Top Copywriting Books... Ever

[staceythewriter]

"The Idea Writers: Copywriting in a New Media and Marketing Era" by Teressa Iezzi

[dogstar]

"A Technique for Producing Ideas" by James Webb Young...every aspiring creative mind should read this book...whatever the pursuit...I was a copywriter for over 20 years and this was the only book that offered me any practical method to coming up with stuff...Highly recommended!

[Mark Andrews]

Marketing Outrageously: How to Increase Your Revenue by Staggering Amounts! by Jon Spoelstra

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show....Jon_Spoelstra

jon spoelstra - AbeBooks

He also wrote...

Ice to The Eskimos: How to Market a Product Nobody Wants

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...to_the_Eskimos

[Bill Jeffels]

Good stuff.

Don't forget to read Collier. Spend the money for it.

He's that guy that makes Sh*t make sense!



Jeffels




.

[Eoin: BelfastCopywriter]

I love Andy Maslen's 'Write to Sell' - excellent, practical info.

[Rabrown]

I know this isn't strictly a copyrighting - but to write any kind of creative copy for sales I found 'Whatever you think -think the opposite' a refreshing and inspiring take! Check it out

[Calamaroo]

Maybe I just missed it but...

...I am totally shocked that Elmer Wheeler's two books haven't been mentioned on this thread:

Tested Sentences That Sell: How To Use "Word Magic" To Sell More And Work Less!

Sizzlemanship: New Tested Selling Sentences

Wheeler coined the sentence "Don't sell the steak, sell the sizzle"

Also, Positioning by Al Ries and Jack Trout. Not a direct response marketing book but probably the greatest brand marketing book ever.

[kaaregarnes]

I have to recommend The Brain Audit by Sean D´Souza. More the psychology behind great copy, but still good.

[Brooke@wadeswrittenword]

Thanks for this helpful post.

I'm brand new to the forum, and though I've been a writer for sometime, I'm trying to break into this revolutionary idea of writing copy for money, rather than the peanuts that I've grown accustom to.

I wanted to add a book I came across a few years back:
"How To Make Money While You Sleep" Brett McFall

The book takes readers through a 7-step process to create a product and market it online. Chapter 6 covers the process for writing a powerful and compelling sales letter.

All in all, its an informative read, really well positioned for beginners and provides a thorough list of examples and references.

Just wanted to share and say thanks...because I haven't yet figured out how to use the forum efficiently and I don't know how to do that 'thanks' thing that everyone else is doing. When I do, I'm sure I'll be part of the 'in' group.

Cheers.
Brooke

[ejunkie]

Almost all of the greatest copywriting books have already been mentioned, I would like to add one more to the growing list.

Not exactly copywriting but essentially a marketing book, Al Ries and Jack Trout's Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind (1970s) is something every copywriter must read.

The book changed marketing forever.

There is simply no excuse for not reading about the principles of positioning. And understanding it in the context of the consumer & his mind, the product, the competition & product category.

A gem from the book: "The battleground is not the market place, it is the mind of the consumer. Conquer the mind. And you conquer the market."

And it gave birth to one of the biggest jargons in the industry .... a term advertising is now synonymous with - mindshare.

[Rentamentor]

Thanks for the Book Endorsements,

Because I had to Make Munny - from Day 1 with my Copy & SalesLetters - I spent a week reading thru all of Gary Halberts "Halbert Letter" Newsletter Back Issues.

I think his son Bond - now sells all of these as a book.

VERY VALUABLE.

Because I've Personally SEEN Gary READ one of his Newsletters to a room full of people. Then watched HUNDREDS of them RUN to buy his Product at back of room.

Not once.

Not twice.

THREE TIMES. (3 Different Newsletters - Just reading to the room!)

THIS is the kind of Copywriting You want to Learn From.

Thanks,
Glenn Osborn
Rentamentor Network

P.S. - A Profitable Copywriting Hobby: I now write sales letters that sell Stories. (UNusual - Laugh-Out-Loud -- How to Make Munny Stories Mostly.)

Welcome to EnchantedNLP.com

[brainclark456]

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell

"Not a marketing book, but a great read. And all about INCENTIVES and understanding what people want."

[MadHattie123]

Originally Posted by ejunkie

Almost all of the greatest copywriting books have already been mentioned, I would like to add one more to the growing list.

Not exactly copywriting but essentially a marketing book, Al Ries and Jack Trout's Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind (1970s) is something every copywriter must read.

Here it is:
Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind
Al Ries and Jack Trout
Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, 20th Anniversary Edition | Al Ries, Jack Trout | digital library Bookfi

[MadHattie123]

Originally Posted by WebRank1

Is it me or is The Brilliance Breakthrough - Eugene Schwartz not listed in here?
It is the best book by Eugene as far as I am concerned.

A friend just emailed me a pdf copy today. I'm printing it out right now. At first glance, it certainly seems quirky. I'll have a better idea after I actually go through it.

Has anyone here used this book? Can you report on the benefits/value of working through the assignments?

