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Clients are often nervous before hiring a copywriter for the first time. We’re not cheap. I told you before that the lowest I write a sales letter for is $3,000.00. (Except for mini-letters.)

Sometimes I quote as high as $6,000.00. And that’s before any add ons, like autoresponders or promotional emails. Typically, I write for about $4,000.

The ways I reassure clients is by showing them my portfolio first so they can see I know what I’m doing. I also tell the names of recognizable marketers who hire me regularly (Jim Edwards and Ryan Deiss). And that I offer 3 revisions within 90 days if the copy is falling flat. (All copywriters produce duds from time to time.)

Recently I’ve also been able to share that my copy coach is Michel Fortin (a legendary copywriter online).

Some wondered why I had a copy coach when I was supposed to be a good copywriter already. First of all, I can name a couple of other copywriters who I’ll admit have better skills than me… and still have a copy coach. It’s a never-ending learning process.

But also, my biggest weakness as a copywriter is experience. I’ve got a little more than 3 years vs. Michel’s… maybe close to 2 decades? What I might discover about different markets from trial and error, I can now just ask Michel. That raises my game by a lot.

And makes me a steal of a copywriter starting at $3k.

Want proof? Michel and his crew write for $800 a page. A typical sales letter might run around $8,000.00 at that point. Maybe much more. My typical sales letter is around $4,000.

I just sent over a rough draft of some sales copy that wasn’t quite finished (still needed some content from the client), but the essentials were there. Here’s what Michel said about the copy when I sent it to him for a quick review:

This is very good copy.

I don’t have anything to add — at least until the copy is done. But I like what you have now. I like it a lot.

Michel Fortin
The Success Doctor, Inc.
http://SuccessDoctor.com
http://MichelFortin.com

And believe me, he wouldn’t say that if it weren’t. He’s advised me to scrap copy and rewrite it before.

Now, are you thinking of hiring me before my rates shoot up? http://www.copyproductions.com

Wanted to let you guys know about some new music I’ve been listening to. I’ve told you before that I like to listen to mellow music when I write copy… because it doesn’t distract me but keeps me in an upbeat mood.

Well Brandi Carlile had an iTunes single of the week not too long ago that I got for free. It was called “The Story.” The song’s pretty cool, but I LOVE the way she finishes out that song.

I’m a big Nirvana fan. The passion and emotion that came out of Cobain’s voice in that unplugged album really connected with me.

I kind of felt that way with “The Story.” It’s raw emotion that I really connect with.

Other songs of hers that I’ve picked up are “What Can I Say?” and “Follow.” Her album just dropped on iTunes about a week ago and has a rating of 4 and a half stars.

You might check her out.

I mentioned my favorite economist, Thomas Sowell, in my last blog post. I actually wrote that blog post on Sunday, so it was a surprise to see an email from Amazon.com this morning (Wednesday) with “Thomas Sowell” in the subject.

Turns out his new book, “Economic Facts And Fallacies” is now available on Amazon. It’s fantastic. How do I know?

Somehow I was able to get an advanced copy months ago. Dr. Sowell was nice enough to send me a spiral bound draft from the publisher… something I couldn’t buy if I wanted to. I was ecstatic.

If you’re interested in economics or politics at all, this is a must have book for your study. I use it much like an encyclopedia. Whenever I hear the results of a “study” or economic news that sounds skeptical to me… I just open to the appropriate chapter. Dr. Sowell is great at explaining the issue in simple terms to non-economists.

I recommend it highly if you’re interested in how the world really works.

I got a call on my cell phone last night from Matt Bacack. I’ll tell you why in a minute. But first a lesson about blogging…

…If you want to receive a ton of comments to your next blog post, make your post controversial.

Michel Fortin chimed in on the Forced Continuity ‘controversy’ yesterday and so far has received 52 comments. If you count all the comments he’s deleted for being profane, I bet it’d be double or triple that.

There were a lot of comments posted and many of them seemed to be made by whining, complaining forum junkie types. You know, the kind who don’t make any money.

There were some critics of high regard, but not many.

Here’s the scoop on the ‘controversy’:

Matt Bacak recently released a highly touted product for $1. Purchasing it meant you were also automatically enrolled in to a $30/month program. It’s a common business practice.

Ever heard of “Video Professor?” That’s their model.

It’s also the model for “Girls Gone Wild.” (Believe it or not, I don’t know that from experience.)

Some people who didn’t spot that they would be charged $30 a month were upset. Even though they agreed to it. And even though they had a month to cancel without ever being charged.

The real kicker is, these people who whine and complain about a forced continuity program don’t seem to realize that if it weren’t for this program… you wouldn’t be able to get so much awesome content for $1!

Checking out the continuity program is part of the price. It doesn’t cost cash. It takes a bit of time to check out what’s being offered, and then cancel if you don’t want to continue receiving it. If you don’t like it, you’re never charged.

That’s a great deal in my book. I’d pay $1 for a free issue of Matt’s newsletter any day of the week.

I saw him speak in Dallas once at Ryan Deiss’ seminar. He was one of the top speakers and I found his content to be fantastic. I look forward to the newsletter and I’m pretty confident I’ll continue to pay the $30/month.

Granted, some people thought Matt hadn’t made it clear enough in the sales letter that there was a continuity offer. I can’t speak to this, because it was very clear to me when I purchased. In any case, Matt got feedback that it wasn’t clear enough and immediately changed it.

I’ve also heard his customer service team is doing very well handling whiny customers. And I believe it.

After I commented on Michel’s post telling people to cool off in my own subtle way (seriously), I got a voicemail from Matt personally thanking me. That’s someone who cares!

Don’t think that I’m in Matt’s “inner-circle” and he picked up the phone to call a friend. I saw him speak, I said ‘Hi,’ and that was the end of it.

He simply looked up my number (from his happy customer list) and gave me a call. I look forward to purchasing from him again.

And I recommend that you pick up his $1/continuity offer if you haven’t already: Matt-Bacak-Retires