CHARTER INVITATION
COPYWRITERS
If you'd like to bring home the bacon writing direct mail sales letters ... from your beach house ... in your hammock ...
... we should talk.
Hi. My name is Josh Manheimer, and 30 years ago I climbed into the dumpster behind my local post office.
When I climbed out, I was one of the top direct mail copywriters in the United States …
“Your package for EVERYDAY HEALTH HINTS now tops our winner’s list as the BEST-EVER direct mail package for Rodale books with results 2 to 1 over the standard! In fact, response was so high, we had to change the print run.”
Kathi Ramsdell
Promotion Manager
Rodale Press
“Your direct mail package for More Magazine indexed 200, doubling response. That doesn’t happen too often in magazine history and is the first time it’s happened at Meredith.”
Ellen de Lathouder
V.P. Creative Services
Meredith Corporation
“Did Jennifer tell you that your Gooseberry Patch magalog is making Oxmoor House direct mail history? It pulled an unbelievable response - so much so that we canceled our creative test for the next mailing, thinking that it would be wasted money!”
Julie Doll,
Promotion Manager,
Time, Inc.
... earning six figures writing junk mail from my farm in Vermont.
Today, you’ll find my work featured in two books on direct marketing: MILLION DOLLAR MAILINGS and THE WORLD’S GREATEST DIRECT MAIL SALES LETTERS (four times).
If you google “direct mail copywriter,” you’ll see I come out #1 in the United States.
Somehow, I did all this …
WITHOUT
stepping foot inside an ad agency.
WITHOUT
studying under a copy guru.
WITHOUT
getting a degree in Communications.
Now I’d like to show you what I did — step-by-step — so you too can craft winning direct mail sales letters ... and work from anywhere in the world ... in your moose embroidered pajamas.
Interested? Good!
Now let's talk about you ...
If you’re a professional copywriter slaving away at emails and landing pages, and would like to break into the lucrative world of direct mail (where earning $10,000 to $30,000 for a junk mail package is not atypical ...)
If you’re a talented writer wanting to cash in on your skills and turn your unique way of looking at the world, your flare for words, your own awesome … into powerful copy that sells …
If you’re a savvy direct marketer responsible for hiring and inspiring new creative and would welcome seeing first-hand how an expert copywriter creates — step-by-step — the most successful direct mail sales letters in the history of direct marketing …
… you’ll soon hold in your hands over 150 of my battle-tested, direct mail sales letter leads — leads organized around the 16 proven formulas I've used again and again (and still use) over my 30-year career.
They're all packed into my first-ever volume, THE ULTIMATE COPYWRITER’S SWIPE BIBLE: Now You Too Can Master the Direct Mail Sales Letter. After you glance inside, you’ll instantly look skyward and whisper, “Thank you!”
SOON YOU WILL LITERALLY SWIPE YOUR WAY TO SUCCESS!
On page after page of this jaw-dropping 250-page volume, you'll discover dozens of my inspiring sales letter leads (or openings) to help you swipe your way to direct response heaven.
YOU’LL SWIPE the “blockbuster” lead I used to create a ten-year control for WRITER’S DIGEST.
“I’ve never written a letter to a direct mail copywriter before. But your subscription package for Writer’s Digest was super.”
—Bob Bly, Author, The Copywriter’s Handbook
YOU’LL SWIPE my legendary “naked old women” lead for MORE magazine which became the most successful package in the history of the Meredith Corporation.
"I am NOT the greatest storytelling copywriter in America. That title belongs to ... Josh Manheimer. This guy doesn’t just beat controls, he bludgeons them to death with 100%, 200%, even 300% victories."
—Richard Armstrong, Genius A-List Copywriter
YOU’LL SWIPE my famous “Quick! The Coffee Pot!” lead for Rodale’s EVERYDAY HEALTH HINTS which was the most successful direct mail package in the history of Rodale’s Book Division.
(You’ll find it featured in MILLION DOLLAR MAILINGS and THE WORLD’S GREATEST DIRECT MAIL SALES LETTERS.)
YOU’LL SWIPE my 11-year control for the National Fire Protection Association, declared by the DMA judges as, “one of the great achievements in direct response marketing.”
“After studying Gary Bencivenga, Clayton Makepeace, Parris Lampropoulos, and all of the old Masters, I consider myself very fortunate to have found your website. I’ll be studying your packages, and hopefully stealing your secrets, too ;-) It was an honor to read your work.”
—A.C
YOU’LL SWIPE my opening for The Asian Wall Street Journal which quadrupled response and was written — in Chinese!
