The Boron Letters: Gary Halbert's lessons for writing and selling with a VSL
The Boron Letters are letters copywriter Gary Halbert wrote to his son Bond, later published as a book. This guide covers what is documented about them, the Halbert lessons that matter most for a VSL (market first, earning the open, shipping rough work, writing to one person) and what not to copy literally.
On this page
- What are the Boron Letters?
- Why the Boron Letters still matter to VSL writers
- Lesson 1: Find a hungry market before you write a word
- Lesson 2: Earn the open (the A-pile, applied to video)
- Lesson 3: Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly
- Lesson 4: Write to one person
- Lesson 5: Study proven copy closely
- Lesson 6: Take care of the person doing the work
- What not to take literally
- How to apply this to your VSL tomorrow
- Frequently asked questions
The Boron Letters are a series of letters the copywriter Gary Halbert wrote to his son Bond, later published as a book that mixes life lessons with marketing lessons. For VSL writers, the useful lessons are about choosing a hungry market before you write, earning attention before you ask for anything, shipping rough work and improving it, and writing to one person at a time.
What are the Boron Letters?
The Boron Letters are letters Gary Halbert wrote to his son Bond, collected into a book. Bond has written that the very first letter was written on his father's birthday, that his father hoped he would take the wisdom and life lessons in them and pass them on to his own children, and that the first chapter covered health, parenting and marketing (Bond Halbert).
Bond, who was among his father's first copywriting students, has since released updated versions of The Boron Letters and of his father's book Max Money (About Bond). He has also shared raw, unedited chapters of what he calls The Boron Letters 2.0, with lessons of his own.
Gary Halbert was a direct-response copywriter who began publishing his newsletter, The Gary Halbert Letter, in September 1986 (The Gary Halbert Letter). His A-Pile speech is still taught by his son, alongside a training on finding a starving crowd (Key Trainings).
Why the Boron Letters still matter to VSL writers
Three things make the letters useful to someone writing video sales letters today:
- The format is the lesson. They're letters to one reader, from someone who wanted that reader to act on them. A good VSL script is the same thing spoken aloud: one person talking to one viewer about something that matters to the viewer.
- They mix the work and the life. Marketing advice sits next to advice about health and family, a reminder that the writer is part of the system.
- The principles travel. Hungry markets, earned attention and rough-then-better work, the Halbert lessons below, apply as much to a 20-minute VSL as to a printed letter.
Lesson 1: Find a hungry market before you write a word
Bond Halbert, who teaches his father's concepts, runs a training called Finding a Starving Crowd. Its description opens with a blunt premise: the market is the most important factor in any business. Find a crowd of people who badly want what you sell, and the rest of the marketing gets much easier.
The mechanism for a VSL: video can amplify demand that exists, but it can't manufacture hunger. A competent script in front of a hungry market will usually outsell a brilliant script in front of an indifferent one.
A worked example, with invented numbers: you test two offers on the same homeowners with $500 of traffic each. A decorative smart planter gets 600 visitors and 6 orders at $49, about $0.49 per visitor. A device that keeps raccoons out of trash cans gets 560 visitors and 17 orders at $49, about $1.49 per visitor. Similar scripts, similar production. The difference is how badly viewers want the outcome: nobody lies awake over a planter, but a raided trash can on garbage day is a problem people are already trying to solve.
Here is that test, per visitor:
Same budget, different hunger
Worked example with invented numbers: $500 of traffic per offer, both at $49. Revenue per visitor
How to check a market's hunger before you script:
- Money already moving. People are already paying for solutions to this problem. Competitors running ads for months is a good sign, not a reason to stay away.
- Pain in their own words. Reviews, forums and comments where people describe the problem specifically and emotionally.
- Failed attempts. People who've tried two or three fixes and are still looking. They're hungry, and they'll want to know why your approach is different.
- Reachability. You can reach them with ads, and platform policies allow the offer.
Hungry markets are usually problem-aware or solution-aware, which shapes how your VSL should open; see the five levels of awareness.
One guardrail: a hungry market is people who want a real solution, not people desperate enough to believe anything. Promise only what you can deliver, and never aim health or money claims you can't back up at people in distress.
