Thanks so much to all of you who attended the Glazer-Kennedy meeting in Phoenix last Wednesday! We had a GREAT turnout and you were a TERRIFIC audience for me. And a BIG Thank You to our host, Chuck Trautman, who always throws a great party.

For those of you who missed it, we covered the basics of how to “swipe” a marketing system or a written or visual structure–like a headline text or the graphic layout of a page–and use it as a template for creating your own material. (I will upload an audio link of the program here when I get in off my MP3 player.) And while I’m on the topic of swiping, I want to make a special note…

Me with author Raleigh Pinskey.

In talking with Raleigh Pinskey after the meeting (author of 101 Ways to Promote Yourself, www.promoteyourself.com), she made a comment that reminded me about a topic I failed to cover. So here it is.

When talking about “swiping” (a term that is typical in the copywriting industry), we’re not talking about “stealing.” And I want to be VERY clear that I am NOT recommending copying anything on the planet word-for-word and claiming it as your own. That’s called plagiarism and can get you in BIG trouble. And really we should all know that from high school and/or college.

When you are swiping something for the purpose of FASTER CREATION, you are looking for a framework to use to put your own words into. A great example of this is Weird Al Yankovic (www.weirdal.com). He took songs like I Love Rock N Roll and did this:

He took the chorus lyric of “I love rock-n-roll, so put another dime in the juke box, baby,” and turned it into, “I love rocky road, so weren’t you gonna buy a half a gallon, baby.” The pattern or framework is the same, but the words are entirely and uniquely his.

If you’re interested in a good book on copyright law–not to be confused with copywriting–I recommend Copyright, Plain and Simple by Cheryl Besenjak. There are, however, other more recently published books out there. This one just happens to be on my shelf and it’s a short read…which is attractive to busy people like us!

For those of you who did not get a copy of the handout and/or who requested the PPTs, I’ll send out the worksheets shortly to everyone. I’m holding off on the PPTs as I want to obtain some permissions first before sending them out into the world. FYI, whenever you use someone else’s material in a “significant” way, it’s a good idea to send them (or their publisher) a letter requesting official permission to use their work. So once I’ve covered the bases on that, I’ll get back to you.

Thanks again for your generous support and attention. It was so much fun to share with you!