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  • 7-JAN-2026 | Excerpt from “Death (A User-Friendly Guide)” Ad for the Lien Foundation

7-JAN-2026 | Excerpt from “Death (A User-Friendly Guide)” Ad for the Lien Foundation

Author

Dan Bogachek
January 07, 2026

The Vault from Copywork365

The swipe file is dead.

Literally, and maybe figuratively as well.

When I first started working on this project, I gave it the working title, Toolbox. The simple tagline was: the swipe file on roids.

But the more I worked on it, the more it became clear that this wasn’t just a box of tools. Calling it a swipe file wasn’t accurate, either. Roided up, or otherwise.

Because at its core, the swipe file is merely a collection of pictures or text. A pile, in other words.

This thing behaves more like a navigable map.

And no matter how much stuff you hoard into a swipe file, its contents are inert.

This, on the other hand, grows deeper over time. Its contents are living.

So, henceforth, this will be known as…

(This is just a placeholder, made with the help of AI.
So hit me up if you can make this more human & prettier!)

The Vault is an atomic copywriting database. As far as I know it’s the first of its kind, so that’s what I’m calling it.

It’s a database of world-class excerpts just like the ones we cover right here on the daily. Spanning ad copy, webpage copy, and literature.

Each excerpt is x-rayed and dissected to reveal what makes everything tick, how it works — on the most granular level. (Hence, atomic.)

It covers all the tools, techniques, and psychology we touch on here, but in their full depth. Making it easy to master these “devices” and then apply them to your own persuasive writing. You can even filter by author or brand to steal the secret sauce from your very favorite writers, copywriters, and brands.

Same as before, I’ve still got a forever deal for you.

If you join the waitlist below, you get exclusive lifetime access for an ultra-low flat fee when The Vault launches. (It’s looking like Q1 or Q2 of 2026.)

After all, a sweetheart deal is the least I can do to thank you for your support.

And as I’ve mentioned before, yes, I really do mean lifetime.

Even if the internet ceases to exist. I’ll toil day and night to make sure you receive a physical copy. With however many thousands of excerpts this accumulates over its lifetime.

Pinky promise.

Excerpt from “Death (A User-Friendly Guide)” Ad for the Lien Foundation

Written by Eugene Cheong & David Fowle.

Death. A user-friendly guide.

Why are we afraid of the dark? Why do snakes and spiders frighten us? If we were to trace all our fears down to their very root, we would inevitably come face to face with the Spectre of Death. To be no longer numbered amongst the living haunts us like no other demon. The knowledge that one day we will all cease to be has turned some of us into philosophers and others into priests. Mostly though, death has made cowards of us all. We pop vitamins, eat fibre, run three times a week: all the while looking warily over our shoulder to be sure that death’s long shadow isn’t gaining on us. 🏁

  • Hook: shock, then intrigue. The d-word is one of the spiciest words to our lizard brains.

  • Rhetorical questions are your friend. They tee up the point you were going to make anyway, with suspense as a bonus. “How will they answer this question?”

  • Note the “we” throughout? Intentional. Don’t use “you” for negative judgement. If it’s negative or upsetting, use “we” instead. It puts you in the same boat as your reader. Makes all the difference between casting judgement and commiseration.

  • This is a longer ad, but still — look just how long we spend in pain territory. Twist the knife, then twist it some more for good measure.