Lesson 2: Earn the open (the A-pile, applied to video)
Gary Halbert's A-Pile speech is well known enough that Bond still teaches a version of it, applied to getting emails opened and read. The idea is in the name: what reaches people gets sorted into a pile they'll open and a pile they won't, and your first job is to land in the first one.
For a VSL, the envelope is everything the viewer sees before the argument starts:
The A-pile, from direct mail to a VSL
Each piece of direct mail, its VSL equivalent and what gets it opened
- The envelope → the adWhat gets it opened: it looks like it's about the viewer's problem, not like a brand broadcast.
- The first glance inside → the page above the foldWhat gets it opened: a fast load, a clean page, a headline that speaks to one person.
- The opening line → the poster and the first spoken lineWhat gets it opened: a face, a specific promise, a reason to tap for sound.
The poster is your envelope on the page: it's what people see while the video loads and whenever they pause. On the Growth plan and up, RevvyScales can test poster variants inside one VSL, showing each by the weight you set, keeping each viewer on the same one and breaking the results down per variant (split tests inside a VSL). For what makes a poster work, see VSL thumbnails.
Earning the open is not the same as disguising the ad. Making a sales message look like a personal note, a news story or a message from someone the viewer knows crosses into deception. The FTC treats ads formatted to look like something other than advertising as deceptive, even when the claims in them are true (FTC native advertising guide). This isn't legal advice. Earn the open with relevance: a specific problem, a real face and a promise you'll keep.
Lesson 3: Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly
Bond writes that he follows his father's principle that "anything worth doing is worth doing poorly", which is why he released raw, unedited chapters of his Boron Letters 2.0 instead of waiting to polish them. The point isn't sloppiness. A rough version in front of real people teaches you more than a perfect version in a folder.
For a VSL:
Rough first, then better
Three ways to apply it to a VSL
1Test the idea before the production
What happens: A text-on-screen cut with a clean voiceover can test a new lead or offer long before a studio shoot.
Why it matters: If the idea fails in rough form, you've saved the shoot. If it works, you know where to spend.
2Cut leads as cheap variants
What happens: Record three openings onto the same body and let retention and revenue pick the winner. For six proven ways to open, see Great Leads.
3Polish where the data points
What happens: Spend the editing budget on the sections where viewers leave and on the pitch, not evenly across the video.
In RevvyScales, a folder can split new visitors between the rough cut and your current VSL, and each visitor keeps seeing the same version (folders and A/B splitting).
What "poorly" never covers: claims, disclosures and terms. A rough edit is fine. A rough claim is not.
Lesson 4: Write to one person
The Boron Letters were written for one reader, a son his father hoped would use the lessons. Good VSL scripts work the same way: one presenter talking to one viewer, using "you", in the words the viewer uses about the problem. A script written to "audiences" sounds like a broadcast. A script written to one person sounds like a conversation, and conversations are easier to keep watching.
Practical checks:
Writing to one person: three checks on your script
0 of 3 done
For how this fits into a full beat sheet, see the VSL script guide.
Lesson 5: Study proven copy closely
Every copywriter learns partly by taking apart copy that worked. Some writers copy winning sales letters out by hand to feel their rhythm and structure, as practice, never for reuse. For VSLs, the equivalent is to transcribe two or three long-running VSLs in your market and mark the beats: where the hook lands, where the story turns, where the mechanism arrives, how the proof is stacked and when the price appears. Keep those transcripts in a swipe file, tagged so you can find them again.
Study structure, pacing and transitions. Never copy words, claims, stories or testimonials. Beyond the legal risk, borrowed claims are exactly the ones you can't substantiate.
Lesson 6: Take care of the person doing the work
The letters weren't only about marketing; Bond says the first chapter dealt with health and parenting too. In a post about what his father would say about AI, Bond adds that his dad would put getting in shape on the list, then signs off to go do some roadwork (Bond Halbert).