[RobAus]

Writing to sell by Andy Maslen. Just bought it as my first ever copywriting book and every page has something. Easy to read and I feel it'll help heaps with my online b2b sales. I love the fact that companies don't buy things, people do. Sounds simple but not so easy to figure out when you're deep in the product

[BizManRobert]

I learnt most of my copy writing from the late Gary Halbert (RIP)
However, I notice you don't have Dr Robert Cialdini mentioned in your list.
(sorry if he is mentioned in this thread as I have not read through all the posts)

Just want to mention this book: Dr Robert Cialdini's
Influence: Science and Practice (5th Edition)
Why?
Becasuse if YOU don't study it and don't use his tactics in you're copy...you are effectively leaving money on the table!
This book is a must have for ALL copywriters.

You can get a second hand copy from amazon for around 12 bucks.
I would of gladly paid $500 for this with the tactics I gleaned from this GREAT book

[rabbroon]

Thanks for tips everyone, already have a couple of these gems on order.
Another something to look out for which relates not necesseraly to copywriting but to being succesfull is The Mind Factor by Karl Morris.

[ThomasOMalley]

I just finished reading Great Leads by Michael Masterson and John Forde.

Great info. on creating the most powerful headlines and lead paragraphs for your sales letter based on the stage of market awareness.

[HimanshuS]

All these books are pure gems. I haven't read all, but read reviews and mentions about most of them. However, I didn't find anybody mentioning Joe Vitale's "Hypnotic Writing" here. I have read that several times, and I personally feel it is a wonderful book on this subject.

[buddhabux]

hey fellow copywriters,

check out this little-known gem, has full sales scripts. how to counter objections, basically street smart NLP from the trenches of face to face selling (eg selling ginza knives on the Atlantic City boardwalk!).

a treasury of cool old school selling easily translated to the printed word, its available on AMZ for 1 cent.

Ed McMahon's Superselling: Performance Techniques for High-Volume Sales

much success, david alan ramsdale, m.a.

[ykaw97]

That would be "The Robert Collier Letter Book." So many ideas and principals are in this book and no one should be without it.

[kevin dubrosky]

Originally Posted by HimanshuS

All these books are pure gems. I haven't read all, but read reviews and mentions about most of them. However, I didn't find anybody mentioning Joe Vitale's "Hypnotic Writing" here. I have read that several times, and I personally feel it is a wonderful book on this subject.

Yup. Great book on writing in general.

One more (if no one has mentioned it yet):

Writing That Works
Kenneth Roman + Joel Raphaelson

It's a bit outdated as far as cultural references and cutting-edge technology, but it's fundamentally sound in my estimation.

[podcastcoach]

I just started reading "Writing Riches" by Ray Edwards (who also has a great podcast).

[FullMontySEO]

I just checked out this this list and I would agree with every single book here. However, getting to the copywriting doesn't stop at just reading the right books. One thing that really helped me is reading the ads of all of these copywriters.

Get a swipe file. Read at least one ad every single day out loud. Another thing you can do is Get a pen pad of paper and write out only the top performing ads by hand. Yes, this is tedious. But it works!

To swipe files that I personally own and recommend are:

Hard to find ads by Michael Senoff
Lawrence Bernstein's Ultimate Marketing Swipe File.

Cheers!

[PranaProjects]

Originally Posted by FullMontySEO

Get a swipe file. Read at least one ad every single day out loud. Another thing you can do is Get a pen pad of paper and write out only the top performing ads by hand. Yes, this is tedious. But it works!

To swipe files that I personally own and recommend are:

Hard to find ads by Michael Senoff
Lawrence Bernstein's Ultimate Marketing Swipe File.

Cheers!

I heard great copywriters like Bob Bly and David Garfinkel suggest that too. Thanks for sharing about the swipe files you own. Can you share the link where we can get those? Thanks!

[UKCopyKing]

Seth Godin's "Small Is The New Big", combined with Andy Maslen's "Write to Sell", were the 2 books that made a huge difference to me.

[thatjc]

Thanks so much for the excellent list of books for copywriters!

To add my 2 cents - I'm studying the book in your list, "Influence - The Psychology of Persuasion" by Robert Cialdini". By the way, it's now available on Amazon as a Kindle eBook, at a low price.

I'm finding it to have great potential power in leveraging the principles of persuasion revealed by Social Psychology research.

As a student (expert?) on/of Visual Communication and landing page design, I'm also working on integrating those Social Psychology persuasion principles into web page visual design rules and into the landing page sales processes.

Thanks again for the awesome list!

_jc

[jachu2]

Thanks! That is a great list. I shall read some of these to further improve my marketing and copywriting strategies.
I also think you should add, 'How to Win Friends and Influence People'. Even though this treasure is not directly related to copywriting, it is still one of my favourite books for understanding people.

[Sam Fitz]

Thanks for creating this list! I'm currently reading "INFLUENCE - The Psychology of Persuasion" by Robert Cialdini. Ph.D. I noticed a few people mentioned it here, but being about 2/3 of the way through and thoroughly enjoying it, I wanted to second the recommendation. I like that although almost everything it discusses can be applied to sales, it is presented as "psychology" and therefore has the appeal associated with a broader audience than just salespeople.

[mstrmindmktg]

Writing Riches by Ray Edwards. This book talks about how to write sales letters, emails, etc. He's been a copywriter for some top companies and internet marketers. Great book.

[Ryan Kuchel]

A really good book I am currently reading is John Carltons new book "The Entrepreneurs Guide To Getting Your Shit Together".
Motivational, entertaining and really good for copywriting.