cigarettes. Think about it. Definitely take a look through Pamela’s list of dumb mistakes to see if you’re making them. Also, definitely get a black beret. Read the full post here . Thursday: How to Master Social Media Marketing This post is all about the Social Media Success Summit, where Brian and several of his partners in crime will be presenting. You should check it out because if you go, you’ll basically end up being like Superman if he were on Twitter. He isn’t, but if he were, he’d be all: using my x-ray vision down at the dept store dressing rooms if you know what I mean LOL Read the full post here . Friday: Three Lively Blogging Debates to Explore in 2010 On Friday, James Chartrand threw some gasoline onto the fire of nerd combat by enumerating three blogging debates that are likely to sprain many a typing finger in 2010. So hike up your suspenders, consult your monster manuals, and weigh in, folks. The web is only going to get more sports-related if we don’t voice our opinions. (Isn’t it interesting that thanks to the internet, the old maxim has come true? The geeks really have inherited the earth.) Check out all of the nerd fight action here . About the Author: Johnny B. Truant is one of the creators of “ Question the Rules : The nonconformist’s punk rock, DIY, nuts-and-bolts guide to creating the business and life you really want, starting with what you already have” — an awesome new course which will launch on April 28th.

00a215758blogger.gif Johnny’s Copyblogger Wrap Up: Week of April 12, 2010

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Johnny’s Copyblogger Wrap-Up: Week of April 12, 2010