Received the following praise from yesterday’s email:
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the flow in your emails >>>>>>
ChatGPT can't write things like this. Lmfao.
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And that, my friends, is how you immunize yourself from being replaced by ChatGPT and its legion of artificially intelligent bots:
Flow.
And y’know what? Developing a writing flow, style, and cadence is one of the skills AI copywriters might never develop. I mean, most copywriters couldn’t make a river flow, let alone a blank piece of paper. AI is no exception.
That’s the good news.
The bad news?
Well, flow is one of the hardest copywriting skills to develop. It’s one of the few things you can’t “fake it til you make it” with or copy and paste it, pretending it’s your own.
Flow is like the rhythm section in music. Using rap as our example (because it’s popular and the easiest to wrap your head around)… Eminem may be the best wordsmith of all time. He can make several words rhyme with orange for example. But, since he got killed and replaced with a clone, his flow is god awful, which makes him come off as a cringey has-been (even though his technical skill and ability are top tier).
So it will happen with AI copywriters too.
Which just begs the question:
How do you improve your copywriting flow?
This is where I have to be the bearer of bad news yet again.
There ain’t no easy shortcuts you can take. It takes time, practice, and repetition.
For example, writing til your fingers bleed, reading til your eyes bleed (both fiction and non-fiction), and then rinsing and repeating until your skin bleeds.
I’ll give you a hint though:
Developing flow ain’t as easy as studying copy gurus who tell you to write short sentences.
Or short paragraphs.
Or making sure that you only have one sentence per paragraph.
Sure, those can help with flow. (Example numero uno above.) But you also gotta mix things up— watch how the rest of this Uber long sentence goes and how the rest of the paragraph plays out—by switching up how short or long your sentences and paragraphs are. Sometimes it means writing obnoxiously long, borderline run-on sentences. And other times? The opposite.
That’s flow.
That’s sumtin nobody can mimic.
And sumtin that AI won’t be able to replicate.
And sumtin that requires you to write above a 3rd grade level (which is decent advice for newbies, but becomes the kryptonite of flow. In fact, I scan almost all my copy through the Readable app—which is a better version of Hemingway— and as of recent, I’m consistently writing above a 7th and 8th grade reading level. I can write at a third grade level, but it just don’t flow like it does when I bump that reading grade up a few levels).
And sumtin that also requires you to not write like you talk (which, again, is decent advice for newbies starting out, but becomes a major hindrance to flow as you evolve. Quick example: Saying “world war” throws my tongue for a tizzy for whatever reason and I’d never type “whirled wards” like I would if I spoke it).
See them super-duper long sentences?
And how they contrast with short ones?
That’s flow.
Study this email. But don’t try to duplicate it — because you 1) won’t be able to and 2) will look like a less skilled copycat. Everyone has a different flow, and cultivating your own will take you further than trying to copy from your favorite writers.
Anywhoooooo:
Turns out, the flow I’ve developed, particularly in emails, not only keeps you addicted to each line, but also makes you whip out your credit card to buy whatever product I’m promoting.
Mayhap you could use a little dose of this magic for your brand?
If so, grab a time here, and let’s chat.
John
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