2024-02-08 19:53
I met my first girlfriend in the third grade. She thought I was a rebel of sorts — a transfer from the public school system, repeating third grade. I wasn’t a rebel. I still coul… Read More
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By Rich Becker Blog
copywriteink.blogspot.com
Observations and insights about the communication industry from the president of a leading writing services firm.
2024-01-04 14:00
It isn’t easy, but there is something magical about it when it happens. An author’s connection with an independent bookstore can be something special. Since I’m tied t… Read More
2023-09-18 22:58
Last April, I was a guest speaker at the Kiwanis Club of Las Vegas as an accidental author. Why accidental? I didn't know what else to call becoming an author. I wasn't one of those book dre… Read More
2023-08-05 21:14
I was having lunch on Balboa Beach when I received the review notification for my debut novel, Third Wheel, from Kirkus Reviews. A mist was over the water, and a dead seagull washed up in th… Read More
2023-07-14 18:28
About four months ago, we bought a Whirlpool range from RC Willey. After a few weeks of use, the oven's computer board inexplicably rendered the oven inoperable. No big deal. These things ha… Read More
2023-05-11 15:00
Great news! I've set August 21, 2023, as the release date for my debut novel, Third Wheel. It's a coming-of-age story about a boy trying to find his identity by taking chances on random and… Read More
2023-04-06 19:58
A few weeks ago, 50 States was honored with a 2023 Book Excellence Award. Out of thousands of books entered in this competition, 50 States was selected for its high-quality writing, design… Read More
2023-02-01 17:53
There is a childhood punishment that the protagonist of my debut novel describes in my forthcoming debut novel. One of the beta readers didn’t like it. She called it silly, disbelievin… Read More
2022-07-29 19:56
When 50 States was published last year, I didn't have the highest expectations. It's not that I didn't believe in the work. I did and do. But I'm also a realist who read some artic… Read More
2022-07-12 13:00
This one study continues to surface in articles, and it always stops me in my tracks. It claims a creativity crisis in America, largely attributed to the pursuit of winning formulas ove… Read More
2022-05-21 17:21
The last two years have been among the hardest — a series of unrelated wretched events with the dark cloud of the pandemic looming in the background. You know the cloud. We all do. It… Read More
2022-04-11 23:40
Last December, I was invited to submit my collection of short stories to ScoreIt!, an algorithm that compares stylistic distinctions to a library of books by other authors. The purpose… Read More
2022-02-11 14:00
There’s a June event in West Seattle where hundreds of kids and parents turn out to run a 5k race and obstacle course — climbing over walls and crawling through mud. Think of it… Read More
2022-01-22 23:51
When I set my book sale schedule weeks ago, I knew mid-January 2022 would be special for 50 States. What I didn't realize was that the Kindle edition was going break the Top 100 Literary Sho… Read More
2022-01-06 17:52
When I was a teenager, I used to head out to Red Rock Canyon alone or with friends or with family and hike, climb, or explore this seemingly infinite slice of desert wilderness that frames a… Read More
2021-12-13 20:01
Book signings are finally coming back in fashion, but still not everywhere. Some bookstores are holding out for one thing or another. My own book, 50 States, missed out on meet-and-greets la… Read More
2021-11-16 19:19
When I was younger, I didn't know but always knew I was part Native American. Despite what others told me, I could see it in the photos of my late father. I could see it on my… Read More
2021-10-07 21:14
Some people think the thrillers inside 50 States are scarier than any brush-ups with the supernatural. Still, some speculative tales do work overtime in creating the right atmosphere for Hal… Read More
2021-09-22 20:30
Every time I read an article about wildfires sweeping the western United States, it's always accompanied by an acute sense of loss. I feel for every family forced to evacuate, never knowing… Read More
2021-09-13 20:02
When I told one of my clients that I would eventually retire into writing fiction, she blinked in disbelief. "Do you really want to do that?""Yes," I said. As an executive, it didn… Read More
2021-08-27 17:26
What's your book about? It's the most commonly asked question and an easy one to answer for most authors. For me, it's a bit trickier to answer because I don't have one answer. I have 51 of… Read More
2021-07-20 21:51
BookMonster in Santa Monica has earned my long-term gratitude. They became the first brick-and-mortar bookstore to place signed copies of 50 States: A collection of short short stories on th… Read More
2021-07-08 19:30
His question almost stumped me. While taping my appearance on Ira's Everything Bagel, award-winning broadcaster Ira David Sternberg asked me to talk about the dichotomy of fiction writers/re… Read More
2021-06-23 06:11
Two years ago, I started writing short short stories — so short that I sometimes called them scraps. And since I didn’t belong to any writer groups, I started sharing them on my… Read More
2021-06-09 11:22
It goes by many monikers: HTTP 404, 404 not found, 404 error, page not found, file not found. All of it refers to content that has been erased, moved, renamed, or otherwise missing from wher… Read More
2020-06-19 23:56
"I would have answered you sooner, but your last name confused me," she told me the first time we talked on the phone. "I couldn't see how we were related."
