Writing Copy for Catalogs

So I got this piece of junk mail today from AWAI trying to sell me an at-home course for catalog copywriting. I took their six figure income copywriting course (yes, there is a sucker born every minute....PT Barnum was right) and while I did get some good writing tips out if it, I swear I have gotten more out of blogging here and reading other posts than I did with that course.

So...they want me to take this new catalog copy course for $399. Not gonna happen. The last course I took promised so many wonderful things in their direct mail piece only to continue sending me more and more "promotions" for when I was done with the first course.....you know, "Oh, now you can go on to the Master's Course for the arm and leg you have left if you really want us to divulge our contacts and copywriting secrets...". Sad thing is, when I looked these guys up I couldn't find a single scam complaint against them. But I digress...

Anyways, just reading this last letter they sent me has intrigued me to find out more about writing copy for catalogs. Anyone else have any experience in this line of work? Good or bad? Websites to check out? I'd be really interested to learn more about this...just not sure where to go and definitely NOT willing to pay $399 to find out!

ModelMom – May 22, 2006 – 7:21pm

AWAI – catalogs – copywriting – freelance writing

Confessions of A Model Mom –

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– 867 reads

Bummer about the course

Sorry you lost $$ on the deal.
Can't help you with the copywriting. I did some for a friend's website, and it's harder than it looks. That's all I can say about it...

read me!

Brenna
Blog at Writing UP!
Brenna Fender's Blog

Brenna Fender – May 22, 2006 – 7:51pm

yeah, it still kills me...

when i think about what else i could have done with the money! oh well....lesson learned.

hmmm....400 bucks would have gone a long way at Target! ;-)

Cool Baby Reviews

ModelMom – May 22, 2006 – 8:15pm

HA!

Yep, that's a LOT of stuff at the good ol' Target!

read me!

Brenna
Blog at Writing UP!
Brenna Fender's Blog

Brenna Fender – May 23, 2006 – 4:25am

So what happened with the

So what happened with the AWAI course? The few posts I read where you started, you loved it. Did you not get any jobs or anything like that from it? Was it something else? I would like to know because I want to learn copywriting and was considering taking the course from them.

http://bloggerparty.com/blog/diane_brunner

Diane Brunner – May 23, 2006 – 2:58am

AWAI

Well, I don't remember writing any posts about loving it, although I did read some posts like that over on WritingUp and may have commented that I was taking it. I never really thought it was great because the way the chapters were written seemed a little "dumbed down" and being a college grad, I am used to having more challenging and interesting ways of having information taught to me. But it's my fault because I really should have known better than to pay for and take a course that I found out about through junk mail. :-

Cool Baby Reviews

ModelMom – May 23, 2006 – 11:04am

AWAI part II

for some reason only half of my reply showed up above...so here's the rest...

I did get some good tips out of it but, like I said, nothing that I couldn't have gotten off of here or any other website with copywriting information. What is so irritating too about AWAI is that you are told that once you are done with the course you will be repped by their agency and they make it sounds like you will hit the ground running with a very lucrative career, contacts, etc. Then as the course goes on you find out that you will have to market yourself, pound the proverbial pavement, find your own clients, etc....unless you plan to take their Master Copywriters Course. That totally turned me off. They pull you in for one course and then pretty much keep asking you to take more with more & more promises of becoming rich off of copywriting.I am sure there are some people that are finding success through this program, but I have a toddler and also work part-time (very PT) so I took this course thinking that they would furnish me with contacts (which they said they would) since I don't have the time to sit and create my own contact list, etc. They really don't offer jobs. At least not with the first course....and I just can't afford to take any more. And, again, I found the way they delivered information a little elementary...not worth 400 bucks!
If I were you I would research other copywriting books, websites, blogs. Believe me, you will gain as much if not more knowledge about the industry that way and be $400 richer!
The job postings website they have for members only was also nothing to be excited about. Everytime I went on there would be maybe four or five postings for non paying gigs. You can find this same stuff on craigslist or on any of the many freelance writing sites on the internet. I am guessing that this job site is what they consider "contacts".

Cool Baby Reviews

ModelMom – May 23, 2006 – 11:07am

Thanks. It's nice to know I

Thanks. It's nice to know I didn't waste any money on it.

http://bloggerparty.com/blog/diane_brunner

Diane Brunner – May 23, 2006 – 5:57pm

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