Comments on: Young Harry Potter fans: Will the book habit survive the end of the series? Should we care? And will K-12 Babbittry just worsen matters? http://www.teleread.org/blog/2007/07/11/young-harry-potter-fans-will-the-reading-habit-survive-the-end-of-the-series-should-we-care-and-will-k-12-babbittry-just-worsen-matters/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Wed, 08 Oct 2008 01:49:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: William http://www.teleread.org/blog/2007/07/11/young-harry-potter-fans-will-the-reading-habit-survive-the-end-of-the-series-should-we-care-and-will-k-12-babbittry-just-worsen-matters/#comment-724842 William Thu, 28 Feb 2008 06:35:03 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=6818#comment-724842 How an interest in narrative helped my career: I write sales copy for several multi-million dollar internet businesses. When I applied for my position I needed to submit a writing sample. To differentiate myself I submitted the first few pages of an unpublished novel I'm finishing up rather than sales copy. It got me in for an interview and I got the job. My boss sent me to a seminar on writing sales copy. The speaker at the seminar emphasized the fact that writing narrative improves skills in writing sales copy. He suggested that sales copy writers dabble in narrative to improve skill. 1. Sales copy writers and narrative writers both need to grab the reader's attention and convince them to continue reading. The sales copy writer wants to sell his product. The narrative writer wants to sell his next book. 2. Writing of narrative calls for creativity. Creativity is needed to find new angles in marketing products. When I took intro to professional writing in college I didn't read any of the text books. Frankly, they bored the hell out of me. Instead I dug into the collected works of Oscar Wilde and William Shakespeare. I also read religious narrative like the Ramayana. My classmates hated the class, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. How an interest in narrative helped my career:

I write sales copy for several multi-million dollar internet businesses. When I applied for my position I needed to submit a writing sample. To differentiate myself I submitted the first few pages of an unpublished novel I’m finishing up rather than sales copy. It got me in for an interview and I got the job.

My boss sent me to a seminar on writing sales copy. The speaker at the seminar emphasized the fact that writing narrative improves skills in writing sales copy. He suggested that sales copy writers dabble in narrative to improve skill.

1. Sales copy writers and narrative writers both need to grab the reader’s attention and convince them to continue reading. The sales copy writer wants to sell his product. The narrative writer wants to sell his next book.

2. Writing of narrative calls for creativity. Creativity is needed to find new angles in marketing products.

When I took intro to professional writing in college I didn’t read any of the text books. Frankly, they bored the hell out of me. Instead I dug into the collected works of Oscar Wilde and William Shakespeare. I also read religious narrative like the Ramayana.

My classmates hated the class, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

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