Copywriting, articles and more

From one of my favorite copywriting blogs, Copyblogger (well now, doesn’t that design look familiar? ), comes this article on five sure-fire headline formulas guaranteed to snag readers.

I and almost every other copywriter can personally vouch for #4, “[blank] Ways to [blank]”. (As in: “7 Ways to Roast a Turkey” or “10 Ways To Draw More Traffic To Your Website”). I’ve used it dozens of times in my career, always to great success. I mean, everybody loves a good bullet list, right? It’s so simple, clean, zen.

(Of course, “[blank] Ways to [blank]” does have its limits. The Bible probably wouldn’t fire up quite so many people if it were titled “623 Ways To Get Closer To God”. And the Tao Te Ching as “81 Paths to Enlightenment”? My feet ache just thinking about it.)

Other headlines on Brian Clark’s list:

1. Warning: [blank]
As in: “Warning: Use These 5 Surefire Headline Formulas At Your Own Risk”

2. How [blank] Made Me [blank]
As in: “How Blogging Made Me $2.3 Million Last Year”

3. Are You [blank]?
As in: “Are You A Savvy Investor?”

5. If You’re [blank], You Can [blank].
As in: “If You’re a Non-Smoker, You Can Save 33% On Life Insurance.”

All oldies but goodies. Flip through any magazine or stack of sales letters, and I guarantee you’ll see variations on these templates. Sure, they’ve been around since the 1920’s, but we keep coming back to them because they still work. And no matter what your business, they’re sure to work for you, too.

This morning, I posted a fun little feminist think-piece on Portal over at Gamers With Jobs, called Hell Hath No Fury Like A GLaDOS Scorned (a title of which I’m especially proud). It discusses how the game explores gender dynamics, challenging the definition of motherhood and femininity and all that heady Lit-Crit stuff. Oh, and there’s cake. Definitely cake. Go check it out.

Continue reading →

Over at Hard Assets Investor, I’ve got an article on cocoa futures, and why now’s a sweet time to buy. (Sorry, the puns - I can’t control them. They write themselves.)

Earlier this month, cocoa prices hit a 24-year high, buoyed by bad weather, overseas work stoppages and the recent civil war in Côte D’Ivoire (the world’s largest cocoa producer). And while the cocoa market’s a notoriously volatile beast, it does seem to be on a long-term upward trend, boosted by a growing Western love/obsession with a) dark chocolate’s health benefits, and b) foods that’ll make us fat. So long as pop-naturopathy and obesity continue to be big trends, cocoa’s definitely one commodity you’ll want to keep your eye on.

Remember how I said the March ‘08 Games For Windows was S.D. Awesome? Looks like Kevin Gifford, blogger at Gamasutra/Game Developer sister site GameSetWatch, agrees with me:

This is my fave mag of the past two weeks. Again GFW is demonstrating a fervent, unflagging desire to make a magazine that does something nobody else does in print. So you’ve got a cover feature that goes beyond the PR bullet points and explores the trends behind DICE’s design choices; you have a 2007 awards feature that sums up the previous year in important advances and moments rather than game titles (Play’s roundup did this too and I apologize for not mentioning it earlier); you have a handful of small features about topics like MMOs for little kids and covering Middle Eastern conflicts in games.

I think this single issue represents many of the ways I’d like print mags to go, and I think all of you should pick it up for that reason alone.

No, Kevin. I love you more. Seriously, you rock. Thanks a bunch.
(Also: Just wait until next month.)

Sorry for the silence on my end - deadlines can be a real bear.

It’s about time I pointed out the March Geek Monthly, an excellent issue with John Cho (of Harold and Kumar - and now, Star Trek - fame) on the cover. As a tie-in to this month’s interview with 10,000 B.C.’s Roland Emmerich, I wrote a ‘pop-science’ article, “Resurrecting the Ice Age”. As the title suggests, I cover efforts by some scientists to revive Pleistocene-era ecosystems in today’s world.

Sounds like a strange research track, doesn’t it? But actually, some ecologists say that it’s today’s environment that’s strange, and that by bringing back the grasslands, we could even help combat global warming. Continue reading →

Ooh, lookit, two posts in one day! I better watch it - I might pull something.

Just opened up my mailbox to find my March GFW. This issue’s Super Deluxe Awesome. Really. I heard it cures cancer. So you should buy sixteen copies. At least.

But why, you ask, is it so Super Deluxe Awesome? Because I’m in it twice. Yeah, I know you’re thinking: “Wow, Lara, I don’t know if I can handle that much awesome all at once” but I promise you - you can.

The first article, “PC in the Middle East”, is about new games exploring the Middle East conflict from a political perspective (rather than the traditional, blow-the-guy-speaking-Arabic-to-smithereens perspective). That means we’re seeing thoughtful, even-handed games like PeaceMaker, which lets you try your hand at managing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Which is brilliant, I have to say. What better way to really understand the crisis than by letting players experience it firsthand, right?
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Over at commodity investing site HardAssetsInvestor.com (I’ll never get over how awesome that name is), I’ve written a new feature about the helium market. Yes, there’s a market for helium. A big one. (And not just for Mickey Mouse balloons.) In fact, helium has tons of scientific applications, from cooling MRI magnets and nuclear reactor cryopumps to pressurizing fuel for the space shuttle.

In fact, if one day our stores of helium were to, say, run out completely, both high-tech industry and the scientific community would screech to a halt.

Too bad that’s exactly what’s going to happen. Continue reading →

Poking my head above the crushing deadlines and interview transcripts to post some good news - this morning, N’Gai Croal, of Newsweek’s Level Up blog, wrote a lengthy post about Risk: Black Ops, heavily citing my recent GWJ preview of the game. The Reader’s Digest version: Croal argues new Risk could make for a profitable cross-demographic EA Casual title. To which I say, Why not? It’s already proven to be popular with the ladies.

An interesting article all around. Give the Level Up article a read here.

EDIT: Looks like Bill Harris over at Dubious Quality also picked up the story. Thanks, Bill!

I got a chance to preview the new version of Risk for Gamers With Jobs. It’s going to be a total rules refresh, and, thankfully, a much shorter play. Check out the story here.

Reader’s Digest version: I loved it. Head over heels, want-to-change-my-name-and-pick-out-china-patterns love. It’s such a great change in all the right ways, and so needed - and I’m not even much of a war gamer. But I’m hooked now. Whoo boy, am I hooked.  Continue reading →

Now that I’ve finally recovered from the Black Plague - who knew it would make a comeback, and in my living room? - I’ve finally had some time to do a little more upkeep on my website. I’ve fleshed out the Copywriting Services and Articles sections a little, including putting up Samples and Clips pages, and you should see more there in the next few days. But I may be silent for awhile next week - busy project schedule through the first week or two of February. Keep checking back; I won’t be gone for long.