“Hi Josh (or J.C., if you prefer?), what a discovery you are! Your letter leads PDF is amazing. I love your story leads. Better than a lot of similar ones I’ve seen. I’ve been studying direct response copywriting for a while, but I don’t often see your name and I’m not sure why. You’re obviously one of the best out there.”
—K.H.
YOU’LL SWIPE my gripping lead for The Good Sam Club which indexed 340, tripling response.
“Dear Josh, I swim in your wake. I have long admired your work, and I often find myself recommending you when clients are looking to test something other than my stuff. I’m very good at selling clients on using me, but not quite as good at making the package! I steal shamelessly from you…”
—Prefers to Remain Anonymous
Add my 11-year control for the National Fire Protection Association to your arsenal.
HOLD IN YOUR HANDS THE BEATING HEART
Let me share a little direct mail secret with you.
Nail PAGE 1 of your main sales letter and you’re home free.
Since PAGE 1 of a direct mail letter is the beating heart of the entire mailing (containing the grabby lead, the perfect tone, gotta have benefits, unique positioning statement, clever teasers, compelling offer …)
… if you nail PAGE 1 — and get it approved by the client — it’s usually smooth sailing after that.
So I spend a huge amount of time chiseling away at Page 1, and in this volume that’s ALL you’re going to find. A gazillion Page 1s.
Absorb my 16 formulas into your DNA like some Star Trek cyborg, and you too can become a Master Direct Mail Copywriter, crafting winning controls from your Italian Villa.
It’s not hard.
If you’re a veteran copywriter, you’ll see in 15 seconds what I’m up to, slap your forehead, and exclaim, “Of course!”
If you’re starting out in the industry, well, I wish I had this roadmap when I first began. I had to hike up the copywriter mountain with crampons and hang by my fingernails from scary cliffs.
Now you get to glide up in a gondola.
Enjoy the view. And the income.
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Now my 10-year control for Writer's Digest will be one more arrow in your quiver.
Sir Isaac Newton secluded himself for two years at his family farm to avoid the plague, and emerged with his famous, Principia Mathematica, which articulated the Laws of Universal Gravitation.
Now I’ve emerged after three decades from my farm in Vermont with my SWIPE BIBLE where I capture the Laws of Written Persuasion — divided into 16 proven formulas.
Newton invented calculus to prove his theorems.
I invented the Enthusiastic Neighbor letter lead to win control after control.
Newton famously “stood on the shoulders of giants” so he could see further.
I shamelessly stood on the shoulders of the most brilliant copywriters of my day — Bill Jayme, Judy Weiss, Ken Sheck, Linda Wells — so I could sharpen their techniques to an even finer point — and then beat them at their own game.
Newton presented his findings to the Royale Society in London.
I’m presenting my findings to you here and now.
The question on everyone's lip is this.
Will you say “YES!” to this invitation and say goodbye to the blank page and that feeling you don't know what to write.
You’re only seconds away from discovering …
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The best formula to use when selling news publications -- The Dinner Party or The Three Ifs?
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The best lead for people passionate about Soap Carving (or any hobby) -- Enthusiastic Neighbor or For Members Only?
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The best opening to create atmosphere -- IT's or Imagine?
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The difference between fascinations and situations?
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When to ask your reader to raise their right hand and take a pledge?
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When to include a Merchandise Return Label as your lift note?
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How to sling slang like a fry cook slinging hash at a cheap New Jersey diner.
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FORGET IT, FRED! lead. When to use?
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TWO KINDS OF GUYS lead. When to use?
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The one formula you should start every project with even if you later choose to abandon.
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When to put your first sentence ABOVE the salutation.
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How to craft the perfect lift note to swim like a pilot fish beside your shark of a sales letter.
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How your Page 1 will serve as the roadmap to your entire direct mail package.
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Speak to your tribe and be trusted.
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Why you must care about printing specs and insertion order if you want a seat at the big table.
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When to throw yourself in front of the bus and risk everything to maintain your integrity.
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Which graphic designers should you smother with kisses? Which should cause you to flee in the cover of darkness?
Your Path to Copywriter Paradise Starts Here!
Because direct mail is measurable, clients understand that some gal
(or guy) sitting on a beach in their polka dot boxer shorts can write sales letters that pull better than a big fancy ad agency
on Madison Avenue.
As a result, the best direct mail copywriters are freelance.
Well-compensated.
And can live and work anywhere.
If that sounds appealing to you, my Swipe Bible
is a great place to jump start,
or add rocket fuel to, your career.
Get millions of dollars of direct mail
copywriting intelligence for ... chicken feed.
If you figure I've been paid between $10,000 and $20,000 to spend a month carefully chiseling away and hand-crafting each of my direct mail packages (over three decades), well, you can do the math.
That’s a few million dollars worth of marketing intelligence you can soon access for a few bucks per letter lead.
