What are the best books to learn copywriting?

Thanks for the response! I think it's about time to hit the library for some summer reading!

That was gonna be my suggestion...having read through to your post and while agreeing with those listed so far, being surprised at not seeing that one.

So, the OP wants to be a copywriter, eh? Any book will get you started, and after 1001, you'll have an education. Will you be able to write copy after reading a thousand books? Who knows, but I'd wager, NO.

Here is a very simple book to get started, and very affordable. By Vic Schwab; HOW TO WRITE A GOOD ADVERTISEMENT.

Why? Because it is basic and simple and has the elements covered you'll find in all the books.

But here comes MY REPRISE:

INTENT. All copy writing should BEGIN there. What do you want your words to do?

Once you understand your copy is the STIMULUS, a way to get ONE person interested enough to DO something, then you start at the end, the result, or the intent of the copy.

One reason we harp on target markets and 'starving crowds' is because we know those are the easiest people to move toward the result we seek.

So, all copy is a STIMULUS /RESPONSE mechanism. A machine to move the reader from one place at the beginning to another, at the end. The in between has scores of paths, outlines, blueprints, models to follow...and that is most often what you'll find in almost all books on writing copy.

Usually, a copywriter with experience writes about a process or method which he/she has found to work. The most common ones are FORMULAS.

LIKE; Attention, Interest, Desire, Conclusion, Action, Satisfaction. This just one of many like minded formulas, some have proof elements, others add steps, just depends on what the copywriter's experience is or was, often determines what formula he creates to sell his books.

HERE is one for free, and covers what many pages in scores of books tries to get you to understand...

NO one wakes up hoping to read your BRILLIANT words, not even your beloved mother desires to see your latest and greatest attempt at copy. So, lesson one is

IT IS NOT ABOUT YOU OR YOUR BRILLIANT WRITING.

Copy is a stimulus to get your reader to RE ACT to it and then, maybe,
ACT upon it.

In order for that to happen, it has to be seen. And read (or heard or watched).

This is one of the weakest links in all the copywriting books, I call it the INTERSECTION where your copy meets your target.

Will it be old school mail order, a letter in the mail? Or a TV ad? Radio? Newspaper (god forbid)?...

An email, web site; landing page, capture page, sales page, link, YouTube video, Instagram picture, Facebook ad or Group post?

IT is a critical consideration and the one most often overlooked. A BAD, in fact a poorly written piece of copy can have great results IF the right intersection is used, and the best copywriters in the world will bomb (like Halbert did with his "fatty" radio ad, ZERO responses), if they choose the wrong place to intersect with their target.

Yet it often is one of the last things thought of, we see it all the time in this section and in copywriting blogs and groups all across the Internet.

IF you begin with the INTENT of getting one person to respond to your stimulus, then, logically, you figure out where they are at, where you will create your INTERSECTION, and because you know and understand, that not even dear ol mom is waiting for your brilliant copy, you must get your TARGET'S attention.

How? Because you know they are PREOCCUPIED with something, because they are the target, eh? And you create a pre-occupational interrupter at the intersection.

From there, any one of the 27 or more formulas can be applied, or it can be as simple as they have a PROBLEM, you have a SOLUTION. Or simpler NEED/WANT - PRODUCT/SERVICE

All the books you will ever read, and may you read them all, will bring you full circle back to the stimulus/response mechanism.

So, even before you begin with INTENT of your copy, a better GO square or starting point would be an understanding of human needs, wants and motivation and as our own Princess of the WF has pointed out, one needs look no further than the mirror to see a human being with needs and wants and a well known buying history. A good as place as any to start.

Then grab a copy of Vic's book. See the simple structure, and review your last dozen buys. What did you buy, from whom, and why?

What got your attention? What persuaded you to buy? Did your decision follow the pattern of those books? Was there a headline or picture which got your attention?

Then what happened? Then what?

Good luck in your copywriting adventures, it has become a CHEAP commodity to be had for pennies these days, some 20 thousand so-called copywriters available at Freelancer, Fiverr, etc.

Yet, the 1% club will make it big, and maybe Max5ty will give you a ride on his private jet, because that COULD be the reward for a person serious enough to understand what copy is and isn't, and the big thing, it isn't about YOU, but what you can do for them.

GordonJ