My biggest breakthrough in writing wasn't even about writing. And it’s still the best advice I’ve ever received on how to improve your craft.

There's a hard way to learn copy. And an easy way to get good.

You might think I'm just going to spill ink on how to get good the easy way. If so, you’d be wrong.

The fact is… you have to do both. More accurately (at least in your author’s humble experience)...

You need to do the hard work of learning the hard way before you can get good fast the easy way.

Stick with me - I'm not talking in riddles...

I doubt mine is a unique experience for a copywriter… Here’s what happened:

Starting out, you may be utterly convinced there is, somewhere in the copywriting universe, a secret magic formula…

If only you can find this secret formula, copy will instantly gush forth from your pen… your career will skyrocket….

And royalties and gigs will come at you with such force and frequency, you’ll have to duck to keep from being maimed.

Mission accomplished. No more struggle. Paying clients galore.

Alas, you search and search for this mythical copywriting formula… for sales page formulas…email copy formulas… order form formulas… upsells… down sells… cross sells… and sales call formulas...

But no matter how many formulas you find and follow… your copy is nothing special.

That’s when it hits you:

If writing copy were as simple as painting by numbers, it wouldn't be $1,000 per hour work.

This was my journey.

I sat in conferences and attended live events. I joined online discussion forums.

I hand copied the best performing sales letters. I sweated blood.

I bought programs I couldn’t yet afford - struggling and suffering until I thought I would go mad.

It's not that those things didn't help. They did. But they won't make you a competent copywriter. At least not in my view.

If this is the trajectory you are on… if you're struggling to make your copy crackle and snap off the page…

Here's the piece that fit all the others together for me:

Yes. Your copy should have structure. Yes. Knowing a formulaic way to present a sales argument helps when you sit down to write.

But the key to the crackle is to hear it.

Good copy must sound good. But…

It shouldn’t sound like copy. In fact, it shouldn't sound like you are selling anything - until you make the pitch.

When I say it has to sound correct, I mean it should sound easy and engaging. It should be interesting and valuable on its own - even without the pitch.

Most of all, it should sound right in the same way a favorite song might sound right - each note, each syllable striking the right part of the scale…

Each piece of your message must be clear and on point in the mind of your prospect.

Never forget… When someone reads your stuff, they subvocalize in their mind.

What are they “hearing” when they read?

Is it easy for them to follow? Does it resonate at the right moments and crescendo to the persuasive points you want to make?

Good copy is a persuasive speech in print. That’s all. Don’t overthink it beyond this.

When you hear good comedy, you know it. When you hear good music, you know it.

There's no intermediate step where you have to think about whether a joke was funny or a song moved you.

Write the way you speak. Then hear your writing through the ears and mind of your prospect. Write to him or her alone.

If you trip or stutter while writing, go back and vocalize it to yourself. Then cut it. Shorter. Tighter. Get to the point. Not one word more or less. You don't have to be cute, funny or lyrical to be persuasive.

This is the game we are in. If you can talk your points and weave your argument into a story, you're more than halfway there. Tell a story and make an offer.

Learn a formula or two but don't geek out on structure. In fact, once you know a few formulas, try to forget your know them and write totally by ear.

Simple works just fine. Talk your argument onto the page. Then cut 10% of the fat. Then cut some more.

When I started out in copy, I was an academic writer of medical articles and texts for doctors. That's some wordy and boring shit.

My transition to copywriting was brutal, painful and ugly. I fought the edits tooth and claw.

But I also got to see how the best in the business applied their craft.

To my delight, there was no secret to it. These guys were writers and thinkers just like me. They all just had more experience at this process. That was comforting. Because if they could learn to write well, I knew I could too.

Learn structure. Read good writers. But most of all train your ear to hear your reader's subvocalization.

This is the shortcut to getting good.

As Steven Pressfield famously quipped, “No one wants to read your shit.” That means be polite by making it easy for your prospect to read.

When you bog down, it means you don’t have the argument clear in your own mind. Step back, think it through. When you are clear, you will write by ear. Then edit ruthlessly.

One writer I worked with in the financial newsletter business did nearly $200 million in sales while I was there. What was his secret?

He had good structure and his copy wasn’t one word more than necessary. Other than that, he wasn’t doing anything special or magical. Just good fundamentals.

I hope this makes your copy crackle. Study structure the way you might do situps and pushups… as a simple exercise. Then, practice writing by ear. “Hear” your copy through the mind of your prospect.