Writerly services:
Copy, Edit & Translate
Retail and Wholesale Tourist Travel
Group & Incentive Travel
Nature and Eco-Travel
Commercial Copy + How-To & Humor
Website and Multimedia

Writing for space, and being able to write in InDesign, Quarkexpess and Dreamweaver are assets that bring your project to completion faster and cleaner. And, yeah verily, there is a difference between someone who speaks English and someone who actually is a writer. Your clientele can spot it.

I write for Xcaret, Xel-Ha, Garrafon, People & Arts, the Discovery Channel, MasterCom, Tropical Incentives/EPIC, the Riviera Maya, Costa Maya, a variety of print and on-line publications, and tons of copy for advertising targeting English-Speaking tourists.

Good Copy is Everything
David Ogilvy swore by it when everyone was swearing at him. It's true. Good copy motivates readers and makes sales. A snappy visual or headline gets attention, but it's the copy that closes. And an educated buyer is a repeat buyer. In Cancún, they're all educated buyers, and 40% are returning to time shares. Wouldn't you like to sell them a tour? Offer them an alternative? Get them out of their room and into your business?

In tourism, and tourism related industries, we run direct marketing campaigns. Some material arrives via third parties, but the decision point comes off of our publicity materials; here or at the tourists' origin point. They are bombarded with materials, at home, and here. Believe that they are discriminating consumers -very sophisticated, very savvy. Can they be motivated to a purchase point with poor design, or poor copy? We think not. We think the effectiveness of Travel Rep-based selling is passing - your customers are reviewing your web page and everyone else's from afar, and now they can reserve and purchase your product or service on-line. Now if we can just get rid of the Time Share OPC's!

“Write for the senses - let them see it, taste it,
hear it, smell it, touch it.”

Scare Tactics
"Twenty-six web pages are added per second to the WWW. Do you think your clients are willing to pick through poor web design, Spanglish, slow pages or less than perfect copy? Is it worth the risk?"

A Call To Action
It isn't expensive at all. It doesn't hurt, even. Really. Jobs are bid by the 'each' or you can buy by the hour. $MN450 + IVA. I'm portable, laptop equipped and ready to write.

Alternative Travel Copy
"Sunday I took the slow boat to Isla Mujeres. Rented a moped, as there were no bicycles to be found. Ate the world's best shrimp cocktail; a savage forest of cilantro, habañero, onion, and lime stalked by wild tiger shrimp. Chased it with an orange crush, while lip-synching La Cangrejito Playera. Tooled south to the turtle farm to touch the face of God, imprinted on a thousand palm-sized sculptures whirling green in cylinders of turquoise water. On the snackering pavement, pushing the moped to higher highs, felt the coolness of norte breeze, the air and sky clearer and bluer than any dream.

I found my way to the point, and there I stripped off my shirt, tightened my shoelaces and crawled, leapt, spanned, gyred and climbed the smooth western faces of limestone bluff. Met pricklypear and ocean wave, tiny yellow flowers, felt the ruby-lipped kiss of a conch creeping through a tide pool, sat on a rock, the water licking at my desk-bound feet, scrambled into ruffle-layered caves of beige Paleolithic history, mock-battled an iguana, and scaled the biggest cliff with my heart in my mouth."

Copywriting Services

“Weekend get-away of the gods and other professionals for centuries...” A2's Xel-Ha Tag

Samples:


Eco/Archeo Tourism Copy

"Xel-Ha. An exquisite, explorable wilderness and one of the world's largest naturally occurring aquariums. Snorkel pristine waters vivid with friendly tropical fish or relax dockside in a hammock under a thatch hut. Experience caves, cenotes and wildlife. Grab a float or life jacket and drift down a tranquil, spring-fed inland river past electric-green mangroves to the sea.

The Discover Tulum/Explore Xel-Ha Tour combines Mayan Archaeology with the natural beauty of the coastal Yucatan in a single day excursion. Full-service amenities include restaurants and shops. Ask about our All-inclusive package. You'll find our brochure in your hotel's lobby. Contact any travel agent, or call us in Cancun at (988) 884-9422. Or reserve on-line at www.xelha.com."



Product Copy

"My office lives within this fiercely black Rotring fountain pen. Cubist, Bauhausian, intensely Teutonic. Surprisingly heavy, disciplinarian authoritarian, nothing more than a minimalist expression in machined brass and baked enamel. For me it forms art that functions. I look at it, dark and silent, brooding, perhaps laughing to itself. In tiny red letters, its name, Rotring 600. Is it for writing or killing? Maybe both. Depends on the editor... "


Menu Copy

"Breakfasts are holy things. Nothing is a sacrosanct as that morning coffee or tea, and that first bite of that which breaks one's fast. We have a variety of breakkies, and if you need something special, don't hesitate to ask your host. If you found last night to be more enjoyable than this morning, please look to the back of this menu for 'blessed relief.'

'What makes a good continental breakfast is velocity. It must appear on your table shortly after your request leaves your lips. A that point, time stands still, and you can worry the paper all morning. Unlike Paris, our host will let you be — as you plan your day, pace your way through the croissant, and have that ne plus ultra coffee."

Nature Copy

"Bats. Not very appealing. Bats have been vilified by man throughout history, monsters of myth. And what fable! How a critter on the light side of a pound can wind up as a towering icon of eternal evil is a pretty good measure of homo sapiens misunderstanding. Scientifically they'd be members of Chioptera; a family of tiny flying mammals, a pretty remarkable evolutionary feat. The myth is even better. Dracula travels as night as a tiny bat..."

Airline Magazine Copy

"When the sun sets over Mexico City, the sky cries bloody tears. Dramatic as its history and as wildly romantic as its people, sunset explodes over DF in heady roses, oranges, blues and reds. Passionate colors burn across a sky that has overseen centuries of tumult and change. As evening falls the temperature drops, the mad urgencies of traffic fade with the light. Velvet black and city light replace the dying sun and the pulse quickens. Mexico City is hell, and people work like demons, but, hey, in the evenings? Get out and look good."