Michael Masterson copywriting course (AIWA)- anyone has any experience on it?

If you went to www.awaionline.com and looked at the board members, you will realize that all are 'successful' copywriters or entrepreneurs. Their endorsement of this course, that has been around for more than a decade, could tell you that it is value for money.

Whether the course is good or bad will depend on individual preferences and expectations. However, if you want to start a career in copywriting, it is certainly a good starting point.

Perhaps you may consider the online edition. Take a preview and if you find it wanting, ask for a refund before the expiry of the guarantee.

The AWAI’s Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting is a solid and relatively comprehensive introduction to copywriting.

It is what you make of it, but if you have the persistence and dedication to complete the course, that says something about you as a copywriter. Completing it will open some doors for you, as it provides a known baseline of your skillset.

Many of today's professional copywriters got their start with this course. One advantage is that it provides a broad overview of the industry's many possible products (with exercises), as opposed to the scattered snippets one might find by self-education on the web. This allows you to become familiar with a wide range of products, and perhaps find areas that you really like working with.

Overall, by most accounts the program is a solid investment, if one is willing to put in the time to learn the lessons therein.

Strictly speaking from a personal viewpoint...

I don't think it's that great...it's a fluff course in the basics.

My recommendation is that you find a mentor and work with them...you get one-on-one experience.

I think McLeod, Strong, Montello, Humphreys, Raydal, Arfa, Walker, Copy Nazi, and others offer mentoring (didn't mean to leave anyone out, check the posts).

It's best if you can work with someone while learning...you get a whole lot more out of it.

I echo what Max5ty and Harlan say. I purchased the course many years ago. Once you get on their mailing list, you're beseiged with their other "course" offerings in different topic area.

Very aggressive marketing.

There are some AWAI followers who have cult-like allegiance to them, but I personally didn't find the course anything extraordinary.

Ina

Hi,

I don't own it but the feedback I've heard from other copywriters who do own it has been mostly negative.

Mentoring is a great way to learn strong copywriting skills.

If cash is an issue, then I'd suggest taking the $500 the AWAI course costs and buy a bunch of the Recommended Copywriting Books (sticky thread in this forum) instead. It will take you longer to read multiple copywriting books and start applying them but that's the tradeoff when you're working with limited funds.

If funds aren't an issue, I'd head to Clayton Makepeace's site and contact him. Clayton retired last year and closed his info-product business as well.

I'd still suggest asking if he has any copies of his Quick Start Copywriting System that remaining and buy it. Hands-down, it's the most comprehensive and best copywriting course or book I've ever read... and I'm saying that after having studying 40+ copywriting books, courses, and videos.

I know a number of people who really like John Carlton's "Simple Writing System" but I thought his "Kick-Ass Copywriting Secrets of a Marketing Rebel" course was a lot better.

Checking John's site, it looks like you can get an **awesome** deal on the Kick-Ass course ($99) right now. Here's a non-affiliate link to John's Kick-Ass course:

John Carlton - Kick-Ass Copywriting Secrets | Marketing Rebel

One last point.

The one thing I really like about studying multiple sources is each one has a different teaching style or way of explaining things. The way one author explains something like bullets might sound okay to you but then you read someone else and WHAM! It really connects with you and you GOT it.

Hope that helps,

Mike

$500 does buy a lot of books, so the AWAI copywriting course is just another choice. Some people get something out of it, some don't, but it's a risk-free test drive to try it and see. It's been around a long time and updated, so it must have something going for it.

You won't be able to immediately retire to the beach and make hundreds of thousands of dollars while scrunching golden sand between your squirmy little toes, but it's a step in the right direction.

I've taken and completed the course and one other course. Solid information. Stick with it. There is A LOT to learn from it. I recommend it. AWAI is tops in my book.
Susan

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I really appreciate it. Seems like 50% are for AIWA and 50% are against. Harlan's link on it being a 'scam' is interesting.

On getting a mentor, like RickDuris and Max proposed, I wish I had the money. I'm pretty sure it's really expensive and I'm not at that stage yet. I'm a beginner and just started studying the art. Although hopefully once I'm fluent at it, I will definitely seek a coach.

