This book was unknown, forgotten, and scarcely mentioned, except in a high-powered marketing book. which is itself almost impossible to find.
In that reference, there are only two mentions, of an obscure text by a fiction writer named Walter S. Campbell.
Campbell wrote in that book, which was a textbook for his college class, how to write convincing non-fiction.
It took quite awhile to search up a copy of his book – as sadly, Campbell is long dead and his book is out of print. But one day, I managed to discover a copy.
Most of the book was typical academic pablum. But it boiled down to one incisive chapter that was a breakthrough on its own. No one else had ever gone this route.
And only when I started converting his text into videos for this course – it was only then that I really understood that earlier marketing book. In spite of my studying that powerful book over and over and over.
But because Campbell found a four-step pattern, a natural set of principles, that he figured out were the natural way people are wired. Per him, it’s the way they really prefer to read the data they need.
In that single concise pattern, all the various sales page formulas and systems of marketing and presentation were explained. That pattern explained not just that single marketing book, but all the marketing books I’d ever read by any author.
That pattern also explained why almost all non-fiction is boring. Why 99.6% of all non-fiction book miss the boat. And why the continuing top selling non-fiction books are, and remain, top selling.
It explains the core reason that good TED talks are held in such esteem.
And – it tells the model of fiction as well. Because it describes the typical 4-act play that’s been used since the Greeks perfected it. (I wouldn’t be surprised if Campbell studied Greek plays to bring these modern principles out of those dusty archives.)
That pattern also explained Campbell’s own success with his novels. (Under the pen name of Stanley Vestal.)
Sure, you don’t know his name or works today. Perhaps it’s not such a loss.
Because now you can. You now have access to this short course.
I hinted at some of the things that are all connected, once you understand the natural principles he talks about in that one book, the one that everyone has forgotten.
Those principles, if you want to skip ahead, are in Lesson 7. Yes, that’s the last lesson. And so, after covering that, you should head back to the beginning, and then let Campbell explain everything else you need to know, to really grasp the heady material he’s covering.
I include it in the material for this “Becoming a Wealthy Writer” training program. Because I don’t know of any wealthy writer who doesn’t write both fiction and non-fiction.
And I care that you achieve all your own goals in writing.
Because when you are writing and talking about your books, be they fiction or non fiction, you’ll be using the same four principles, the same pattern. That’s if you want to write effectively. Every time you write. Whenever you write anything.
So, I’ll leave you these short lessons, to your own discoveries and A-ha moments.
Luck to us all.
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