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The Best Books on Copywriting (34)

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We will be running an internship programme this summer, and as part of designing the programme, several of our employees have suggested good books for the interns to read on various aspects of online marketing.

Here are some top recommendations on copywriting books which you have find helpful:

• Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
• Influence by Robert Cialdini
• Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz
• Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples
• Cashvertising by Eric Whitman
• Advertising Secrets of the Written Word by Joe Sugarman
• Elements of Copywriting by Robery W. Bly
• Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy
• My Life In Advertising by Claude Hopkins
• Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This by Luke Sullivan
• Copywriting: Successful Writing for Design, Advertising, and Marketing by Mark Shaw
• The Adweek Copywriting Handbook by Joseph Sugarman
• The Copy Book by Alastair Crompton
• The Idea Writers by Terssa Iezzi
• Words That Work by Frank Luntz
• Ogily on Advertising by David Ogilvy
• To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others by Daniel Pink
• D&AD The Copy Book by D&AD

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I've read, Tested Advertising Methods, Cashvertising, Confessions of an Advertising Man and Ogily on Advertising. All great books. Anything by Ogilvy is gold.

This shows how much Ogilvy was ahead of his time:



As soon as I finished reading them, I would always write new blog posts implementing these methods. Looking back on my blog, I can see a massive writing style change after I started reading these books.

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Solid! My favorite book on copywriting so far.

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+1 for Eugene Schwartz. BA is an amazing read on how to redirect the power of human want into whatever direction you want it to go, instead of trying to "generate" desire outright like a lot of marketing tries to do.

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I see everyone on the copywriting community refer to Scientific Advertising, from Claude Hopkins. You can get it free on google.

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I haven't read anything except parts of cashvertising.

I can confidently say though throughout the 8 years i've been in affiliate marketing, the biggest successes I've had/ biggest change in conversion rates from exciting campaigns are due to my copy. Usually the angles i take, but it all comes down to the copy, design comes after.

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@cmdeals -- these books are classics. However, if you want to get your copywriter on fast track to success, and don't have years for them to spend on basics and get to today's discoveries -- I, contrary to everyone who doesn't understand what these books talk about, would recommend other materials to start with.

In the world of top gun copywriters -- mention something against Ogilvy, Eugene, Capels... and you are spitted on immediately.

So -- that caused people to blindly accept those books, which indeed are true classics... and give the theory of Kung Fu to solders preparing for battle in one month.

If you have one month to prepare -- you don't read theory -- YES, it is all good, but not for your use -- you maybe don't even read about proper stance, what you do read about is - dirty tricks that get results.

If you have two months, you learn about proper stance and the tricks

if you have five months, then you read theory of Kung Fu, then you read about stance, basic techniques and yes, dirty tricks.

So - if you understand my post, you'll be greatly rewarded because your men will be on winning path faster.

If you don't, those classics are still good books to read and mandatory for any serious copywriter. Peace.

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What books/ways of learning copywriting do you recommend in that case?

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I'm also interested to know if you have any recommendation for the part in bold. Since I don't have much free time.

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Ca$hvertising always seemed like the handbook for copywriting to me. There's a killer summary of it on WF

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Thank you for the great recommendations.

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I would also recommend keeping a file folder of good copy that you see "in the wild" for various online offers.

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As for improving your writing, I have found that these 10 secrets really do work:

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Advertising Secrets of the Written Word by Joe Sugarman is really tough to find. Here's a PDF copy for anyone that wants it: https://www.dropbox.com/s/yk5xqwzs5n...%20Secrets.pdf

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Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples is a MUST READ . My all time favorite.

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My first read of the day: http://www.marketingbullets.com/archive.htm (from Gary Bencivenga)

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If there's one book or course on copywriting that talks about the subconscious mind and persuasive stuff, what would you guys advice?
I love to see examples so I understand it better. Not just the knowledge...

Anyone?

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Breakthrough Advertising is by far my favorite marketing book of all time. It's not a good starter book; the target market is intermediate copywriters.

