The first call-to-action I ever wrote went like this:

“Monica is a twentysomething who writes about personal and professional development for young professionals and entrepreneurs at her blog, Twenty Set.

If you are a smart, talented twentysomething, she would love to share her articles with you via subscription to her feed.”

This call-to-action received 600 subscribers practically overnight, and it has little to do with copywriting tactics.

The main reason it worked is because I asked the right people for exactly what I wanted them to do and made it super simple to do it!

There’s not much more to calls-to-action than this. And the biggest mistake that people make is not in what they write, but that they don’t include a call-to-action at all.

Here’s the secret to copywriting—it’s just regular writing that inspires action. The easiest way to inspire action is to simply ask for it.

After you’re asking, you can start tweaking—how you ask, when you ask, who you ask, what you ask for, etc. That’s when skill starts to factor in.

But the biggest improvement you can make is asking to begin with.

So no matter what you want right now—more people to read your book, more subscribers, more sales, more website visits, more blog post shares—take a minute to go onto any social network you have an account at and ASK for what you want in a status update.

The specific words you use are a lot less important than this one act.

And now, I’ll take my own advice. If you like this post, and if you are a writer who wants to get serious about building an audience for your book, a simple first step is to learn a new way of thinking about problems from someone you enjoy learning from. Sign up for my email list, and I’ll send you smart, actionable articles like this one every Thursday.