Meeting my Aunt Roxanne for… Read More
2020-04-21 02:17
On April 7, I wrote a well-reasoned letter to Nevada State Governor Sisolak and shared that letter with several elected officials and representatives. All of them, except Governor Sisolak, r… Read More
2020-04-20 13:59
Dear Governor Sisolak,As the parent of a softball player, the story of Jo’VInni “Jo” Smith really hit me today. Jo Smith was a young softball player who died from stress is… Read More
2019-12-11 18:07
I was a junior in college when I took my first formal copywriting class. It was taught by the creative director at what was then one of the three largest advertising agencies in Nevada. We n… Read More
2019-11-20 14:10
Total global advertising placement is projected to exceed $716 billion next year, with as much as 70 percent of that total (exclusive of production) is being spent in North America. Marketer… Read More
2019-11-01 22:14
Some people will likely tell me that my headline is all wrong. Maybe they're right. Why would anyone want to read an article about why content marketing doesn't work? And if they did want to… Read More
2019-10-19 18:29
When automaton drives marketing, creativity can take a back seat. There is only one problem with it. A world run by algorithms is impossibly predictable. You look up product support, and&nbs&hell…Read More
2019-08-17 18:51
Screen Door
by Richard Becker
Every summer we migrated north with the birds, flocking to a family lake cottage deep in the woods. My Grandfather built most of it: thick logs fashioned… Read More
2018-01-18 22:02
What’s important? It’s a question we have to periodically ask ourselves.
For the better part of 12 years, writing content that centered on communication was important to me. It… Read More
2017-07-14 13:00
The writing you read today won't be the communication you need tomorrow. In a world where content can appear on any surface or no surface at all, providing consumers with real time intuitive… Read More
2017-06-01 20:10
The next couple weeks are a whirlwind. My daughter is graduating from elementary school this week. My son is graduating from high school next week.
Next year, he will be headed to the Unive… Read More
2017-03-03 22:38
Anyone who has ever been introduced as a writer already knows the most common question that follows. In the thirty some years I've been introduced as one, it has never changed. It's timeless… Read More
2017-01-13 22:25
As much as 75 percent of marketers may be increasing content creation, but the average job growth rate for occupational writers isn't keeping pace. According to the U.S. Department of Labor… Read More
2017-01-06 17:26
As mind boggling as it seems, we will be exposed to more than a million words today. No, we won't see all of them, but they are there — framing webpages, breaking up social media updat… Read More
2016-08-04 21:24
When the Public Relations Certification Program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) began experiencing a decline in enrollment several years ago, most people pointed to the econo… Read More
2016-07-11 18:10
Every now and again someone complies a list of words that need to be kicked to the curb because the list builder claims such words are overused, overblown, and otherwise tired. Sometimes the… Read More
2016-03-19 18:53
Most of us understand that social media is not a fad. It's the biggest social shift the world has seen since the Industrial Revolution. About 96 percent of Millennials have already joined a… Read More
2016-03-19 18:53
Jim Earley has it right. When forced to embrace change, 10 percent will respond like James Bond, 10 percent will respond like Moe Howard from the Three Stooges, and 80 percent will do nothin… Read More
2016-03-19 18:53
Never mind all those social media and marketing tactics that everyone wants you to remember. The life span of most online marketing tactics lasts about six months if you are lucky. Sure, som… Read More
2016-03-19 18:53
When people consider the convergence of social media and technology, they often make the assumption that formats and devices drive the future of the Internet. It's an easy mistake to make, g… Read More
2015-12-20 16:00
Once Upon A Red Rocket
by Richard Becker
Lizzy Capland outflanked the outstretched hands of the man in the Santa suit and sat down on the bench beside him. She had turned 11 last June, far… Read More
2015-12-02 14:00
A few weeks ago, a long-time friend and colleague sent me a question via Facebook. It was startling to read but not because of the content. It was startling because my immediate response did… Read More
2015-09-16 13:00
Whether you know it as the Internet of things, enchanted items, or smart objects, the convergence of technology and marketing and customer experience will be a technological revolution. Call… Read More
2015-09-09 13:00
Since social media started to make a move toward the mainstream about ten years ago, the general direction was expansive. People wanted more of everything — more friends, more fans, mo… Read More
2015-09-02 13:00
By most accounts, CMOs are increasing their organizational spending on social, mobile, and analytics. One recent study places this budgetary increase at 12.2 percent over the next year.
