Chatting copy with Andrew Boulton

Andrew Boulton is the author of Copywriting Is: 30-or-so thoughts on thinking like a copywriter; the number one bestselling advertising book on (urgh) Amazon.

Having worked as a copywriter for over a decade, he also now teaches copywriting on the Creative Advertising course at the University of Lincoln.

Andrew Boulton

What’s your current employment status? Do you just work for yourself?

“I suppose I don’t actually, properly, entirely work for myself even now. My day job is teaching copywriting on an incredible Creative Advertising degree course at the University of Lincoln. I keep a handful of clients on as evening and weekend stuff simply because a) I love it, and would miss it horribly, and b) I think I would be a terrible teacher of copywriting if I wasn’t still doing it myself.”

What prompted you to write ‘Copywriting Is…’? And what quick tips would you have for any aspiring authors out there?

“A quick tip is that all quick tips are filthy lies and that if you intend to write a book you are doomed to be trapped in an interminable cycle of regret and panic and bottomless despair until it is all over and you never have to think about it again until somebody asks you for your best tips about getting through it all, and you write something utterly melodramatic as a reply.

“More sensibly, I think that you (by which I mean, ‘me’) can only ever extract a book that is already in you. I don’t know how I could sit down and create something I hadn’t already half-formulated in my own mind. Perhaps it’s a matter of waiting for an idea you believe in – and care about – to grow, and then deciding if you have the willpower and discipline to bring it out. I had neither of these things, but bumbled through somehow.”

Copywriting Is…

What’s the main mistake you see brands making with their copy?

“Undervaluing writers. Neglecting writing as an investment, or misusing the writing talent they have.

“I understand the complaints people have about the word – and the nature of – ‘content’, but that is an enormous, and legitimate, part of the brand and creative world. What I can’t accept are brands who build ‘content’ into the heart of their communication platform, strategize it, plan it, pour media spend all over it… and forget to find excellent writers and/or give them the freedom and support to write excellent things.

“All those other things mean nothing, absolutely nothing, if you don’t find, nurture and champion outstanding writers.”

Can you show me a piece of copy you’ve written which you’re still super proud of each time you see it? 

“The pride you feel for the copy you write is a funny, slightly untypical thing. I am proud of myself for lines that feel, from the outside, relatively ordinary – but the pride comes from remembering the journey – and particularly the challenges that stood between you and a compelling piece of writing.

“My one, true source of pride is the book – and the adverts Giles Edwards (that silly, lovely man) have bashed together to help spread the word. But I think the pride comes from writing for me and my own gain and my own joy, which is a bad state for a copywriter to occupy I suppose.

“I tend to bore people more by forcing them to read my (very) short stories than with the copy lines I’m proud of. And, to illustrate the point, here’s a story competition I won this year that I demand you all read immediately.”

What’s the hottest tip you can give me about ‘being a good copywriter in 2021’?

“Am I allowed to say ‘buy books in general?’ I must be because I just have. That is my only piece of meaningful advice because it is the only advice that I know genuinely works.

“The more you read, the more you expose yourself to the endless possibilities of expression and description and persuasion, and the better you get as a writer.

“The best thing is, you can read anything and experience the same effect. Lofty stuff, trashy stuff, pulpy stuff, witty stuff, depressing stuff. All of it, providing it demonstrates the craft of choosing one right word after the other, is permeating into your writer’s heart and making you a richer, wiser and more daring creative.”

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