With Getting it Write, Marilyn Messek has proved that a book is the best marketing tool you can have. Not only does she showcase her abilities with examples of different styles of copywriting, she also promotes her clients.
On the minus side, her use of commas, semi-colons and colons is idiosyncratic to say the least. I wonder why she didn’t engage a copy editor to check her work? Having worked in the publishing industry for several decades I have strong feelings about editorial accuracy.
The book is written in a very informal, chatty, humorous style which I personally did not like. Marilyn can write well, as she demonstrates in her parallel styles in the examples she has used. I wish she’d used her more formal tone of voice for the book.
I had a lightbulb moment when I got to the chapter on public speaking; it dawned on me that she writes as she speaks, inserting commas where she might pause for emphasis or to allow people to chuckle. I found this chapter very good, and I expect she is very entertaining when giving a talk.
I don’t think I learned anything new from the rest of the book (which isn’t really about copywriting, it’s about business skills). If you’re starting out on your business journey I’d imagine you’d find it quite useful, but it’s not written for the seasoned business pro.
About the author
Annette Peppis leads the team at Peppis Designworks, a creative hub of established publishing industry experts who create books, branding, marketing material and design templates for leading publishers and businesses. Keep in touch by to Annette’s bi-monthly emails.
