5 Steps to Cut Your Writing Time in Half

By David Garfinkel

How long does it take you to write your copy?

Does it take too long?

Maybe you’ve heard things like “Money is attracted to speed” and “The way to make more money is to make more offers.”

Well, the one thing that gets in the way of succeeding with those ideas is, for so many people, it takes too long to write the copy.

My name is David Garfinkel. Today I’m going to show you how to write high-converting copy a lot faster. Once you learn the five steps in this system, you will easily cut your writing time in half.

I’m an accomplished copywriter myself.

I’ve written sales letters that have made millions of dollars, but I started my own writing career as a journalist. In the last four years of journalism, I worked for a wire service.

Part of my job was writing stories on deadline — sometimes in as little as one hour.

So when I became a copywriter, it didn’t make sense to me why I couldn’t write sales letters just as fast.

It does make sense to me now, though. Writing copy is more demanding than writing wire service stories. Even so, I think it takes most people way too long to write good copy.

I’ve consulted with large direct response companies, like Agora Financial, on writing copy. I’m author of the bestseller Breakthrough Copywriting. And I’ve helped hundreds of people and companies you’ve probably never heard of. I also host the weekly Copywriters Podcast, the number one show in the industry.

I’ve been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes.com, Entrepreneur Magazine, and even The National Enquirer!

And, most important of all, I’ve put together and honed this five-step system to help you slice hours, maybe even days, off the time it takes for you to write a sales letter or video sales letter. Because, like I said, I’ve always thought that it takes people too long to write copy. And, I’ve done something about it. So, let’s get started.

Take a moment now to think about where you get the ideas and information that go into what you write.

There are really three places you can get your source material:

First, you can base what you’re writing on information you have gathered, preparing to write your copy.

Second, you can base what you write on your general knowledge and memories of your experiences. You bring up thoughts from your memory as your write.

Or third, you can just make stuff up.

Now, if you want your copy to work and you want to stay out of trouble, your best choice would be the first approach: Basing your copy on information you have gathered, preparing to write. And that information is called “research.”

But... if you have your research on Post-It notes or scraps of paper scattered all over the place... or, info randomly stuck on pieces of paper in files and accessible through links on your phone and your computer... all in different places...

... then you’re going to spend a lot of time starting and stopping your writing, as you scramble over and over again to find that one fact... or detail... or testimonial... or whatever, that would fit perfectly in your copy.

Can you see how much extra time it takes you when your research is not organized?

Can you visualize how much time you would save if you had your research organized well enough so that as you’re writing, when you need it, you’ll have what you need at your fingertips?

So that’s step one of cutting your writing time in half — get your research done and organized.

Hey — it doesn’t have to be meticulously organized. Just in one place and easy to access.

Yes, it will take a little effort and a little time to do this. But it will save you far more time when you’re ready to write.

And that’s Step 1: Get Your Research Organized.

You know that feeling when you’re just chugging along, writing your copy, and it comes time to write your offer... and then...

Dead Stop?

It’s not a pleasant feeling. I know. I’ve been there. More times than I’d like to remember.

It can be a big problem to come up with your offer “on the fly.” Why? Because creating your offer requires a special kind of thinking and some cranked-up energy to produce something that’s really compelling. An offer that stands out. You know, an offer that “glows.”

Now, having to change gears and increase the intensity WHILE you’re writing copy is NOT the best idea. Again, it screws with your writing momentum. It breaks your stride. It can even instantly form a wall that you crash right into.

Fortunately, there’s a way to avoid all of this heartbreak and frustration. Plus, you’ll save a lot of time overall in the process.

And that is this:

Write out your offer ahead of time.

In advance.

It doesn’t have to be perfect, either.

A reasonable first draft will work just fine.

And then... when you’re writing all of your copy later... why, you just pop it in.

Boom!

Done.

You can always tweak it later.

But at least you didn’t derail yourself and you can keep going.

So that’s step 2: Write out your offer in advance.

A perfectly reasonable question to ask is:

“Why should I write bullets, which takes a lot of concentration and energy, before I start writing my copy — since I don’t even know if I’m going to use them?”