I saw the course on ebay for a fraction of the price so I might take the risk and buy it.

AWAI must have been different 10 years ago. It's not a "joke" like Harlan says and I've never sufferred "very aggressive marketing" from them. At least not compared to the IM lists I'm on after buying WSO's.

It is, however, a pretty big course and an easy one to not follow through with.

Jason Fladlien has a course that's real thorough on all aspects of copywriting. It's faster paced and will definately keep your interest longer. It's called "Stopwatch Copywriting". I don't have enough posts to leave a link to it, but it's easy to find.

Thanks guys, I do have Jason's product and it's off the hook

I've taken all the above mentioned courses for copywriting and they all have good qualities. At the end of the day if you've got a project that you want to throw a letter together. "The Ultimate Sales Letter" by Dan S Kennedy will take you through the process and you'll not be so light in the pocket.
It's a book not a course good starting point and you won't get bogged down with info overload.

I put my copy up for sale here a couple of months ago, and no one took it. Let me know if you want it, and we can talk.

Mel

You are right, the AWAI copywriting course was originally a mail-in course. It has been around for a while; I think it was started around 1996 or 1997.

Personally speaking, the course gave me a solid foundation presented in a structured manner to start with, and made it much easier to study the masters later on.

There is one thing about the AWAI course that sets it apart. As a structured course from an established business, it attracts many people from business that need to use copywriting in their day-to-day jobs. They may be full-time copywriters, but they are working inside other companies.

Others really are living their dream. Take travel copywriters with a sideline in photography, for example. It's not traditional copywriting per se, but many make enough money to travel the world and go where they want. While some are article writers, others are really copywriters, as in travel writing to encourage foreign property investments.

The internet has opened up many new opportunities as well. One AWAI member loves animals, for example, and has built a successful online business around animal-related copywriting. She apparently loves the niche she has created for herself.

I have heard it said time and time again - to truly enjoy copywriting, one needs to pick a niche one has passion for. Ideally, the job becomes one where someone says "I can't believe they pay me to do this" or "I'm enjoying this so much I can't believe I'm making a living doing it."

You're right in saying that sales letter is aimed at dreamers, and probably the majority of people that start the course never become copywriters. Anything that sounds too good to be true usually is.

But for some people, it sets in motion the steps to throw off the chains of their oppressive 8-5 drudgery jobs, and they'll get to spend a little more time with the family, have a little extra spending money, whatever makes them a little happier.

Most will never be masters of copywriting making oodles of money while writing multi-million-dollar controls from the beach, but they don't need to be, they just need to be good enough to reach their own goals. If they don't like it, they can always go back to their boring corporate jobs...but once they've tasted the freedom, that's hard to do.

I think it depends on how far along you are in your development. I got a copy of it about 2 years ago, wasn't that impressed. Then again, at that point I'd been copywriting already for a long time and most of it was stuff I'd heard before. I imagine if I'd picked it up ten years earlier, my response would have been much different.

Look, if you want the real deal - John Carlton's stuff is the best. At least join his Marketing Rebel Membership Club - it's like $59 ($1 to try) watch the videos and listen to tapes there.

From what I've heard you're better off reading everything on thegaryhalbertletter.com and the get all you can from John Carlton, Dan Kennedy, Gary Halbert and Eben Pagan. You'll have more than enough ammo to succeed.

I have looked through some of the AWAI stuff - the biggest problem is that they can't tell you the whole truth because they need to stay politically correct. So what you get is watered down reality.

If you take the AWAI course and have no other resources, it's OK (not great, just OK). But if you compare the AWAI course to other copywriting classes, it falters. It's not in the same league as John Carlton's SWS. Not THAT'S a real course!

I haven't seen that course, but it is aimed at complete beginners, right?

That is my big problem with it.

There is nothing easier than putting together a fluffed up "course" for beginners and sell it at a premium, while there are dozens of books that cost less than $20 and contain much more information, and often are written by someone who actually knows a thing or two about copy.

If someone new wants to learn copywriting.. Write copy, read copy, read books, repeat.

Then, when you have the basics down, you could approach a mentor - and actually stand a chance of getting mentored.

