Читать книгу The Robert Collier Letter Book - Robert Collier - Страница 7

Table of Contents

Now that you have your reader’s interest, what are you going to do with it? Start a series of firstlys, and secondlys and thirdlys, like the old-time Preacher, and put your reader to sleep, losing all the advantage you have worked so hard to gain? Go into a long-winded description that tires him out before he is halfway through? Or lead him gently from one point of interest to another, with word pictures so clear, so simple, that he can almost see the things you are offering him?

Getting your reader’s attention is your first job. That done, your next problem is to put your idea across, to make him see it as you see it—in short, to visualize it so clearly that he can build it piece by piece in his own mind as a child builds a house of blocks, or puts together the pieces of a picture puzzle.

The mind thinks in pictures, you know. One good illustration is worth a thousand words. But one clear picture built up in the reader’s mind by your words is worth a thousand drawings, for the reader colors that picture with his own imagination, which is more potent than all the brushes of all the world’s artists.

And the secret of painting such a picture in the reader’s mind is to take some familiar figure his mind can readily grasp, add one point of interest here, another there, and so on until you have built a complete word picture of what you have to offer. It is like building a house. You put up your framework. You add a roof, floors, sides, windows, doors, stairs, until you have your structure complete. You would not start with one side, or the roof. You get a solid foundation first; then you add to it logically, piece by piece, until you have your finished building.

Just so it is in building word pictures. Washington Irving gave a classic example of this in his description of the schoolmaster in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”

He was tall, but exceedingly lank, with narrow, sloping shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, and his whole framework most loosely hung together. His head was small...

Can’t you just picture that gawky, homely figure, with its ill-fitting clothes and shambling gait, the whole giving a scarecrow-like effect such as you see occasionally even today, where some youthful bumpkin seems to have sprouted so fast that arms and legs and Adam’s apple have out distanced the rest of his anatomy in the race for development, until now they seem but a weak web holding together a bunch of limbs, with ham-like hands and arms at the ends.

Thousands of sales have been lost, millions of dollars worth of business have failed to materialize, solely because so few letter writers have that knack of visualizing a proposition—of painting it in words so the reader can see it as they see it.

Yet the ability to do that is perhaps the most important factor in a successful letter, for it means describing your proposition in terms of things the reader knows. Westcott gave a good example of this when he had David Harum tell some "horsey" friends about The Lost Chord.

It’s about a feller sittin’ one day by the organ, an’ not feelin’ exactly right—kind o’ tired and out o’ sorts and not knowing’ jes’ where he was drivin’ at—jes’ joggin’ along with a loose rein for quite a piece, an’ so on; an’ then, by an by, strikin’ fight into his gait and goin’ on stronger and stronger, and fin’ly finishin’ up with an A-aa-men that carries him quarter way ’round the track ’fore he can pull up.

You see, your sale must be made in your reader’s mind. Before you can get his order, it is necessary for you to register a sequence of impressions in his mind, the combined result of which will be to make him want the thing you are offering more than the money or trouble it costs him. And the method of registering those impressions lies in first picking something with which he is familiar, and building on that.

To describe apples, for instance, as "like those with which Eve tempted Adam" is to use a simile that will strike a familiar chord with everyone. "Honey such as Cleopatra served to Antony," brings in another familiar allusion that almost anyone would recognize.

"As rich in appointment as Croesus in coin of the realm." "Satisfying as sinking a ten-foot putt on a rough green." "As much chance as a goldfish on a cat farm, " "Like a home run in the ninth inning with the bases full." "Like painting a battleship with a tooth brush" "Thick, creamy chocolate coatings that give you that ’moreish’ feeling." "The company with a good product that does not advertise is like a man who whispers to himself on a desert." Every one of these stirs a familiar memory and thus gives you a definite impression to tie your story to. It is the difference between having foundation to build upon and resting your edifice upon shifting sands.