The… Read More
2015-08-26 13:00
There has been plenty of buzz up about the Reproducibility Project, which aimed to validate about 100 psychology science studies by attempting to reproduce the studies. Marketers should take… Read More
2015-08-19 13:00
When marketers talk about automation, they don't always see the danger in it. Maybe it's because select benefits — lead generation, response counts, data tracking — outweigh… Read More
2015-08-12 13:00
Ten years ago, ClickZ published an article that claimed advertising is dying. It's been a common theme there for the better part of a decade. The most recent claim was made just a few days a… Read More
2015-08-05 13:00
There is one place broadcast news continues to beat out print journalism online and it's about time print-to-digital migrants took notice. People aren't looking for news outlets anymore. The… Read More
2015-07-29 13:00
Education is experiencing a tech revolution, but it's only a single facet of our near future landscape. As much as some standardization is seen as an opportunity to level the educationa… Read More
2015-07-22 13:00
While marketers continue to reach out to social media influencers in the hopes of earning easy traction, it takes much more than a popular or pretty face to capture key performance indicator… Read More
2015-07-15 13:00
As tempting as it might be, don't count the Apple watch out yet. Despite the cottage industry created to deride its entry into the wearables category, sales are steady even if the… Read More
2015-07-08 13:00
While some luxury brands continue to express interest in courting Generation Y, a demographic loosely defined as those born between 1977 and 1994 in the United States, other brands are setti… Read More
2015-07-01 13:00
When describing the state of the Internet today, it's all too easy for marketers to see silly cat videos as the polar opposite of mental stimulus (myself included). And in doing so, marketer… Read More
2015-06-24 13:00
Marketing and communication has a way of being reinvented over and over again, with each new and unapologetic rendition billed as a break from a seemingly blind and rigid tradition. Except t… Read More
2015-06-17 13:00
Public relations is in a self-selected state of change and the driving force is clearly social media. As many as 81 percent of communicators now believe that public relations can no longer o… Read More
2015-06-10 13:00
If you're looking for the next disruption in marketing, consider how technology is positioning communication as the primary driver in the customer experience. The change will be truly astoun… Read More
2015-06-03 13:00
Ever wonder why high school students struggle with college writing assignments and college students seem ill prepared for business writing as they enter the workforce? Me too, even if the an… Read More
2015-05-28 13:02
It's a new discussion that isn't new. Every few years, someone wants to break up Proctor & Gamble, which is the largest publicly traded personal products company in the world. With a mar… Read More
2015-05-27 13:00
It's a new discussion that isn't new. Every few years, someone wants to break up Proctor & Gamble, which is the largest publicly traded personal products company in the world. With a mar… Read More
2015-05-20 13:00
It's no secret that I'm not a fan of social automation. I generally advise clients to mostly avoid it, with "mostly" being the operative word. There are opportunities when social automation… Read More
2015-05-13 13:00
Two million Americans will earn a bachelor's degree in the coming weeks and join the work force or head to graduate school, notes Emory English professor Mark Bauerleiny in a column he penne… Read More
2015-05-06 13:00
Years ago, I worked with a film and television producer who brought me in as a senior copywriter for several dozen of his accounts, including American Greetings and McDonald's. It was fun an… Read More
2015-04-29 13:00
Meeting up with several dozen aspiring and published writers was a real treat at Comic Con. And true to my word too, I told them to stop aspiring all together as soon as I had the oppor… Read More
2015-04-22 13:00
One of the first lessons learned in advertising is that most purchasing decisions are made based on emotional impulses and irrational conclusions driven by our dreams, hopes, fears, and outr… Read More
2015-04-15 13:00
A long-time colleague of mine used to make every prospect he met chuckle over his quip that he wasn't in the "advertising business." He was in the "check cashing business." The more money hi… Read More
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