I don’t know about you, but if I’m sweating a deadline, or stumped about how to solve a complex marketing problem, and need a creative jump start, I’d cheerfully hand over a few bucks for inspiration -- especially if it came from one of the best direct mail copywriters in the business.
And when you look at your credit card bill, and ponder the tens of thousands of dollars you can spend on copywriting courses, masterminds, travel to and from workshops by digital copy gurus (who may be brilliant writing Facebook ads and email launch sequences ... but less than geniuses when it comes to crafting snail mail direct marketing ...)
All I can say is, "Oy! There must be an easier and cheaper way to master the art of direct mail sales letters."
Now there is.
Remember, that dumpster behind my post office which I climbed into thirty years ago. That dumpster was my Harvard and my Yale universities. I would drag home garbage bags filled with the best direct mail of my day, written by the legends of my time. And I would study what they did and how they did it. Until I could do it, too.
And now I've created for you a road map, so you can navigate similar terrain with me pointing out the view along the way.
My legendary sales letter for Rodale's EVERYDAY HEALTH HINTS has a lot to teach you. It powered the most successful direct mail package in the history of Rodale's book division.
“Not sure if anyone’s mailing these days. And I’m really not sure anyone’s posting 10% response rates. Anyone, that is, but MaryJanesFarm!”
G.K.
Belvoir Media Group
“Your package beat our launch package by almost 50% on a net response basis. This is a phenomenal response!”
Jackie Prince
Doubletake
“We were astonished when your direct mail package pulled 72% better. I had not thought such an increase was possible.”
Rob Dubin
Publisher, Sailing Quarterly
“Your Yellow Poly direct mail package has been the control at Playboy for at least 12 seasons!”
Phyllis Rotunno
Playboy
YOUR 12 BONUS SWIPES
(WORTH $495.00)
YOU NOW GET FREE!
Let's talk turkey.
If I'm going to turn you into a rock star direct mail copywriter, I need to get 13 things into your hands.
First, I need you to access 12 of my legendary direct mail packages. So you can see the entire promotions and what I did -- from soup to nuts.
Each one of these was a monster control. Some doubled, tripled, and even quadrupled response. They are the reason budding copywriters email me weekly and ask if I will mentor them. If you go to my store, you'll see I charge $495 for them in pdf format.
But now you can access them all online ... for FREE.
Why? How? What gives?
If you're going to be my student. If I'm going to turn you into a master direct mail copywriter. If you're going to learn what I did and how I did it. If you're going to let me play Mr. Miagi while you wax on and wax off...
That means I need to get into your hands the wax -- my Swipe Bible.
There's no way around it.
Like some mystical text in Sanskrit, this is where I've broken down my formulas for you, and will serve as the foundation for all our future conversations together.
Once you and I have a common frame of reference,
I can transfer MY expert knowledge into YOUR expert knowledge.
There are a dozen other copy gurus more than happy to charge you thousands of dollars to take their workshops.
I just need you to spend a few hundred.
So if we're sitting in a chat room, tearing apart your copy, or someone else's, or you're emailing me with your direct mail questions, and I reference my legendary control for The Asian Wall Street Journal, and the techniques I used to quadruple response ...
... I need you to know what the hell I'm talking about.
Fortunately, my Swipe Bible is not that expensive, and my legendary controls are now free.
Plus, as a Charter Member, you also get access to me and my little dinosaur brain at a reduced rate. :)
“The [Trigger] mailing is brilliant. But Manheimer & Wise did not accomplish this breakthrough using the CPP (Clean Piece of Paper) approach. Rather, they astutely built on proven techniques, some radical, others traditional—devised for Rodale by some of America’s greatest copywriters.”
Denison Hatch
Who’s Mailing What!
“The direct mail package [for Writer’s Digest] was so successful that, for years, it crushed tests written by some of the biggest names in the business.”
Gordon Grossman
Circulation Management
“Damn you, Manheimer. I’m on a really tight deadline and unfortunately I just discovered your site. Not only did all the cool stuff on it cost me a good hour on my project, I’ll probably have to polish up my copy an extra half dozen to get it anywhere near where you’ve raised the bar. Thanks a bunch.”
D.D.
“Wow!” Gross is 4 times and net is double!”
Cynthia Zhao
The Asian Wall Street Journal
Whew! So far I’ve given you just a taste of what you can expect when you say “YES!” to this special invitation.
But you’ll never really know how dramatically your copywriting career can take off until you add Direct Mail Copywriter to your resume and thumb through your personal copy of my historic SWIPE BIBLE and my 12 Legendary Controls.
If just one of my letter leads inspires you to create the most successful sales letters in the history of your clients ...