Further along in this book we shall give you numbers of instances of the way the writer has used this idea in describing various products he has helped to sell. Meantime, we give below a few go examples of how others have done it:

About a Ginger Ale

The lore which enters its making is akin to the lore of the wine-makers of France—a formula and process handed down from father to son. Only three men know the secret of its charm and vivacity, its mellow glow and friendliness. You will find in it stimulation like that of mountain air.

Silverware

The cheerful hum of voices, the steaming kettle, the cup that cheers, and Silver plate with its satiny surface catching every light.

A Room

It seemed, partly because the ceiling was low, to be very spacious; the walls and ceiling were of a kind of dusky amber hue; a golden brown was everywhere the prevailing tint. The tiny curtains, the long settees into which one sank, the chairs, the shades of the mellow glow lights—all were of some variety of this delicate, golden brown. In the middle of the room stood a square table.

A Rug

Under her feet a rug so thick that she felt her shoes must be hidden in its pile.

A Laundry

A goodly part of the delight of a dinner is in linen white as almond blossoms. Napery, to be at its best, should be laundered carefully and skillfully. Many discerning housewives entrust their fine table linen to the White Laundry. In it, the constant thought is not "how quick” but "how well.” But with all our care, we do save time for you, too.

A Book

If you are one of the live, wide-awake men who welcome the rush and tumult of great daring and big adventure, who believe that there is nothing better for tired brains or tired bodies than the healthy, blood-tingling, mind-quickening stimulation of a good story, then . . .

Hawaii

Four days beyond the Golden Gate, the Hawaiian Islands lift their crests of misty jade above a sparkling sea. Four nights away, the orange moon floods Moana Valley with its spell, and the ghosts of gorgeous flowers spread a witchery of perfume in the shadows. Four days away, the long combers, creaming on Waikiki’s bar, race shoreward, and golden-skinned surf-riders, young gods and goddesses of the blue deep, speed across the amethystine waters.

Someone waits to drape a lei of jasmine on your shoulders. Someone waits to sing the husky croon, "Aloha oe," to echo in your heart for years. Why don’t you go and capture your dreams?

A Ham

This mark certifies that the hog came from good stock, that it was corn-fed in order that it might be firm and sweet—that it was a barrow hog, so that the meat would be full-flavored and juicy—that it was a young hog, making the ham thin-skinned and tender—well-conditioned and fat, insuring the lean of the ham to be tasty and nutritious. This mark certifies that the ham was cured in sugar, pure saltpeter and only a very little salt, thus bringing out all the fine, rich, natural flavor of the carefully selected meat, and preserving it without "salty pickling."

A Real Estate Development

From every standpoint of the amusement industry and the real estate promoter, Boca Grande is a dead town. It always has been dead and probably always will be. That is why it appeals to many live people. It doesn’t quarrel with any of the bigger and better movements. It simply lets them alone. It has no Chamber of Commerce, no dredges or sand-suckers, and nothing proposed for 1931. Boca Grande is simply a haven for those who prefer to roll their own in the way of amusement. Providence did a perfectly satisfactory job in the way of making this a lovely place to swim and fish and golf, and we who have been wintering here since long before the boom came and went, let it go at that. You might like Boca Grande a lot. Many clever people do. It is an adventure in naturalness. Let us send you a book about it. It is a very nice book, and not too much exaggerated.

An Electric Refrigerator

Just a few degrees below the temperature of an ordinary ice-box is a colder zone that affects the keeping of foods in a remarkable way. It is the zone where moisture crystallizes out of the air as frost, leaving the air dry, crisp and snappy. At this lower temperature, the air takes on a frosty sting. This is the zone of So-and-so, produced by So-and-so electric refrigeration.

A Gas Burner

The Blank Heat-Spreading Burner is a nest of small jets, and is so designed that the heat is spread evenly over the entire bottom of the utensil. Combustion is so perfect that all the fuel is burned. You get the full benefit of every atom of gas. The bottom of the cooking utensil rests only seven-eighths of an inch from the burner top. There are no deposits of carbon to be scoured off.

