Improve Your Writing. Book More Shows.

I looked at the email’s subject line, feeling my stomach drop.

It read “Re: Stem Assemblies for Yuor School.”

Yup, I included a pretty embarrassing typo in the email.

A school responded to my cold email. Even with that embarrassing typo.

But this email did not go out to just one school.

It was sent to over 5,000 schools.

Yeah, dumb.

Regular readers of my weekly newsletter know I occasionally won’t catch a typo or two in every issue.

It’s something I’m not happy about.

Sometimes in business interactions, we only get a chance to make a good impression once.

In the case of this newsletter, at least I have some equity built up if you’ve been reading for a while.

But to a first-time client or lead? It could kill any possible road to a booking.

Especially since I perform educational shows.

“Well,” I thought looking at the email, “at least it’s not as bad as that school that sent my check to ‘Niagra Falls.’”

Yup, an actual school district (you know, the custodians of education) sent my check to ‘Niagra Falls.’

I’ve had that happen a few times from schools over the years.

It seems as though respect for the written word is falling off a cliff.

I catch typos and other grammatical errors all the time in online articles I read.

And the conclusions to articles are almost nonexistent. A good article should have a conclusion. Some kind of recap, major point, or something to indicate the article is ending.

But many articles just end with no sense of conclusion.

I think all of this is important. I built my business on the written word. From copywriting for sales letters to web copy to magazine ads to Yellow Pages (remember those?) the written word is a foundation for my success.

I think paying attention to details will become even more important in the future.

Remember, the Internet is the Wild West. No rules, no guardrails. Say what you want. Claim what you want.

So people are going to become more and more skeptical.

As the problems with the Internet become more pronounced, people are going to be more cautious before making a buying decision.

Any mistake can trip you up.

Here’s my overall message this week: Tighten up your written words, everywhere.

Look closely at the copy on your website. Even tiny details can slip by.

Do you have a quote from a client on your site? Check closely. Are there quotation marks on both sides of the quote? There should be.

Do you have misspellings or grammatical errors? Ferret them out and fix them ASAP.

I’ll recommend a few tools to you that I use daily whenever I write copy.

Best of all, they are free.

The first is Microsoft’s Word editor. You can review everything you write before you send it off into the word.

You can accept or reject its suggestions. It ain’t perfect, so sometimes I will ignore what it says.

Like when it tries to correct the spelling of my name. It insists I must be “Chris,” not “Cris.”

Even with its flaws, it’s a great tool.

The second is Grammarly. They offer both a free and paid version. For my purposes, the free version is just fine.

You can install the free version onto your web browser, allowing you to correct your writing online.

And you can download it to your desktop. Mine lives inside my Word program. So after I run through all of the suggested edits with Word’s editor, I switch over to Grammarly.

As with Word, some of the grammatical suggestions don’t always make sense for my writing.

I write very conversationally, which is excellent for building rapport through the written word.

If you choose to write as I do, you’ll want to check Grammarly’s suggestions.

But it catches a LOT of my mistakes, so it’s a valuable part of my process.

I even use both of those programs when I write emails responding to clients or even friends.

Why? I’ve trained myself not to correct my mistakes as I write. I get into a better ‘flow’ that way, allowing my thoughts to spill out onto the screen.

I write faster and more effectively this way. Then I go back and correct my mistakes using Word and Grammarly.

Here’s link: https://www.grammarly.com/

Are you a MAC person? I’m sure Apple has a feature in whatever writing program they offer for desktops and laptops.

There is also Google Docs. They too have an editing option to catch your mistakes. I don’t use it, but I know it’s effective.

The third program I use often is the Hemingway App. It’s an online program that helps you tighten up your writing.

It lets you know how many adverbs you use, passive/active voice, complexity of sentences, and a lot more.

In short, it helps you lower the reading level of your writing.

You want your writing to be between grade five and grade eight. Anything above a grade eight and people may not want to read it. Too complex.

Here’s a link: https://hemingwayapp.com/

Oh, and this has nothing to do with people’s intelligence. When people are online, they subconsciously want ‘easy.’

The Hemingway App is also a great way to show yourself just how awful ChatGPT is when writing copy.

I’ve had several magicians approach me, telling me how awesome AI is for writing copy for their sites.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but it ain’t there yet.

Every single piece of copy magicians have shown me from ChatGPT has a readability score of at least grade 12, with most being post-graduate level.

I once spent almost two hours trying to get ChatGPT to lower the grade level of something it wrote for me.

After two hours of fighting with it, I gave up and rewrote the thing myself.

One final piece of copywriting advice I’ll give you today is for your headlines and subheads.

I’ve seen a lot (and I mean a LOT) of magicians’ websites with poor headlines. They are not consistent with capitalization.

A headline might read: “A magician You’ll love and Applaud for.”

Random capitalization looks and ‘feels’ awful.

I’ve even seen it spill into the regular copy, not just headlines and subheads.

I’ve seen paragraphs like, “Want a fun magician For your event Coming up?”

Ugh! It screams amateur.

Look, if you’ve got things like this in your copy, I get it.

Not everyone loves writing like I do. Heck, writing this newsletter is my favorite part of my work week.

But not everyone wants to be a professional writer. But to promote and sell yourself your writing needs to be at a high level.

If you don’t have the desire or time to tighten everything yourself…I know a guy.:-)

Contact me and we can discuss your needs.

(Quick note: I just finished editing this article. According to the Hemingway App, It clocks in at grade 2. A new personal best.)

Have a great week!

--Cris

P.S. By the way…whenever you’re ready, here are 4 ways I can help you grow your magic business to book more shows at higher fees:

 
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4. Work with me privately.

 
Need help in multiple areas? I can help you with your website, direct mail, email, or other marketing strategies. I also offer consulting services for crafting magic routines or even entire shows. Want to find out more? Shoot me an email at cris@theprofessionalmagicianclubpro.com.

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I have several professional routines, marketing courses, books, and other resources to boost your shows and make booking shows easier and more profitable. Check out my line of products HERE.

To find out more how I can help you book more shows at higher fees, click the button below to see my list of services.

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