What’s better for a book — a title that is catchy and clever, or one that is straightfoward and direct?

A publisher is thinking of putting out a book of solar energy science projects for young readers.

They are considering two titles:

A. Solar Science Projects.
B. Fun with the Sun.

Which do you prefer — and why?

Ray Bradbury — author of the Martian Chronicles and other science fiction classics — doesn’t think highly of the Internet.

In his new book Bradbury Speaks (William Morrow), he writes:

“We are multitudinous lemmings driven by wireless voices to hurl ourselves into the Internet seas where tides of mediocrity surge, pretending at wit and will but signifying nothing.”

He wasn’t specifically talking about blogging, but he could have been — the phrase “tides of mediocrity” in particular struck a chord with me.

Is anything great being written on blogs today — anything that rises above the merely mediocre?

If not, the possible culprit is time.

Blogs are quick: people jotting their first drafts and instantly publishing them to the Internet.

By comparison, great writings are usually the fruit of hard work and careful revision; E.B. White rewrote Charlotte’s Web 9 times before he felt it was good enough to submit to his publisher.

How many bloggers rewrite or edit anything they write, even once?

Are magazines — and magazine advertising — dying a slow death?

In the movie “In Good Company,” Dennis Quaid single-handedly saves his publishing company’s fading sports magazine by convincing the owner of an auto manufacturer to make a huge ad buy.

When Topher Grace congratulates Quaid on saving the mag, Quaid tells him he also did it for the advertiser’s benefit, stating: “It will be good for his business!”

Topher is stunned. “You mean you actually BELIEVE in this stuff?” he asks Quaid.

Quaid replies: “Of course. Why else would I do it?”

Quaid’s character believed in magazine advertising … but do you?

Do you recommend full-page ad campaigns in business and consumer magazines to your boss or clients today?

Or do you feel that magazines are yesterday’s news — and if so, where do you tell clients to spend marketing dollars instead?

SEO? Google Adwords? Contextual advertising? Direct mail? Telemarketing?

And why?

Imagine you are running an ad for a diet book written by an MD who is not a celebrity.

You can only show one image.

Your choices are a picture of:

A. The front cover of the book.
B. A head shot of the author.
C. A before and after shot of a middle-aged home-maker who went from obese to normal weight by following the diet.
D. A photo of a sexy, toned female model wearing a belly shirt showing off her rock-hard abs.
E. A photo fo a sexy, toned male model showing his rock-hard abs.

You cannot test. You can only pick one.

Which would you pick? And why?

Have you ever noticed that many people feel the need to build themselves up by tearing others down?

At a party, I was introduced by the host to another guest.

“What do you do?” he asked me — a good way to start a conversation.

“I am a direct mail writer,” I replied.

Immediately he frowned, as if smelling garbage.

“I never reply to that junk,” he said haughtily. “I throw it all right in the trash.”

Feeling about 2 feet tall, I asked him politely, “What do YOU do?”

“I am a chiropractor,” he answered with an air of superiority.

“Oh, I never go to chiropractors,” I wanted to tell him, “I throw all their advertisements right in the trash.”

After the party, I conveyed this story to my wife, who said she was glad I didn’t say the above … and that it would have been rude to do so.

But why? Didn’t he just say the same thing to me?

Perhaps I should have pointed out to him that we both had something in common — neither of us, apparently, could get into medical school….

I owe Dianna Huff, a great B2B copywriter and one of my favorite people in the business, an apology.

In my last post, even though I did not name her and credited comments to “DH,” she felt I took her comments out of context — and she may be right.

Dianna is a terrifically talented copywriter who indeed knows how to get great results for her clients — and also how to make their life easier.

If she lets me, I’m going to put a link from this blog to her’s shortly … so you can read her stuff for yourself.

DH, a B2B copywriter, shocked me by saying in a recent e-mail: “My clients aren’t looking for results — my clients are looking to make their jobs easier … I often write simply to take the stress load off my client.

“One client says to me all the time, ‘Thank you. You make me look good.’ That is my job, as I see it.”

I write a ton of B2B, and that’s not at all how I see my job.

My job is to write the strongest possible copy for the client’s product or service — copy that’s going to increase click through rates, conversions, leads, appointments, RFPs, and sales.

In other words, copy that makes the cash register ring!

So let me ask those of you who ARE B2B marketers — or who work for B2B clients:

What’s most important to you?

Writing safe, tame copy that is exactly what the client wants, and can be approved without hassle or rewrite?

Or writing the most powerful copy possible, to make money for the business?

RS, one of my e-newsletter subscribers, recently sent me a note that said: “You don?t give people a way to unsubscribe from just promos, so it’s either get everything or nothing. ”

RS would prefer that I give two options to my e-zine subscribers: (a) e-newsletter only or (b) e-newsletter plus promotional e-mails.

Should I offer this choice? Do YOU do it for your e-list?

If you answered “yes,” let me ask you: if someone wants my free e-newsletter but is not willing to receive my promotional e-mails, what is my incentive to give it to them?

“Nobody but a blockhead ever wrote except for money,” said Samuel Johnson.

I write for money — it’s how I support my family.

So if someone doesn’t think my free e-newsletter is worth what I ask in return for giving it away — which is her willingness to receive a few e-mails from me each month, mainly letting her know about my books, tapes, and other information products — why should I want her to continue to subscribe?

Or, as actors are fond of asking the director — “What’s my motivation?”