I started my adult life as a bouncer and a school teacher. A few years later, I was running one of the most well-known email marketing agencies in the industry. The reason this happened is because I dedicated my life to becoming a master copywriter. Learning how to write copy was the key that unlocked a level of freedom I didnât know existed, both personal and financial. Itâs also allowed me to write two bestselling books on email marketing, work with 250+ brands, and coach 2,200+ students around the world. I hope this list helps you take your writing skills up a notch.
In a world of ever-shortening attention spans, youâve got a minute (maybe even less) to grab your readerâs attention and hook them. How exactly do you do that? Kevin Rogers lays out a simple four-step framework you can use to sell any product in any market with ease. This book has come in handy time and time again. It always helps me get to the essence of the sales argument Iâm trying to construct. I use this framework for this book on my websites, in my sales letters, and even in some of my emails. Itâs a timeless formula youâll lean on for years to come.
How a nightclub comedian turned a simple joke formula into a million dollar sales hook... and how you can use the same easy 4-sentence formula to stand out from the crowd and connect more deeply with your best customers and prospects.
In 2012, I escaped my corporate job to found Enchanting Marketing. I had discovered I love writing and I love teaching people how to write even more. I help small business owners and solo flyers find their voice and share their ideas with gusto, so they can captivate, educate, and inspire their audience. I created this list with 5 book recommendations as a mini-course on writing for the web. Thereâs little overlap between the books; they all complement each other. Happy reading and happy writing!
This book is a comprehensive guide on copywriting and selling by a legendary direct response writer. Itâs not specific to writing for the web but covers the basic principles of persuasion such as how to sell on emotion and help people justify a purchase with logic. It also includes many useful writing tips such as how to write the first sentence and how to sow seeds of curiosity to keep readers engaged.
Iâve probably highlighted more quotes in this book than in any other book on writing. Highly recommended!
Great copy is the heart and soul of the advertising business. In this practical guide, legendary copywriter Joe Sugarman provides proven guidelines and expert advice on what it takes to write copy that will entice, motivate, and move customers to buy. For anyone who wants to break into the business, this is the ultimate companion resource for unlimited success.
Drew Eric Whitman is known internationally as a dynamic consultant and trainer who smashes old advertising myths like a china-shop bull. Teaching the psychology behind the response for nearly four decades, he worked for the direct-marketing division of the largest ad agency in Philadelphia, was a senior copywriter for the country's leading direct-to-the-consumer insurance company, and was the associate copy chief for catalog giant Day-Timers. His work has been used by companies ranging from small retail shops to giant, multi-million dollar corporations. A popular keynote speaker at international affiliate marketing conferences, Drewâs intensive CA$HVERTISING Clinic teaches business people how to use consumer psychology to boost the effectiveness of their ads, brochures, sales letters, Websites, and more.
If you want to run ads that work, you need to learn what makes them work. This book tells you. John Caples is widely regarded to be one of historyâs most iconic advertising copywriters. The man knew how to influence people to buy. This classic book gets down to the very foundation of advertising effectiveness and is loaded with examples and success "recipes" that you can immediately apply to your own ads--no matter what you sell. 100% practical, too. Look for the 4th edition or earlier for a book that's âtotally Caplesâ without dilution by editors to "modernize" (er, weaken!) it. Miss this, and youâre missing the Queen Mary
The fifth edition of this work on how to create successful advertising features new coverage on small businesses with limited revenues, non-profit advertising, as well as techniques of headlines, illustrations and layouts. There is also new information useful to smaller businesses.
Drew Eric Whitman is known internationally as a dynamic consultant and trainer who smashes old advertising myths like a china-shop bull. Teaching the psychology behind the response for nearly four decades, he worked for the direct-marketing division of the largest ad agency in Philadelphia, was a senior copywriter for the country's leading direct-to-the-consumer insurance company, and was the associate copy chief for catalog giant Day-Timers. His work has been used by companies ranging from small retail shops to giant, multi-million dollar corporations. A popular keynote speaker at international affiliate marketing conferences, Drewâs intensive CA$HVERTISING Clinic teaches business people how to use consumer psychology to boost the effectiveness of their ads, brochures, sales letters, Websites, and more.
Hereâs a classic by the man who started it all. Claude Hopkins is regarded as one of the greatest copywriters of all time. He pioneered the âReason-Whyâ style of copywriting (telling people why to buy your product). Itâs filled with priceless stories, humor, and practical lessons you can apply to your ads immediately. Get this classic if you're truly serious about learning to create effective ads! While your competitors are floundering around scratching their heads because their ads arenât working, youâll know exactly what to do to influence people to buy NOW!
Gain a lifetime of experience from the inventor of test marketing and coupon sampling -- Claude C. Hopkins. Here, you'll get two landmark works in one, and discover his fixed principles and basic fundamentals that still prevail today.
I started my adult life as a bouncer and a school teacher. A few years later, I was running one of the most well-known email marketing agencies in the industry. The reason this happened is because I dedicated my life to becoming a master copywriter. Learning how to write copy was the key that unlocked a level of freedom I didnât know existed, both personal and financial. Itâs also allowed me to write two bestselling books on email marketing, work with 250+ brands, and coach 2,200+ students around the world. I hope this list helps you take your writing skills up a notch.