It teaches how to view business through a copywriter's eyes -- and turn anything into a profitable venture through appealing to the underlying needs of the population as a whole.

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This one not only has TONS of information in it. That includes stuff about the industry itself that copywriting books rarely talk about.

Also it's freaking inspiring, and more page-turning than the latest bestseller.

Scroll on down the page a bit to see the titles & links. I've got most of them as one PDF file, if anybody wants.

http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com/...r-archives.htm

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Does anyone have a PDF file of ''Breakthrough Advertising'' by Eugene Schwartz?

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Id also add 'Hero with a Thousand Faces' by joseph campbell. Its a book on storytelling.

Campbell analyzes all the most memorable 'stories' throughout history, the story of moses, jeses, the odyssey, buddha, and other tales that have been engrained in world cultures for thousands of years, and picks apart exactly WHY they are so memorable... its extremely enlightening.

You basically see elements of these stories in all advertorials that work well. Once you understand the formula for a good story, its incredible, replicatable, and empowering. It makes creating ads/landers/vsls much easier.

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Smart! Soemthing else I've noticed: The PUA formula for getting from "Hello" to the bedroom is very similar to the stages of a long-form sales letter. At least "The Mystery Method" is, and most PUA stuff I've seen tends to follow this sort of "sales funnel".

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@johnaff - if you like "Hero With A Thousand Faces" for copywriting, I'd also recommend Robert McKee's "Story". It's a comprehensive analysis of why and how stories work on a less anthropological and more structural level than "Thousand Faces".

I hadn't really thought about it before, but a lot of my copywriting is influenced by the knowledge in "Story".

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Drew Whitman's Ca$hvertising is the classic.

He will be speaking at the Affiliate World Asia conference in December. He is a terrific speaker, and that is an amazing opportunity to ask questions to the master copywriter directly.

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I'm wondering... What's more efficient, audio books or simply reading? If I just let these audio books play in the background while I'm working, will my brain remember? Does anyone have experience with this?

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I don't have retention study data, but I'd be astonished if you'd retain much of an audio book that's on in the background whilst you're doing brain-intensive work. Background talking does nasty things to primary task concentration too - there have been studies on that. ( Look for studies on open offices vs individual offices )

Personally I find written books far more efficient, but a) I speedread and b) I don't usually have dead time where audio would fit and reading won't.

If you've got time when you can't read but you're doing low-brainpower activities audio books are great uses of that time.

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I would imagine for copywriting books, you probably need to see the copy on the page.

This is just like if you want to learn about music, you need to listen to it and not just read about it.

That said, for more conceptual, or "big idea" type books, I am sure you can learn as much from listening, or watching, as you do from reading.

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Personally I dont think this works. You need to concentrate on what is being said.
I really like audio books in the Gym, while running, or while I'm going from A to B.

I really like it in the gym: It doesnt make you feel so stupid of what your doing and you spend your time very efficient.
This is something I'm going to try soon: leave your phone somewhere in the middle of the gym, so you can use bluetooth headphones for a wireless experience.

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I see "Hero with a thousand faces" mentioned... about the monomyth, aka Hero's journey... and then McKee's "story".

There's a third book that combines the wisdom of the two and is far easier to read and digest: "The Writer's Journey."

I've read a fair bit about and by Joseph Campbell and his writing can be very abstract at times. If I could recommend only one book about the monomyth, "The Writer's Journey" would be it.

It explains all the stages of the hero's journey, but specifically for writers.

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BrainScripts for Sales Success: 21 Hidden Principles of Consumer Psychology for Winning New Customers from Drew Eric Whitman is not bad as well.

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Hello, do you know where I can get a copy of the book, Quick Start Copywriting System?

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I found it much less useful than Cashvertising, if I am being honest ... at least for AM.

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Do you still have the PDFs available?

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I highly recommend reading The Adweek Copywriting Handbook - it quickly became probably my number 1, or rather tied in with Cashvertising. The methods Joe Sugarman uses are just awesome, tested them and they work like a charm. Especially useful for eCommerce.

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