The practical version for VSL writers is unglamorous. A 20-minute script is a long stretch of sustained thinking, and a script written tired or in fragments shows it in the transitions and the logic. Protect a daily block for the hardest thinking, such as the big idea, the mechanism and the lead, at the time of day you're sharpest, and move your body between sessions. If the core concept is what's stuck, see big idea copywriting.
What not to take literally
- Era-specific tactics. The letters come from the age of printed direct mail. Tactics built around envelopes and postage don't translate; the principles behind them (sell to the hungry, earn the open, talk to one person) do.
- Disguise. Earning attention is different from pretending your ad is something else. Fake news layouts, fake personal messages and fake testimonials are deceptive, and the FTC's 2024 final rule specifically bans fake reviews and testimonials (FTC). For a fuller checklist, see VSL compliance.
- "Poorly" as an excuse. Ship rough edits, not rough claims or unclear terms.
- Legend as law. Halbert's reputation can make his advice sound like scripture. Treat every lesson here as a hypothesis and let your own numbers decide.
Three questions to check the lessons before you put them to work:
Check the Halbert lessons
Show the answer
How badly viewers wanted the outcome. Similar scripts, similar production. The difference is how badly viewers want the outcome: nobody lies awake over a planter, but a raided trash can on garbage day is a problem people are already trying to solve.
Show the answer
A specific problem, a real face and a promise you'll keep. Making a sales message look like a personal note, a news story or a message from someone the viewer knows crosses into deception. The FTC treats ads formatted to look like something other than advertising as deceptive, even when the claims in them are true.
Show the answer
The edit. A rough edit is fine. A rough claim is not. What "poorly" never covers: claims, disclosures and terms.
How to apply this to your VSL tomorrow
- Write one sentence describing who is hungry for your offer and what they've already tried.
- Check that money is already moving in your market: active competitors, recent reviews, people still asking for a fix.
- Put your ad, your poster and your first spoken line side by side and ask whether that person would open them.
- Remove anything from the first ten seconds that sounds like a brand broadcast rather than a message to one viewer.
- Cut a rough version of a new lead and put it in front of real traffic this week.
- Transcribe one long-running VSL in your market and mark its beats.
- Block two hours tomorrow for the hardest thinking on your script, before email.
- Audit your page for anything that pretends to be something it isn't, and fix it.
Frequently asked questions
What are the Boron Letters?
The Boron Letters are a series of letters copywriter Gary Halbert wrote to his son Bond, later collected into a book. According to Bond, the first chapter covered health, parenting and marketing, and the letters carried his father's hope that he would use the lessons and pass them on. Bond has since released an updated edition and shared raw early chapters of a Boron Letters 2.0 of his own.
Who is Bond Halbert?
Bond Halbert is Gary Halbert's son, the person the Boron Letters were written to, and one of his father's first copywriting students. He teaches his father's concepts, including a version of Gary's A-Pile speech applied to email, and has released updated versions of The Boron Letters and of his father's book Max Money.
Are the Boron Letters useful for VSL copywriters?
Yes, as long as you read them for principles rather than tactics. The lessons that transfer best are choosing a market that already wants what you sell, earning attention before asking for anything, writing to one person and getting rough work in front of real people quickly. Tactics tied to printed direct mail don't translate, and anything that disguises an ad should be left behind.
What is the A-pile in copywriting?
The A-pile comes from Gary Halbert's famous A-Pile speech. The idea is that people sort what reaches them into a pile they'll open and a pile they won't, so a message's first job is to look worth opening. For a VSL, that means the ad, the poster and the first spoken line should look relevant to one specific viewer, without pretending to be something they're not.
What does starving crowd mean in marketing?
A starving crowd is a market of people who already badly want a solution and are actively looking for one. Bond Halbert's training on the subject starts from the idea that the market matters more than any other factor, so you find the hungry buyers first and build the offer for them. For a VSL, it means validating demand before you write the script.
What should I read after the Boron Letters?
Pair them with books that explain why direct response works. Claude Hopkins' Scientific Advertising covers testing and measurement, John Caples' Tested Advertising Methods covers headlines and testing, Eugene Schwartz's Breakthrough Advertising covers awareness and market sophistication, and Great Leads by Michael Masterson and John Forde covers the six main ways to open a sales message.