Good question.

And here’s why:

Every time you write a bullet, you have to think a little bit about the product you’re selling.

Most of the time, a bullet will be

So, you see... every time you write a bullet, you’re practicing a little step of selling the products.

It’s like what a good athlete will do before they get in the arena or on the track — they stretch.

Some of the world’s top A-List copywriters create hundreds of bullets before they write a word of their copy.

Why is this?

I don’t know for sure, but I can tell you this:

When you’re writing the copy itself, you’re going to have to make some important decisions about what to say to build desire in your prospect for what you’re selling.

Having made even 20 or 30 or those decisions before you start to write will definitely make the bigger decisions easier and quicker when you are writing.

So, that’s step 3 to cut your writing time in half: Write some bullets. At least 20. Up to 100 if you can. The more you write in advance, the better prepared you’ll be to write fast and easily.

When you hear the word “outline,” do you feel a pang of anxiety? Don’t feel that way here.

I’m not talking about a final nitty-gritty step-by-step recipe you will follow to the letter when you write. That could take a long time and really tie you up.

What I’m talking about is a series of milestones. Helpful markers that sketch out where you start, where you end up, and a few touchpoints in-between.

Like these other early steps, your outline doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t even have to be right. Of course it’s better if it ends up being right, but that’s not the point now. What’s important is that you have a big-picture road map to guide you through the process of writing your copy a little later on.

It really can be as simple as this:

You might have your own favorite outline format to use instead. For our purposes here, any outline format is fine. Don’t agonize over it. Just set up a structure, a sequence, to start with.

Then, for each category (like Opening, Customer’s problem, etc.), you can make a few notes. Thoughts that come up from your research and bullets, for example.

Again, just enough to get you started.

The reason this will save you time right away is it will give you a path to follow once you’re writing. You can modify it later as everything gets clearer. Which it will when you are actually writing your copy.

And that’s the fourth step: Outline Your Copy — Bare Bones

OK. So you’ve got

What’s next?

Write — just write!

Now, relax. Once again, what comes next does not have to be perfect. Not on your first round.

In fact, I would urge you not to focus on getting “right.”

Instead, I would advise you:

Just get it done.

Make getting it done your priority.

You want to keep your writing momentum going for as long as you can.

All the way to the end, if possible.

The reason is, the energy of your sales copy is very important.

It’s even better when you’re doing this part of writing to leave out chunks of your copy — if you have to — and keep going all the way to your call to action before you quit.

You can fill in the holes later.

Just make sure you promise yourself that you’ll have another session where you add in the missing pieces (if there are any) and go over what you’ve written with a fine-tooth comb.

And then don’t even think of trying to wiggle out of it. Absolutely have another session!

Take the time to go over what you’ve written carefully, later.

Now, even with all these steps, you’re still saving a bunch of time.

So why would you be able to write so much faster once you’ve already handled your research... offer... bullets... and outline?

One reason is you’ve already done a lot of the heavy lifting before you actually start “writing.”

Compare that to the all-at-once approach. When you try to write that way, it’s like trying to push a bowling ball through a garden hose.

Good luck with that! You’ll encounter lots of resistance, and it’ll be very slow going.

Now try this way instead. Write — just write!

So let’s wrap this up.

Your bonus comes in three parts

You may find this works right away for you. Then again, it’s worth trying a few times, to get the hang of it, if that’s what you need to do.

I’ve got to admit, the best part of this system is not all the time you’ll save — although that’s a very good thing, and, no doubt, you’ll save a lot of time.

No, the best part of this is how you’ll write better copy (that converts better) and it will be a whole lot easier to write it.

One more thing — how much easier still would it be if you had templates for every piece of your copy: Your headline, stories, bullets, offers, and more?

As well as a 10-minute unique process to zero-in on what words and ideas get your prospect the most excited about your offer?

I can answer that for you. It would be even easier than what you get here.

That’s why I’m inviting you to check out High Speed Copywriting. it takes what you’ve learned here to the next level.

Just visit highspeedcopywriting.com/order

This is David Garfinkel. I’m rooting for you as you write faster and better!