But almost half of his customers demanded refunds! Why?
Again, he had left out the meat. The facts. Collier promised more
than he could deliver. In defense of Collier I admit that his books
(which became The Secret of the Ages, a metaphysical classic now in
its fiftieth printing) may have been ahead of their time. His cus-
tomers may not have been ready for his ideas. Still, Collier didn’t
give the people the truth. He led them on.
Benjamin Franklin said the noblest question in the world is,
“What good may I do in it?”
Are writers who offer empty phrases and flowery prose and ad-
vertise books not yet written doing well?
People aren’t dumb. Burn them once and you lose them forever.
Not only that, but research proves that those people will tell 8 to 10
other people about your crime. Furthermore, when any writer
misleads a reader, he makes allwriters look bad.
We all lose!
The techniques you’re learning in this book will help you write
material that will hold your reader’s attention. But if you want to
create Hypnotic Writing, you mustwork with real factsand real
benefitsand solid ideas.
Step two in my Turbocharge Your Writing formula encourages
you to gather facts through research. Why? Because facts give your
writing backbone. It gives your writing a spine. Without a spine,
your writing will have all the impact of jelly.
Use facts. Give your writing some meat. Deal with the real
world. Don’t use words as sleight-of-hand devices to mislead your
readers. Be honest.
Clarence Darrow was an honest lawyer who moved extremely
opinionated people, even angry people, to see things his way. Dar-
row was a gifted speaker. He could hold a courtroom spellbound
for hours. But his use of words depended on one essential ingredi-
ent, without which his life would have amounted to nothing: truth.
Think about it.
Give Me Some Meat!