An Oven

This is the Blank Oven, built on the principle of the Dutch oven, with the "baker's arch" to prevent air pockets. The patented heat spreader at the bottom assures even distribution of heat, and guards against your roasts and baked things being underdone on top and burnt on the bottom. On the door of the oven there is a heat indicator which shows how much heat there is inside.

And here are a few from England which tend to show that our cousins across the water are not as deficient in humor as the "funny papers" would lead us to believe. Certainly their descriptions would be hard to improve upon.

A Plum Cake

It was in one of those sweet old country houses where they put little bunches of lavender with the linen that we first tasted the plum cake of our dreams— glorious stuff, rich, fragrant and incredibly plummy. We admit now that our mouth was too full when we asked for the recipe, but we were overwrought and excited; anyhow, let bygones be bygones, they gave us the recipe for our customers.

The dear old housekeeper, with her ringlets and black taffeta, took us to the still room to show us how to make it, and told us fascinating things; how brown-shelled eggs are best, and how it is most auspicious to make such a cake when the moon is in its second quarter. That is why you so often see our chef on our roof in Piccadilly anxiously scanning the heavens on fine nights.

Turtle Soup

When we speak of turtle soup, our voice becomes very tender—do not think us unmanly. We have in mind the spiced turtle soup we make for those who feast regally. As you gaze into its depths, you see luscious calipee and morsels of calipash gleaming darkly through the soup that is so rich and yet so wondrous clear. Then there is our special turtle soup, cleared of all heaviness and fat, that brings roses back to the cheeks of delicate people.

Once a rival, maddened by jealousy, came and spoke lightly of our turtle soup. We killed him. It was wrong of us, for we held no game license that season, but it shows we are not unmanly.

Cakes

We have these cakes made at a little rose-covered country house, by people steeped in the sweet lore of home-made cake-craft. We will not even let them come to London for a holiday, for fear they should be contaminated by modern methods. So there they abide, unhurried and at peace, with bowls of rose water at their elbows, and little sprigs of rosemary and great crocks of buttermilk, making glorious cakes full of the goodness that is England.

Could such cakes as these be made within earshot of a London motor-bus? We think not.

A Cheese

There is in England one incomparable herd of glossy little Guernsey cows that give milk that is about one-third cream. It is from this wonderful herd that we obtain our butter. That is why there is no mistaking its golden churn.

With all humility, we say there are few, if any, cheeses as good as ours to be obtained in England. For many years we have obtained them from the same prize dairy.

We have kept a few of last year’s Cheddars for those who love the ripe splendour of well matured cheese.

Do not be misguided by the mirthless Stiltons made in hissing factories by pale youths who cycle madly to the cinema when freedom hoots from the powerhouse.

Our real farm-house Stiltons will show you why the name is venerated by mankind. Each cheese is made in the homestead of a Leicestershire yeoman, from great pans of cream, and aprons full of cowslips for the coloring. When such cheeses as these enter the dining rooms; of clubs, the faces of brigadiers soften, and admirals give little plaintive cries of love.

Chinese Ginger

Fat-root ginger with its generous warmth curbed by sweetness. And then there is the syrup—lazy in its richness.

Ham

Deep-sheathed in ivory-white fat, and close set with rosy meat...

The eating of them makes a man realize how fond he is of all his relatives — well, practically all.

Bacon

When the fragrance of its frying rises through the area, passers-by give savage cries and raven at the railings. This is one of the disadvantages of living in town.

The fascination of our bacon lies in the secret manner of its curing. It is mellowed in the suave smoke of certain rare woods and old-world herbs. Bacon with meaning and beauty in every mouthful. Often we stand for hours before a side of our wonderful bacon, musing in deep reverie, and finding therein our greatest happiness.

Put life into your descriptions—life, and when possible, a smile. Give your reader something that will stir him out of his indifference, arouse his emotions. You never see "Standing Room Only!" signs in front of an art museum or a public library or a theater where educational films or travelogues are being shown. But just try to get into almost any good movie around eight o'clock of an evening! Why the difference?