A lot of writers get all hot and bothered over Claudeâs other book, Scientific Advertising. But I think itâs somewhat boring and too theoretical. My Life In Advertising is the story of how an unknown copywriter transformed the world of advertising forever and became the most powerful man in print.
Claude wasnât a conqueror like Alexander, Caesar, or Napoleon. But when you read this book, it awakens that same spirit. This man turned himself into a legend. His story-arc is something I became cognizant of, especially as I started to build my business and get my name out there.
This one will teach you about ad writing, sure. But the more important lessons will come from how Claude became somebody in this industry.
âMy Life in Advertisingâ is an autobiography detailing the life of advertising genius Claude C. Hopkins (author of the business classic âScientific Advertisingâ). This book is not written as a personal history, but as a business story. The chief object behind every chapter is to offer helpful suggestions to those who will follow his advice. As practical as it is interesting, âMy Life in Advertisingâ is a must-read book for anyone wanting to understand the secrets of how to sell. Many of his strategies and techniques still apply today, even for internet marketing.
I started my adult life as a bouncer and a school teacher. A few years later, I was running one of the most well-known email marketing agencies in the industry. The reason this happened is because I dedicated my life to becoming a master copywriter. Learning how to write copy was the key that unlocked a level of freedom I didnât know existed, both personal and financial. Itâs also allowed me to write two bestselling books on email marketing, work with 250+ brands, and coach 2,200+ students around the world. I hope this list helps you take your writing skills up a notch.
Howard Gossage was not your typical ad man. He was cut from a different cloth. His love/hate relationship with the profession led to some innovative ad campaigns. He once ran an ad that ended mid-sentence (people were dying to know what happened next). He advertised Finna Gas by offering free balloons - filled with PINK air. He was part troll, part genius. And his style and flair are things I try to emulate with my own work.
Youâll eventually get to a point in your copy career where you feel jaded. Where youâre tired of selling your soul one sentence at a time. When you reach that point, this book will bring you back to life. Thatâs what it did for me.
I taught writing and copywriting at Columbus College of Art & Design in Ohio for thirty-seven years (retiring as an ancient-but-somehow-still-living fossil in 2014). I taught all our majors, but most of my copywriting students were advertising and design majors. During those decades I wrote nonfiction for newspapers and magazines and copy as a freelancer for ad agencies and design studios. My copywriting book emerged from my experiences in and out of the classroom. I hope Iâve given good advice on advertising: how to think about it and how to write it. But youâll be the judge.
Howard Luck Gossage was an advertising innovatorâa genius, reallyâwhose ideas leapt far ahead of traditional advertising. Working in San Francisco during the Mad Men era, he created unusual campaigns that got people involved, inviting them to reply, assist, and even create the ads themselves; in short, he devised interactive advertising before there was such a thing. His iconoclastic, liberating ideas influenced everyone. As Jeff Goodby put it, âWhen Goodby, Berlin & Silverstein was opened in 1983, we ran an ad with Howardâs picture and the headline: 'An advertising agency founded by a man whoâs been dead for 14 years.' Gossage was the plastic guy on our dashboard and we were out there hitting the gas in his honor.â When you read about how he worked, how he thought, and what he created, youâll press the pedal to the metal yourself.
This is the story of a 'sixties adman who harnessed the big ideas of his age and set out to reinvent advertising - and then change the world. In so doing he introduced interactive, PR-generating stunts, and social media - way back in the 1960s. Then he used them to save the Grand Canyon, kick-start the Green Movement, free a Caribbean island and launch Wired magazine's 'patron saint', Marshall McLuhan. And he did it all with a flamboyance that inspired the likes of Tom Wolfe, John Steinbeck and the makers of the counterculture. His name was Howard Luck Gossage. TheseâŚ
I taught writing and copywriting at Columbus College of Art & Design in Ohio for thirty-seven years (retiring as an ancient-but-somehow-still-living fossil in 2014). I taught all our majors, but most of my copywriting students were advertising and design majors. During those decades I wrote nonfiction for newspapers and magazines and copy as a freelancer for ad agencies and design studios. My copywriting book emerged from my experiences in and out of the classroom. I hope Iâve given good advice on advertising: how to think about it and how to write it. But youâll be the judge.
Among copywriting books, this is my favorite: funny, wise, indispensable. Sullivanâan exceptional advertising copywriter, creative director, and, recently, professorâshares his insights about navigating agency life and mastering the copywriterâs craft. He is especially good at how to be more creative and how to keep b.s. out of your ideas and copy (hence his title). A pleasure to read and re-read. He has helped me get past conventional, invisible advertising. I used his book in copywriting classes, and he helped my students find their best ideas. Heâll help you, too.
The new edition of the book readers call the bible for advertising
The sixth edition of Hey Whipple, Squeeze This offers a new take on the rapidly evolving industry of creative advertising. Creativity-while critical-is no longer enough to succeed. Updating all the classic creativity training from the first five editions, this updated version now provides the necessary tools to navigate the field's changing technical and social media landscapes. From learning how to tell brand stories to creating content for Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, Whipple will help sharpen your writing chops, enhance your creativity, and raise the level of your workâŚ
