In 1972, Marty Edelston spent his last $3,500 to hire the already-legendary copywriter, Gene Schwartz...

(The same Eugene Schwartz who is now best-known for the must-have copywriting book, Breakthrough Advertising — and the market awareness model he shared there.)

Marty’s fledgling company, Boardroom Reports, was a great idea…

But it wasn’t profitable — yet…

… His startup fund had dwindled.

… And hiring Gene to write a sales letter was his last shot at making it work.

Gene interviewed Marty for four hours — until he found the gem of an idea he’d write his letter around…

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Later that evening — as his wife put on makeup for a social engagement — Gene sat down and cranked out this letter that would go down in history for launching one of the biggest, most successful direct response companies of our time.

Suddenly successful, Marty needed a lot more copy written…

So he went back to Gene…

And, in fact, he tried to hire Gene full-time…

But…

Gene was too entrepreneurial for that.  He loved writing for clients.  And he loved writing for Marty.  But he also wanted to grow his own publishing company, Instant Influence.  And Gene wasn’t ready to turn that in, even for the opportunity to work alongside Marty growing Boardroom.

So Gene had a recommendation for Marty…

“There’s this guy, Mel Martin — you should talk to him.”

Marty did.

Shortly thereafter, Mel Martin vanished from the copywriting scene…

He wasn’t gone.

Marty managed to convince Mel — through extreme generosity, I am sure — to come in-house at Boardroom.

Not only that, Mel had to swear an oath of secrecy.

He wasn’t allowed to promote himself.

He wasn’t allowed to tell the world who he was working for.

Not only that — everyone else at Boardroom was sworn to secrecy on Mel Martin’s role there, too.

As far as the marketing world knew, he’d basically retired.

What Marty Edleston didn’t want the world to know — Mel Martin had become Boardroom’s secret copywriting assassin.

And Boardroom started putting out direct mail plastered with what Mel Martin would come to call FASCINATIONS…

Teasers, headlines, and bullet copywriting like…

• How to refund airlines’ non-refundable ticket
• How to make your car very, very hard to steal
• Vitamins never to buy at the health food store
• How to know when a slot machine is ready to pay off
• Bills it’s okay to pay late
• What never to eat on an airplane
• Assets that should never be mentioned in your will…never
• Instant revenge against obscene phone caller. You never got this kind of advice from the phone company
• How to beat the tax on your Social Security benefits
• Very short letter in sealed envelope attached to your will could be most important letter you ever write
• How to protect a gullible spouse
• How to outwit mugger in self-service elevator
• What surgeons won’t tell you. Seven questions to ask before consenting to an operation.

He changed copywriting forever…

Before this, a few copywriters (like Schwartz) were well-aware of the power of these tight little promises of juicy information, only satisfied by making the purchase…

In fact, Schwartz’s original launch letter included bullets in the header of each page…

• How to hire people without making mistakes
• How to speed up an insurance claim when you’re getting the runaround
• Customers pay fast if one magic sentence is added to the bill

But for the most point, bullet points were just that — the typographical dot added to the beginning of a sentence, describing a feature or benefit or otherwise calling out a statement.

But with Mel Martin, Boardroom’s direct mail and ads became walls of teasing and titillation…

Where even ONE bullet point — one fascination — could be enough to pique your curiosity, to send in your order for the book or newsletter.

And Boardroom soared to $100 million in revenue and beyond, on the strength of Mel Martin’s copy, and that of others’ who’d learn from and model it.

(In fact, it even changed the way the legendary Gene Schwartz wrote!)

Not only that, everyone in the industry learned from Boardroom.

And so by the late 1990s — the halcyon days of direct mail information marketing…

Nearly every mailbox in America (and in many places around the world) was stuffed daily with direct mail pieces FULL of not mere bullets, but FASCINATIONS.

This turned bullet-writing into “The Single-Most Valuable Copywriting Skill”…

But what about today?

Here we are 20-some years later.

Most direct marketing has moved online.

And beyond that, we’ve gone multimedia.

VSLs and other copy meant as scripts for media have become the norm — especially in the upper-echelons of direct response.

Story copy now reigns supreme…

And if you even try to write a video that’s full of the kind of teases that Mel Martin’s ads featured…  Well, it would sound very, very odd.

…  Just imagine talking to someone at a party, and they spend 5 minutes just talking to you in bullets…  How strange would they sound?!

Which begs the question…

Is bullet copywriting now on its deathbed?

Heck no!

Take those old Boardroom ads.

Where do you think they got their headlines, subheads, and teaser copy?

They were the best bullets!

And even if you write a VSL…

You still need headlines, subheads, and teaser copy…

Plus ads to run on different ad networks…

Plus opt-in page copy that will convince people to give up their email address to see your VSL…

Plus order form copy that seals the deal…

Plus tight, compelling copy all over the place to grab your prospect’s attention, get them interested in what you have to say, stimulate their desire, and provoke them to take action!

Not only that…

Every line of copy you write will be made better by getting great at bullets…

They require clarity.

They require a certain tightness.

They require you to understand and leverage one of copywriting’s most critical psychological triggers.  (See what I did there?  If not, you REALLY need to know how to write bullets!)

Getting good at bullets will make you a much better copywriter…

… Even if you never write the kind of copy that Mel Martin pioneered at Boardroom — and countless others imitated.

I’ve taught bullets before — but this is my first-ever dedicated fascination- and bullet-writing training for BTMSinsiders…

You get an exclusive one-hour presentation on the most important principles, strategies, and techniques for bullet-writing I’ve learned over 15 years as a top direct response copywriter.

The biggest lessons you’ll get include…

• What makes bullets "The single-most valuable copywriting skill" According to one of the Titans of Direct Response (and the OG — "original guru" — of internet marketing)...
• The Rhythm of Bullets: Do this, give your copy a cadence that pulls prospects in...  (HUGE if you want your prospects to read a lot of bullets — still critical if you have lists of 3 or more in a row.)
• What to put into bullets to make them FASCINATING... (More importantly: what to leave out if you want to actually make any sales.)
• Approaches to Writing Bullets: 15 ways to keep your bullets feeling fresh and eminently readable.
• My original "Expanded Bullet Technique" After you've written your bullets, a huge opportunity for creating compelling emails, FB ads, and more...

… And a whole lot more.  All in one hour of condensed value!

It will be a lot of ground to cover.  But by the end, you’ll have a comprehensive toolkit for writing the most powerful bullets and fascinations…

And headlines, subheads, and teaser copy…

Plus every other line of copy you write.

Writing Powerful Bullets and Fascinations was originally recorded as the December 2020 Monthly Insiders Call.

With a BTMSinsiders All-Access Pass, you get to attend these calls live plus get access to all past call recordings, including this one.  Plus you get unlimited streaming access to the entire BTMSinsiders training catalog.