Sep 23, 2007

Book Report: Movies In The Mind

If you've read this blog for a while you know I often visit the issue of of marketing copy for listings. Here's a practical suggestion. Pick up copy of the book Movies In The Mind, How to Build a Short Story by Colleen Mariah Rae. It's a short and easy read based upon her strategies for creative writing. Even though the book is written to help authors craft fictional short stories, the skills are valuable to anyone struggling with the concept of writing great marketing copy.

The mind's eye is a powerful place. How your marketing copy projects the image of something can make all the difference in the world to a consumer that is trying to decide whether or not to click through and get more details or just skim down the list. Colleen gives practical advice for transcribing the video you see in your head to meaningful prose.

It's great idea to take a digital voice recorder to a listing and start at the elevation, transcribing features and ideas as you move through the property. Take it back to the office, listen and start thinking about changing things like "there is a large picture window in family room" to "the quiet serenity of a sweeping panoramic view". 

The first comment on this post gets the my copy of "Movies In The Mind" sent straight to their door.

P.S. It's a well documented fact that the majority of MLS' limit the number of characters for a description that makes a good narrative a challenge. It's not impossible, in fact, I've seen some pretty creative work done within those confines. If you only want to take the time to write one description and the MLS is the only place you're concerned about when it comes its distribution, you may want to visit a different writing site.

P.S.S. Do you like to pass on the books you've read? Ever heard of Bookcrossing.Com?  Check it out.


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posted by Mike Price at 9:57 AM 4 comments links to this post