I actually got their email for Clayton's product. I'm definitely thinking about it but I have to pass due to the price. I actually went and got John Carlton's Freelance Copywriter course which includes KickAss Copywriting so I'm pretty excited about it.

I love John Carlton's style and approach but have never tried his course. I did however have one of my newsletter subscribers tell me that the exercises were very niche and demographic specific and that she was frustrated that she wasn't getting more instruction about specific psychology of sales writing.

That's my main beef with a lot of the copywriting training out there. Too vague, telling you what to do and why it works but not enough step by step specifics on HOW to do it: “write with emotion, get their attention, appeal to their vanity, write like you talk.“ It's like a lot of experienced copywriters are poor teachers becauseof their experience. They know the stuff so well they forgot the steps it took to get there.

It takes more than just good copywriting skills to put together a good course, for both newbies and advanced writers.

Looks very interesting and complete. I also join the request, if anyone can contribute with more experiences it would be fantastic.

The AWAI course was my intro to sales writing. It'll definitely teach you more than the same money spent on college courses, but if I had it to do over again, I'd spend the money on the books that Gary Halbert recommends here:

The Gary Halbert Letter

Add Dan Kennedy's Ultimate Sales Letter to that and you're well on your way.

That book has more useful information than the AWAI course in it, and it costs less than 5% what the AWAI course costs!

You can also find The Robert Collier Letter Book at your local BN store (or have them order it for you); once I read that book, I could see more "moving parts" in sales copy that used to seem "slick & glassy" to me (i.e. I could see how the sales letters were done after reading it, instead of thinking, "Oh wow this guy's slick, his sales writing's great but I have no idea how he's doing it."). It's not as explicit as the Dan Kennedy book but in some ways it will teach you more.

The AWAI course does teach you the basics, but for the same money, you can find a much better education. It -is- a good way to learn how to market to would-be copywriters and the work-at-home crowd. As someone here said, they will market to you very aggressively--you'll get lots of direct mail from AWAI for a long time to come. It's a smart process that you can learn from. There are also lots of "Aren't you glad you bought this?" and "Let us encourage you," moments in the AWAI course. You can learn from that, too. But for $400 or $500, you can learn more via other materials.

The AWAI course was my intro to sales writing. It'll definitely teach you more than the same money spent on college courses, but if I had it to do over again, I'd spend the money on the books that Gary Halbert recommends here:

The Gary Halbert Letter

Add Dan Kennedy's Ultimate Sales Letter to that and you're well on your way.

That book has more useful information than the AWAI course in it, and it costs less than 5% what the AWAI course costs!

You can also find The Robert Collier Letter Book at your local BN store (or have them order it for you); once I read that book, I could see more "moving parts" in sales copy that used to seem "slick & glassy" to me (i.e. I could see how the sales letters were done after reading it, instead of thinking, "Oh wow this guy's slick, his sales writing's great but I have no idea how he's doing it."). It's not as explicit as the Dan Kennedy book but in some ways it will teach you more.

The AWAI course does teach you the basics, but for the same money, you can find a much better education. It -is- a good way to learn how to market to would-be copywriters and the work-at-home crowd. As someone here said, they will market to you very aggressively--you'll get lots of direct mail from AWAI for a long time to come. It's a smart process that you can learn from. There are also lots of "Aren't you glad you bought this?" and "Let us encourage you," moments in the AWAI course. You can learn from that, too. But for $400 or $500, you can learn more via other materials.

The AWAI course teaches the basics. It concentrates on writing a direct mail package. I know there are advert samples in one textbook, but that is not all what copywriting is about.It must embrace all "forms of writing that offers a product or service for sale."

It indicates that making money, lots of money is easy! It is not when you are new. A few of the masters who offer their private coaching charge very high fees --- almost doubling the amount one paid when he did the actual course.

The waste part of it is that it leaves its graduates without seriously coaching them on how to get the clients. On one's own a new graduate could spend years without making money. One on one is the best way to do it.

racso316,

I'm going to take a slightly different approach and hopefully, in answering your query, you'll get some solid food for thought, OK?

Let me call this, BEFORE YOU BUY ANYTHING...