Because most people cultivate their intellects only under the lash. They revel in emotion at any and all times.

So give them a thrill! If you want to describe your mustard, weave it into a story. Tell how the girl planned this picnic lunch; of the loving care that went into every bit of it; the touch of this; the flavor of that; the delicious ham; the savory mustard; and then how the boy forgot them all just in the delight of being with her.

Tell about the man so poor he did not have a penny even to buy his boy the velocipede he had been begging Santa to bring him; so after the little tot had gone to bed, Dad sat down with his pocket knife and some old lumber and carved out a sort of wooden velocipede that not only delighted the boy’s heart, but when shown to a toy manufacturer, put Daddy beyond the reach of want for the rest of his days.

Tell how the rubber tire owed its inception to the efforts of a young veterinary to make a more comfortable wheelchair for his invalid mother; how the first mowing machine consisted of a number of scissors with one side nailed to a board, the other connected to a string which opened and shut them. Get the story back of your product. Give your reader a laugh or a tear or a lump in his throat. Stir up his emotions! You will have no trouble interesting him then!

Compare the following advertisements, for instance. The first three are good ads and pulled a reasonable number of orders. They were successful, as advertisements go. But their appeal was solely to the intellect. Once we had tried the style outlined in the last four ads, we discarded the other kind entirely, for the emotional type tripled and quadrupled our returns.

No. 1.

Roosevelt said, "Mr. Frank H. Simonds’ "History of the Great War" is a very remarkable work, and I look forward eagerly to the appearance of the remaining volumes. It is not too much to say that no other man in this or any other country can quite parallel the work that Mr. Simonds has done. It is hard to say what most to admire; the really extraordinary grasp of the essential facts of the war which is shown; or the transparent clearness with which the facts are brought out; or the entire fairness and impartiality of the conclusions."

No. 2.

Colleges Study This History

Yale University has ordered 400 copies of selected chapters from Simonds’ "History of the World War" for use as a textbook in its history classes. ExPresident Hadley says of it: "I have had so much pleasure from what Simonds has already written about the war that I shall be particularly glad to have the results of his observations and conclusions in a more permanent form."

Once in a generation, perhaps, there appears a man with the gift for making history vital, alive, interesting—a man like Ridpath or Macaulay—a genius that combines a natural gift for language, a natural gift for history and a natural gift for facts with great vision and the ability to make you see and be thrilled by his vision. Frank H. Simonds is this generation’s Ridpath—this war’s Macaulay. His tale is simple and direct enough to captivate children, yet so profoundly true as to hold the greatest scholar.

No. 3.

Ever since the day in July, 1914, when one flaming editorial of his startled the world with its prophecy of the great war, Simonds has been the one preeminent writer on the war. He is quoted by newspapers the world over. The British Government has had his articles reprinted and distributed broadcast. The French Government has conferred upon him alone of all the Historians of the war the Cross of the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. The Greek Government has made him an Officer of the Royal Order of the Redeemer. The King of Rumania has named him an Officer of the Royal Order of the Star of Rumania.

To no other writer did statesmen and generals so freely and frankly give information. No other military critic was so often quoted or so highly regarded as an authority. Multitudes based their opinions upon his judgment. His words governed the hopes and fears of millions.

So it is wonderful indeed that you can now have the whole story of the war in its final form written by him, with interesting special articles and illuminating sidelights by the greatest military, naval, and political leaders of America and Europe.

No. 4.

“My right has been driven in, my left has been driven in—consequently with all that is left of my center, I will now attack. ”—Foch.

That is the terse report that General Foch sent to Joffre at the crucial moment of the battle of the Marne. Told that his troops were worn out by the three days of continuous fighting—Too Tired?" he cried. "So are the Germans. Attack!" And attack they did in gallant style. He drew together all his exhausted divisions, all his reserves, and at the very moment when the enemy thought him routed, he smashed against the Prussian Guard in a violent, desperate assault, broke through its lines, crushed them and saved Paris!

How Much Do You Know of This Brilliant Leader?

