A one-time-only invitation for serious copywriters, from John Forde, Nick O’Connor, and Glenn Fisher…
If you want to get on the invite list for this exclusive event so you can find out who’s going, when it’s happening, and how you can score one of the seats at the table… you need to enter your email address here:
This event will be strictly invitation-only, limited to some of the smartest and most influential minds in marketing and copywriting… the only way to get an invite is to be on this list:
Some pretty special things have happened in French châteaus.
For instance… in the 1500s, Leonardo Da Vinci spent his last years in the Château du Clos Lucé in Amboise, perfecting masterpieces like the Mona Lisa…
In 1874, Renoir and Degas met with Claude Monet in the Château de Rottenburg and, over lots of wine, invented French Impressionism…
And of course, in 1971, the Rolling Stones loaded up the Chateau Nellcôte with drugs and guitars and recorded Exile on Main Street…
And then there’s this place…
What you’re looking at here is the Château de Courtomer.
And even though Forbes once called it “Normandy’s most exclusive château…”
Even though The Robb Report said it’s the perfect place to “channel your inner aristocrat…”
And The Observer once said it’s the ideal place to “make your wildest Marie Antoinette fantasies a reality…”
There’s a good chance you’ve never heard of it.
It’s tucked away in Normandy, about 90 minutes south of the D-Day Beaches… in a region ordinary people never get to visit…
Unless that is, you’re on the hunt for authentic crepes, hard cider, and calvados.
However, for fifteen straight years…
It was a place of legend – a private retreat for some of the most talented marketers and copywriters in publishing.
It was here that some of the most successful direct-response copywriters, publishers, and marketers of all time gathered in private to brainstorm multi-million-dollar campaigns, map out new product breakthroughs, and spill secrets from across the industry.
And, oh yeah, they also drank wine.
Lots and lots of wine. And held parties that lasted late into the night. With guitars. And pool. And possibly even some swimming in the moat.
To our knowledge, it was the only place in the world you could hear about a $100m copy breakthrough during the day…
And listen to Agora’s legendary founder, Bill Bonner, croon You Can’t Always Get What You Want by night.
It was, in short…
The way it used to work went something like this…
You’d go to Paris and find your way to the Montparnasse train station.
Sometimes you’d be on your own. More often you’d travel there with a few hand-picked copywriters and insiders from your business.
On the arrival platform, you’d run into others just like you. They would arrive from all over the world…
America. Britain. Spain. Germany. India. China. Australia. South Africa. New Zealand. Brazil. Argentina.
Some you would know, others not.
But all of them would wear the same look of awkward eagerness and ambition, as they navigated the unfamiliar signs in French.
Before long, the group of semi-strangers… speaking ten different languages… would make their way through the maze of the station to a private bus, ready to roll them through the French countryside.
On the way, the ice would break.
You’d start to talk copy. You’d talk about promotions you’d written or read. You’d share ideas.
And then, after a long drive past miles of fields and through small French towns, you would hear the crush of gravel as the bus passed through the property gates.
Surrounded by over 300 acres of fields and forest and just after the gatekeeper’s house…
The magnificent Château de Courtomer itself would appear through the trees…
With its grand, 18th-century profile reflected from the glassy surface of the surrounding moat…
Behind its three-story sprawl of windows, lay hidden libraries and sitting rooms, luxurious bedrooms, a grand dining room…
It’s no wonder it’s been featured in everything from Brides magazine to Vogue to the New York Times as an elegant paradise
Inside, you would find grand portraits and art… book-lined shelves and hidden treasures… a grand piano and chandeliers…
After finding your room and settling in, you’d hear a bell ring for the welcome cocktail reception…
Champagne. A rosy-tinted kir. A glass of fine Bordeaux.
Or just a cold beer, if that was your thing.
And that moment would set the tone for the rest of the summit. Your next few days would be filled with roundtables and secret-spilling sessions in the converted Orangery…
To keep everybody moving after lunch, there were espressos on tap… croissants and fruit on the back table…
And of course, after each enlightening afternoon, more cocktail hours, luxurious dinners…
And at night, the Château would come alive…
More wine, more beer. Music and pool. A bonfire out front.
Bill and a few other writers would break out the guitars to play some Stones or Johnny Cash. And there was plenty of laughter, stories, and good times…
If all that sounds to you like some kind of copywriters’ fever dream, we promise you, we’re not exaggerating.