If just one of my efforts helps you untangle a complex positioning problem, and opens the door to sales clarity for an important project with your career in the balance …
If just one of my openings causes you to craft brilliant copy — in half the time — so you can turn off your laptop and make love to your spouse once again …
If one of my formulas helps you direct a junior copywriter under your supervision to “stick the landing” and feel an enormous sense of pride …
… well, isn’t saying “YES!” to this personal invitation well worth it?
Cordially,
Josh C. Manheimer
Norwich, Vermont
P.S. Duck! SWIPE BIBLE feedback coming in fast and furious ...
"This thing is incredible."
--Matt O'Connor, ConversionGods
"There are a lot of things I love about what you’ve put together here, but at the top of the list is how you’ve organized all the material.
"Now that you’re providing a copywriting course contained within your swipes, I think that sets you apart from all the other courses and books I’ve purchased over the years.
* I bought John Carlton’s Kiss Ass Copywriting course way back in 2003 for $1,495.
* I bought AWAI’s course in 2005 for $495.
* I then bought AWAI’s Master Program for $795.
* I bought Clayton Makepeace’s Quick Start Copywriting course for $795 (now it’s $1,295.
* I went to the Titians of Direct Response event several years ago, and spent a small fortune to be there … and the DVD’s to the event still sell for $2,000 even today.
* I was Dan Kennedy’s NO BS Adviser to Birmingham, AL … which cost me $14,000.
"None of this includes every possible copywriting resource I have on hand, both analog and digital.
"My point, Josh, is that of all the resources I have on hand … dude … I constantly find myself bypassing all of them for your work.
"That, in my mind, is pretty remarkable."
—A.C., Professional Copywriter
ACCEPTANCE CERTIFICATE
YOUR 50%-OFF CHARTER MEMBER
PRIVILEGES AND
12 FREE GIFTS!
YES, Josh! I want to work from home and master the art of writing direct mail sales letters. I want your expert knowledge to become my expert knowledge.
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I understand my special 50%-Off Charter Member price for one-year access to your Swipe Bible is just $497 -- less than a few bucks per letter lead -- and hundreds less than what other copywriters have paid.
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I understand I will also have free one-year access to 12 of your legendary direct mail controls -- a $495 value I get FREE!
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I understand because my Swipe Bible lives online, I can offer thoughtful suggestions directly to you, so you can make my SWIPE BIBLE better and more useful to me.
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I understand my Early Bird Charter Member privileges also allow me to push past the doors marked PRIVATE and be eligible for additional benefits:
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I may email you directly with my one most pressing question about direct mail and get back a thoughtful reply. (Include your order # when writing to ... jc@directmailcopy.com)
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I will have privileged access to the Direct Mail Mud Hens -- your private Copywriter Forum when registration starts. *
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I can get private 1:1 access with you, if I’d like to bang my head against yours and chat about the direct mail projects I’m working on. *
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I understand my SWIPE BIBLE and 12 Legendary Controls are not available as pdf downloads, but are living, breathing virtual documents. I will get a link with direct online access for one year.
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I understand all sales are final.
*reduced rate
“Dear Mr. Manheimer, I hardly ever write to people I don’t know on the Internet, but had to after I stumbled across your website and was blown away by control samples you put up… …and even more blown away by the PR pitches you gave out for FREE. As a fresh copywriter - you sir, are a breath of fresh air in a world of self-proclaimed Internet copywriting “gurus” and an inspiration for someone who wants to hone their craft.“
Nathaniel
From Australia
“If you want to witness brilliance, go to Josh's website and read every single word of every single page. Then save the pages to your computer and repeat the exercise again next week. Then the week after. Continue doing this week after week. In just a few months of this routine, you'll have gained more copywriting insight than sitting down with Gene Schwartz himself. That Josh dude is a monster. And there's a ton you can pick up from his samples on his website.
—K.G.
“I am NOT the greatest storytelling copywriter in America,” wrote A-List copywriter, Richard Armstrong, in the preface to his monograph on copywriting. “I believe that title belongs to Josh Manheimer. You may not recognize that name. He keeps a somewhat low profile compared to most of the raging egotists in this business (including myself). He doesn’t write many articles. He doesn’t give many speeches at copywriting seminars. But if you look at his website you’ll see that his track record— especially with consumer magazines, which are his specialty—is almost unparalleled in the recent history of direct marketing. This guy doesn’t just beat controls, he bludgeons them to death with 100%, 200%, even 300% victories. More to the point, his most successful packages almost always use a storytelling lead. There is, quite frankly, nobody in the world who’s better at it.”
-- Richard Armstrong, (One of the Best Direct Mail Copywriters Still Breathing)