The Technique That Helps Even the Worst Writers Write Their Way Out Of A Wet Paper Bag

The Technique That Helps Even the Worst Writers Write Their Way Out Of A Wet Paper Bag - "Writing bullets is the single-most important copywriting skill."

"Writing bullets is the single-most important copywriting skill."

That's not my opinion.

That's Ken McCarthy, the original internet marketing expert, the man who put on the world's first internet marketing seminar back in 1994, the man Gary Bencivenga(another giant) trusted enough to give his only retirement interview to.

Not headlines. Not hooks. Not storytelling.

Bullets.

And once you understand why, it changes how you see everything.

Real quick, let me tell you about another copywriter you might've never heard of.

His name was Mel Martin.

He wasn't famous outside of a very small circle, and that was by design.

You wouldn't have recognized him walking down the street. Just a guy pacing the office in white buck shoes, chain smoking, working like a mad scientist — as Brian Kurtz recounts.

But behind the scenes at Boardroom Inc., one of the most successful direct mail publishers in history, Mel was the secret weapon.

Hired with a fat compensation package and a secrecy clause so the rest of the world wouldn't find out who was cranking out their copy.

For over 20 years, he helped produce over 650 million pieces of successful direct mail.

The founder of Boardroom, Marty Edelston, once said at Mel's funeral:

"Mel wrote copy that when you read it, it made you vibrate."

And what was Mel's superpower?

Bullets. Or as they called them in the direct mail world, fascinations.

What made Mel's fascinations different wasn't just that they were short and punchy.

It was that each one created an itch in the reader's mind, a deep, gnawing curiosity that could only be scratched one way: by buying the product.

He didn't list features. He didn't explain benefits.

He transformed mundane information into irresistible questions the reader couldn't walk away from.

Lines like:

• What never to eat on an airplane
• Bills it's okay to pay late
• How to collect interest from two different banks at the same time
• What credit companies don't tell you

Every single one, a tiny hook.

Every single one opening a loop the reader desperately needed to close.

Now here's the story that really shows you what bullets can do in the right hands.

Boardroom had a book they believed in. Solid content, editorially researched. But it wasn't selling.

They called it The Book of Checklists. Flopped.

Renamed it The Great Book of Inside Knowledge. Somehow, worse.

Most publishers would have killed the project.

Instead, they called in Mel.

Mel took that same book and renamed it The Book of Secrets.

Then he rebuilt the entire promotion from scratch, fascination by fascination.

He hand-picked four bullets for the outer envelope, the ones he believed would create "maximum vibration":

• How to refund an airline's non-refundable ticket
• How to make your car very, very hard to steal
• Vitamins never to buy in a health food store
• How to know when a slot machine is ready to pay off

Boardroom mailed over 20 million names for that book.

One mailing alone, 9 million pieces. Thirty-six semi-trailer trucks driving across the country to post offices nationwide.

The Book of Secrets sold over half a million copies.

Same content. Same product. Completely transformed by bullets.

And here's why Ken McCarthy was right.

Bullets force maximum compression of selling.

They demand that you take a complex, high-value idea and distill it down to its most curious, most compelling, most irresistible form.

No fluff. No padding. Just the pure wallop of the benefit wrapped in a question the reader can't ignore.

And because of that, the skill bleeds into everything else you write.

Every great headline is just a bullet with more real estate. Every great subject line is a fascination in disguise. Every subhead, every hook, every opening line, all built on the same foundation.

Master bullets and you haven't just learned one technique.

You've learned how to be clear, concise and compelling, which are the three foundations of every piece of persuasive writing that has ever worked.

Eugene Schwartz described great copy as a blockbuster action movie, like the classic Die Hard. It needs to open with a barrage of bullets, just enough story to keep things moving, then more bullets, a little dialogue, then more bullets again, right up until the final climax.

That's what fills the theater.

And that's what fills your inbox with replies.

Here's a great way to learn how to write bullets, by simply restating what you just wrote or using it as foreshadowing(in the intro):

• How Mel Martin took a book nobody wanted and turned it into 20 million pieces of mail using nothing but four lines on an envelope
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• Why Ken McCarthy, the man Gary Bencivenga trusted with his only retirement interview, called bullets the single most important copywriting skill above everything else
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• The reason Eugene Schwartz structured his copy like a blockbuster action movie, and why bullets were the starring role
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• How mastering one tiny line of copy makes your headlines sharper, your subject lines clickable, and your body copy impossible to skim past
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• Why the writer who can compress maximum selling power into minimum space will always out-earn the writer who can't
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• What Marty Edelston meant when he said Mel's copy made you "vibrate", and how to get that same effect in everything you write
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Bullets are the great equalizer.

You don't need a decade of experience. You don't need to be the most naturally gifted writer in the room.

You just need to learn how to write one tight, curious, benefit-packed line, and then do it again.

Mel Martin never looked like a trendsetter. No fame, no fanfare.

Just white buck shoes, a cigarette, and the most powerful technique in copywriting quietly tucked under his arm.

He spent over two decades turning average promotions into multimillion-dollar successes, not with clever storytelling or flashy design, but with bullets that created an itch no reader could ignore.

Learn bullets first. Everything else gets easier.

When I'm in my office, going for a walk, driving, deciding what to write, I write down my bullets. Either by note or memory.

Then the ideas flow. everything is easier to piece together. Bullets are the glue.

If you struggle with writer's block or just feel like you can't write your way out of a wet paper bag, this is where you start.

Till next Saturday.

Ciao,

Fathi