Do you know that he is everywhere considered one of the greatest tacticians the world has known? Do you know that it was he who saved the channel ports of Calais and Dunkirk, and thus made possible the uninterrupted passage of men and supplies from England? Do you know that he was the man who took in hand the Italian defense just at the moment the Austro-German drive was at its height, and not only saved Venice, but changed almost certain defeat into glorious victory?

The History of the Great War

Gives a detailed account of these exploits as well as the whole story of the war. You read in it of the heroic stand, etc.

No. 5.

A Rude Awakening

(The illustration for this ad showed the Kaiser seated, with a huge firecracker labeled "A.E.F." just ready to go off behind him.)

The Kaiser has again and again assured his people they have nothing to fear from America—that all we shall ever be able to get past his U-boats is a few divisions of troops and some shiploads of supplies—that the tales of huge armies being formed, of mountains of munitions being manufactured, of flocks of airplanes and great fleets of ships, are just "American bluff."

What a Rude Awakening Is in Store for Him

Already our men are in the battle line by the hundred thousand; already our Navy has definitely checked the U-boat menace. Soon we shall have more than a million men in France and two million more are in training, and our shipbuilding alone will more than replace any future losses from submarines and mines.

But to definitely defeat the German Military Power, to win the war and make the world safe for the next hundred years, will take every bit of energy, every ounce of force that we can muster; and one of the first things necessary to get the most out of our enormous resources is to know all about the war—what led up to it, how it began, through it all. Where can you find all this? In, etc.

No. 6.

The Terrible Year

This, according to the German plan, was to be "The Terrible Year." The German High Command realized the necessity of getting a decision before the full American strength could make itself felt, so their strategy was to keep hammering the Allies until they had pounded their way through to Paris or the English Channel, and forced the Allies to accept a German peace.

But the Americans Turned the Tide

Against all the German expectations, America solved her transport problem so speedily, so successfully, that she was able to pour men into the fighting by the hundred thousand right at the crucial moment, turning German victory into overwhelming disaster.

Not only did Our Boys stop the German and hurl the Prussian hordes back over the Marne, but it was their energy and dash that enabled Foch to counterdrive so successfully, capturing thousands of prisoners and literally mountains of munitions.

The History of the World War gives you in vivid, pulsing narrative, etc.

No. 7.

The Coming of the Yanks

The battle of Chateau-Thiery was at its height. The Germans were pouring in such a hurricane of shot and shell, liquid fire and poison gas that the French Poilus, staunch veterans though they were, had begun to give way before that storm of destruction, and the never-ending hordes of on-rushing Huns.

Already the French Commander was preparing for a hurried retreat. Already he had ordered his hospital, with its hundreds of wounded, moved to the rear. The outlook was dark indeed—the road to Paris and the heart of France seemed open to the invader, when suddenly from over the hill behind the French lines came the sound of martial music—of thousands of fresh young voices singing—singing cheerily, confidently, exultantly—

The Yanks are coming,

The Yanks are coming,

The Yanks are coming over there!

And through the mist and battle smoke broke the long lines of Americans, their guns at the charge, their bayonets fixed, every man singing—exultant at the chance to get at the foe.

They went at the Germans like so many wild-cats. They killed them with bayonet, with rifle butt or with knife. They charged right into the face of machine guns—tore them apart—choked the gunners with bare hands!

In two short, glorious hours, the whole war was won. In two hours that will rank in history with Waterloo or Gettysburg, the Germans woke to the fact that they had not a chance—that they were fighting against something too big for them to meet—a spirit so high that no force of theirs could stop it.

The full story of Chateau Thierry has never been written. Not in any newspaper or magazine can you find the things our boys did that day. It is only around some confidential table where men high in the counsels of our Allies meet that the truth is freely told.

But now at last you can know the full story of that wonderful battle—of how our boys brought it home to the Germans that the end had come. It is a stupendous story. It will make every American heart beat faster. You can read it, just as it really happened, in

Simonds’ "History of the World War."