It has been my experience that too many people, especially those who have been fired up on copywriting as a Biz-Op tend to put the cart before the horse.

Square One, is to answer the question: What do you want?

Because the answer to the question will lead you, almost magically, to the right information, education and mentor.

See, some people want to learn copywriting so they can build a business, in other words they are Entrepreneurs and businessmen and they feel learning how to write copy will help them build their business.

I'd venture that MOST who visit here, and have an interest in copywriting are first, good writers. They have a command of the language, have written most of their lives, and they THINK they can transition to copywriting and earn their ez six figures a year...

AND there are some who do. Especially those who have written in the dramatic arts and have a grasp of storytelling structure.

HOWEVER, one of the things which is overlooked by many is this:

All those MASTERS and greats believed and were taught that copywriting is actually SALESMANSHIP IN PRINT. In the Halbert newsletter referred to above

The Gary Halbert Letter

You'll see some very specific books and people to learn from and even what not to do and what not to read...

I'd refer almost all new wannabee copywriter's to this newsletter.

Gary calls Claude Hopkins "the greatest ad man who ever lived".

In Chapter 2, "Just Salesmanship", in his book, Scientific Advertising, Claude Hopkins writes this:

"Advertising is salesmanship. Its principles are the principles of salesmanship. Successes and failures in both lines are due to like causes. Thus every advertising question should be answered by the salesman's standards. IT IS PROFITABLE OR UNPROFITABLE ACCORDING TO ITS ACTUAL SALES."

Read and study the masters, and you'll find almost all of them were schooled in salesmanship, usually the door to door or cold calling or face to face kind. The HARD kind to do.

In presenting copywriting as a biz-op, the hype and hyperbole comes in, the old...

quick, easy, fast appeals...
if you can write you can write copy...
make lots of dough sitting in your underwear knocking out some copy

in other words, all the standard BIZ-OP appeals you might find in Entrepreneur Magazine or Money Making Opportunites...

Even the IM guru, with their 2,000 dollar launches make it sound EASY, in fact, most hit you over the head with how LITTLE work it takes (irony in some email that tells you to get off my list if you don't want to work your Azz off, cause they're on the list because they were TOLD how ez it was...hmmmm)...

So, some study, and even better some time spent SELLING face to face, is one way you can expedite your copywriting.

Salesmanship studies should accompany your copy studies. But, that is the exact reason why so many good WRITERS want to write copy, cause they can't stand the thought of selling something face to face, and thus, they come to the field unprepared, thinking it is WRITING.

But back to Square ONE, and my apologies, this could be two part post, because I have a lot to cover.

Let me state, I've been to Del Ray, reviewed all of the AWAI courses...and they aren't good or bad...it has to do with your point of entry...

In most cases you become loyal to your first love, or infatuation...so if your first encounter to copywriting as a biz-op is Gary Halbert, you stay loyal to Sir Gary.

Likewise if your first blush is with Dan Kennedy or Jay Abraham, or Clayton or Bencivenga...you'll have a tendency to be consistent...

Commitment and Consistency as R. Cialdini would explain it.

AND, if your first encounter is followed by a substantial investment, then your LOYALTY to that person is over the moon. Which is why we see some people so high on AWAI... and others not so hot on it.

I would discount any opinion by ANYONE who has been on the AWAI board or a part of the group who no longer is...there could be a lot of sour grapes there...

But, the question...What do YOU want?

Can you write a three sentence paragraph telling what you want, followed by an exact figure you'd like to earn, and how you think this will happen?

I've read all their materials. I don't have a positive opinion, but, I don't have a negative one big enough to tell you NO. I don't know you. And what you want. I do think workshops, with this type of job fair could be extremely valuable to anyone who is going to NETWORK and make connections. IF you know what you want to do.

I want to talk about Entrepreneurs vs Copywriters to help give you further understanding and may help you make a choice as how to spend your money.

Even if you have unlimited funds, you should carefully choose the material and don't buy everything. Before You Buy Anything...clarify your goal, know what you want...

