The Writers Coin

• Tweet
• Sharebar

• Tweet

I recently finished re-reading this incredibly useful and helpful book and so I decided to highlight some more good quotes and tips that I found especially enlightening:

• Distance yourself: I’ve mentioned this one before but the more I sit down to write the more I find it to be true. It also helps to work on two or three different products or campaigns at once so you don’t get sick of banging your head against the same wall with nothing to show for it. Once you switch gears and start working on that other product, it gives your unconscious some time to mull it all over.

• Persuasion: “Many contemporary advertising people seem to have given up on the job of persuasion. Instead, they concentrate solely on gaining attention.” This whole topic is very interesting to me because I took a lot of philosophy classes in college and in grad school I had a Rhetoric course that discussed the power of persuasion in a very logical, how-to manner. I still have these books (they are old and greek) and revisiting them always seems to provide some good tidbits of information or inspiration (interestingly enough, a lot of them sound like your modern-day lawyer sitcoms, which is pretty strange but makes sense).

• One page 126 there is some good advice for those trying to break into the industry NOW but don’t have a book to show. Before I go any further though, you should already know that your portfolio is the end all be all. That is your everything. It is the most important part of your job/career search. With that said, the book discusses other things you can do to get your foot in the door like sending an agency a list of your favorite ads and smart reasons why you like them so much (“heavy on references to good strategies and consumer insights”). The book goes on, “Write about why you want so badly to be part of a company that’s all about great work. Bottom line for agencies is that they want people who are passionate about ads.” I think this is a great thing to include even when you do have a book—it can only give you an edge over other candidates.

• “So look for your inspiration in as many other places as possible: art galleries, movies, culture, your family. The business values fresh solutions to problems, not familiar ones.” This kind of relates to a post I wrote earlier about getting out of one’s routine to keep the creative juices flowing.

This book is a great read and joins other classics out there like Hey Whipple, Squeeze This and How to Put Your Book Together and Get a Job in Advertising.

Other Posts You May Like:

• So I’m Getting Absolutely Hammered at Work
• Blogging Tip: Pretend You Just Got Started
• Achieving Goals through a Routine
• Tips from Pick Me: Breaking into Advertising and Staying There
• Guest Post—Tangerine Toad