Sure Hope Baen's Copy Editors Are Better Than Baen's Adsense Copywriters

[beamjockey]

I was examining my gmail.com account when I noticed the following "sponsored link" on my page:

Robert Heinlein fans - www.baens-universe.com - You like Robert Heinlein's storys you'll love Jim Baen's Universe

I didn't succumb to the temptation to click through, but I've included the link just in case you want to do so.

Comments

[maiac.livejournal.com]

Gack.

I wish I could believe they'd outsourced the copywriting to a country where English isn't the primary language. But such mistakes are too common from native speakers.

Adsense

[(Anonymous)]

Google Adsense doesn't write the copy. That wording has to come directly from a minion at Baen's. I suspect that because they only get a very limited number of characters per line that there were compromises made. There was probably no room for the If. The URL, however, is listed in the ad under the copy, so listing it again as the first line of the message wastes precious copy space.

It is easy for us to come up with any number of good alternatives, after the fact. The poor minimum wage editorial assistant, working from a memo from an ad executive with no Adsense experience, had to make do with the space available.

It probably costs Baen a dime for each click, about half goes to the site showing the ad.