And this will help you to make decisions on what to buy, what to study, who to follow, etc. More on this in the Part Two Post, OK?

gjabiz

I own this course -- bought it many years ago -- and I think it's a good introduction to copywriting. My life took a major U turn, so I'm just now getting back into copywriting and thinking of going through the course again. I do get annoyed with AWAI's aggressive marketing -- it's a turnoff.

I highly recommend "Web Copy That Sells," by Maria Veloso. I think it's fantastic. (I skimmed this thread so if someone else mentioned it, I guess I'll second it!)

Since I have known AWAI a very long time I'm going to say a few words.

Back when it came out, the AWAI course was groundbreaking. There were no direct mail copywriting courses. Outside of marketing stuff for entrepreneurs like Dan Kennedy, Gary Halbert, etc.

However, since then, the great teachers all came out and did their own courses that went much, much deeper.

The course is absolutely basic. However, mastering the fundamentals is a key to success. There is a lack of practical application though. In terms of exactly how to writing strong, emotionally compelling copy.

You could probably learn more from observing their marketing machinery, than from the basics of the course. They are major league when it comes to marketing their courses and all the followup emails, etc. Just realize that they are marketing copywriting as a biz op. I think that's why many say it's a scam. However, I'm not aware of anything unethical or illegal ever being done by them.

Get The Copywriters Handbook by Bob Bly. That covers the basics for $10.

Some people are cult-like about them because like Dan Kennedy, they definitely foster the dependence and membership mentality a lot. They are also heavily geared toward the larger mainstream direct marketing companies. After all that's why they started supposedly...to get more good copywriters for the big direct marketing companies.

What they leave out is telling people that only a handful of people out of the thousands who get the course, will ever have the determination and dedication to get good enough to get to that point.

How many copywriters are making over $100,000 a year? AWAI trained or not.

Not too many.

Dan Kennedy, Bob Bly and Gary Halbert all have good stuff you can read without spending tons of moolah. Also, my favorite copy book is Cashvertising

Hello! It works pretty well. I have researched about it and there were lots of positive reviews about it and a little negatives but it was very effective according to most reviews. i haven't came across with that personally but I'll try as soon as possible.

It is solid, but as already mentioned there are much more thorough and more useful courses available today, that weren't available 10 years ago.

A lot of personal mentoring? I don't think so. I mean I'm in their high-end courses and even there, there isn't a lot of mentoring. Some peer reviews which are useful, but I'm not aware of any extensive mentoring as part of the basic course.

It's good as a basic primer, but not beyond that as far as completely developing your skills as a professional copywriter. The information is extremely basic. There masters course on the other hand goes much deeper, but the price tag is comparable with other courses that are again more thorough.

Copywriting is an art. I don't believe that anyone can be a great copywriter in just one day or a week. If you're new to copywriting, you can take a course just to help you with the basics. Once you know the basics then you can look for a mentor who can help you develop your copywriting skills.

In the end it depends on the person. What works for some may not work for others. If you're the persistent type of person who does his own research then you don't need any course in copywriting. The point is you need to have several resources to be good at copywriting. Those resources can include online courses about copywriting, mentoring and your very own research.

Wow this is a wild ride of a thread. I purchased this through a IM Group I was a part of that probably was a majority of the AWAI group. I think the group was called the Highlanders.

And that was because they were a group of Successful Marketers who wanted to give back. But unfortunately I moved an lost the information to stay in the group.

It had the likes of Ted Nicholas, Jay Abraham, Michael Masterson and more. The course may have cost me $59 at the time. I also never got started on it. Now I am interested in trying it out and was coming here to see if anyone thought it was worth it. So now I am definitely going to finish the course to see what my thoughts are on it.

I am surprised a group of top marketers with their reputations would put their names on the course if it was that bad. But this was about 10 years ago and the information may have been good at the time in their minds. :confused:

I'm taking the course. I ordered it back in February after spending many months researching and thinking. My schedule has allowed for me to work at it only sporadically, but I have about 200 pages (of almost 600, I think) left. When I'm finished I'm going to write a review. Interestingly, when I was looking for reviews all I found were those written by bloggers who'd gotten the course for free. My review won't be as glowing, and I have nothing to compare it to, but I do think the course is a decent starting point.