Ask anybody who was lucky enough to be there.
We were lucky enough to have some of the best – we’re talking about legends like Bill Bonner, Mark Ford, and Mike Palmer…
Publishers like Porter Stansberry, Norman Rentrop, and Nic Laight…
NY Times bestselling author Addison Wiggin… Agora Financial’s Joe Schriefer… marketing guru Rich Schefren… and many more.
Plus dozens of best-kept-secret writers… special guests… and brilliant marketers you would have killed to meet, given the chance.
Of course, we were there most years too.
And we witnessed as just about every marketing breakthrough you can think of from the late ‘90s and into the 2000s was either dreamed up or perfected behind those heavy 18th-century doors.
Remember, this event is by invitation only—register here if you want a chance of being in the room:
Even better, of course, were the connections we got to make.
Some of them lead to life-changing partnerships and mentorships. Others lent a spark to lasting creative collaborations.
And this wasn’t like hobnobbing over warm beer and peanuts in some conference room at a chain hotel near the airport.
We were staying up late, drinking St. Émillion…
Talking copy ideas and potential breakthroughs…
And sure, we covered all sorts of other befuddled but entertaining nonsense too, as you do when hanging out under the stars…
The next morning, after a jolt of caffeine and some crusty baguette smeared with Normandy butter and strawberry confiture…
You were ready to get right back at it so you could do it all again.
And there was a reason for that – you were.
In 2015, we stopped those events. The industry just got too big. There were too many writers who were begging to come to the events.
And it just got too difficult to coordinate, plan and organize.
We didn’t realize it then, but when those events stopped… we lost something, as a community, that perhaps we should have guarded more carefully.
These days, when you ask the up-and-comers in our inner circle if they ever got the chance to go to the Château, they’ll give you a wistful look.
“No,” they’ll say. “I joined the business too late.”
But that’s about to change…
We’re putting out the call for at least one more great Château de Courtomer event.
It’s going to happen in May, 2025.
We’ve assembled some of the best copywriting and marketing experts from around the world.
Who, exactly?
We’d love to tell you.
In fact, we’re going to be sharing details over the coming weeks. But only with people who let us know they’re serious – really serious – about attending.
Is that you?
We hope so.
That’s why we want to hear from you now if you think you’re someone who belongs on that list.
This is a major event. It’s also exclusive. And it could be the last time we do this. If you hope to get on our list, we need to hear from you now.
At this point, all that means is that you drop your email in one of the sign up boxes you’ll find on this page (like the one just below)…
Get your name on the list here if you want to find out who’ll be joining us at the Château:
You’ll need to confirm it’s a working address. And once we hear from you, we’ll keep you posted on details as they come.
You don’t want to miss this—add your email to the list today.
And maybe we’ll see you at the château!
Best,
John Forde, Nick O’Connor, and Glenn Fisher
Your hosts at Château de Courtomer
John Forde has been writing winning controls for over 25 years. He’s made millions of dollars for clients in the financial, health, and travel industries. He’s also personally mentored dozens of today’s star copywriters, advises businesses on six continents, and has authored a course, two books, and hundreds of articles on copywriting. John regularly leads intense seminars for two or three hundred marketers and copywriters at a time, and writes the successful e-letter, The Copywriter’s Roundtable.
Nick O’Connor is one of the most sought-after direct response copywriters in the world. He spent over a decade writing for various divisions in the Agora publishing world and spent several years as both the Head of Copy, and Publisher, of Agora’s financial imprint in the UK, Southbank Investment Research. Today, as well as co-founding The Fix, he writes freelance for financial publishers in the UK, US and Australia and consults with Agora companies around the world.
Glenn Fisher is an author, copywriter, and speaker. His best-selling book on copywriting, The Art of the Click, was shortlisted for a Business Book of the Year award and has been translated into Chinese and Korean. After a decade as the Copy Chief at Agora Finanical UK, he created the hit copywriting podcast All Good Copy, co-founded The Fix and created The Library of Lazy Thinking. He writes and consults for some of the most recognized brands in the world today. He lives in Sheffield in the north of England, where he is currently working on his first novel.
Join John, Nick, Glenn, and many more copywriting legends and modern-day masters—register for your exclusive invitation here:
The Fix | The Copywriter’s Roundtable
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