Kranz On Copy: Insights and answers on copywriting and writing copy

The book that turned me into a copywriter was not a book about advertising, marketing, nor copywriting; it was The Rhetoric of Fiction by Wayne Booth. (I'd be hard-pressed to define rhetoric in a clear and sensible manner, but for our purposes, let's just describe it as how we say what we say.)

In Rhetoric, Booth insists that everything we say and write communicates three things simultaneously. The first of these is the most obvious -- the subject matter, or the topic at hand. For 99% of us, this is what we discuss when we discuss writing, and if you're a copywriter, it's what clients look for in our copy: products, features, benefits, services, etc. In this blog, for example the subject is rhetoric and its applicability to copywriting.

To borrow one of the rhetorical tropes of direct response TV -- but wait, there's more. Through vocabulary, tone, point-of-view, and the application (or not) of wit, irony, metaphor, allusions and other devices, the writer creates two other things: a personality for the author him/herself, and a personality for the readers as well. Lit crit types call these the "implied author" and the "implied reader," respectively.

Again, using this blog as an example, the casual way I'm addressing "serious" academic content is intended to create the impression that I'm a bright, yet straight-talking kind of guy with a touch of self-deprecating humor. The examples I've selected to illustrate my points suggest that my readers are also intelligent, but more knowledgeable in marketing issues than academic criticism.

Here's why rhetoric matters: Even mediocre copywriters can successfully communicate "subject matter." It's mastery of the other two areas --the implied author (the business or organization making the message) and the implied reader (the target market/audience) that distinguishes the truly accomplished copywriter.

"Accomplished" doesn't necessarily mean "professional." One of my favorite masters is the man behind Lindsay's Technical Books, a catalog of obscure and/or reprinted texts on the arcane arts of do-it-yourself metalworking, machining, radio-building and other fascinating, nearly-neglected technologies. I've never met the man, but I'll assume his name is . . . Lindsay.

Here's Lindsay on one of the books he offers:

"Some people seem to think automobiles, camcorders, and plastics grow on trees. Suggest to the bonehead that SOMEONE had to design the product and SOMEONE had to create the product and SOMEONE had to create the raw materials that went into it, and they're stunned. If you suggest to them that real people can smelt metal from ore, make a battery, make their own photographic film, explosives or plastics, and they just won't believe you. But this book shows how you CAN do just those things."

Fortunately, Lindsay works for himself. If he were accountable to anyone else, copy like this would probably never see the light of day. "Bonehead"? Too negative! And it takes too long to introduce the product, which doesn't appear until after three lengthy, very opinionated sentences.

Talk about attitude! And that's exactly the point. If you think the above selection is something, take a look at something else again, Lindsay's disclaimer on his ordering page:

"If you're an idiot, GO AWAY! Much of the information contained in these books is potentially dangerous. If you're too lazy to think ahead and exercise caution in your work (my definition of an idiot), then I don't want you on my customer list."

Wow, strong coffee. The implied author? Lindsay comes across as a crusty old S.O.B., but instead of offending his customers, his rhetoric reassures them: It says that this man is the real thing, an authentic tool-guy, someone who really knows his stuff.

And the implied reader? Someone who respects the no-nonsense authority of a man like Lindsay, and is in fact flattered to be among the select group of people who are not idiots -- people who are smart enough to read and order from Lindsay's catalog.

No, Lindsay's style would not work for herbal health supplements or fine European home furnishings. But it's just right for his products and his market. And that's what makes Lindsay's copy, great copywriting.