READERSVOICE.COM: What are your favorite other books?

DEMIAN FARNWORTH: The Bible is my favorite book. I read through it at least once a year. I recently read The Lord of the Rings, and was very impressed. I read C. S. Lewis‘ fantasies after that and was not the least bit impressed. Anything by Taleb[The Black Swan]. I recently read a string of books on the history of psychiatry, most of them fun reads.

RV: Have copy writing principles changed much from David Ogilvie days with his preference for print ads with lots of text and subheadings, to current styles of writing copy for internet ads or blogs?

DF: No. Fixed principles.

RV: Ogilvie used to like surveying potential customers about what they thought of products. How do advertisers or bloggers find out about what customers want and think these days?

DF: They build an audience and then ask them what they want. They can do that either directly (survey) or indirectly (monitor blog comments, incoming emails, social media, forums).

RV: The Mad Men days of a copywriter just trying to get a job in an advertising agency have changed. How would you recommend someone get into copywriting these days?, apart from studying it.

DF: Start your own blog. Build up a body of work. Publish articles on high-profile sites. If you demonstrate you have skills on your own site, it will be your resume. Hunt down clients by offering to solve their problems. Evaluate someone’s copy who needs help, and then tell them what you would do to improve it.

– Visit the copybot.com and copyblogger.com.
– copyright Simon Sandall.