What are the best books to learn copywriting?

[Jasper]

I’m just starting to learn copywriting. What are the best books for me to read to improve my skill?

[Stardust]

Hi,

2 books I recommend are Bob Bly, The Copywriter’s Handbook and Joe Sugarman, The Adweek Copywriting Handbook.

If you’re just getting started both of these are great to learn from

[SARubin]

Hey Jasper,

It really depends on where you’re starting from, and how far you want to go?

Assuming that you’re talking about actual “copywriting” (and not “content” writing) The two books mentioned above are pretty good books for you to read.

And for getting your mind in the right place, I’d also recommend The Robert Collier Letter Book (it’s around 100 years old so some of the language is a bit outdated. But the concepts are timeless) This book will give you the base foundation for learning how to understand your target market.

And you might also want to look at Eugene Schwartz Brilliance Breakthrough. Right in the opening chapter he tells you to throw away most of the grammar rules you learned in school. Because if you want to sell with the written word, then you need to write like people talk. (and to quote Mark Twain… “If we learned to speak, the way we learned to write… we’d all stutter”)

On top of that… I suggest studying some winning sales pieces to understand the structure and flow of good sales copy.


But the #1 thing I’d recommend is to learn a little, then put it into action so you can see for yourself how it works. Because the lessons you learn from actually doing, will teach you more than a dozen books ever will.

Best of success with your copywriting.

All the best,
SAR

[Rhonda]

But the #1 thing I’d recommend is to learn a little, then put it into action so you can see for yourself how it works. Because the lessons you learn from actually doing, will teach you more than a dozen books ever will.

This is the best advice. Putting your writing into the public will be your greatest teacher.

Here are some of my favorite copywriting resources

Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz
The Boron Letters by Gary Halbert
Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins
American Writer’s And Artist’s Institute.
The Copywriter’s Round Table – John Forde
Magic Words – Ted Nicholas
Ogilvy on Advertising – David Ogilvy
Influence – Robert Cialdini

There are many others, but these are very deep and should keep you busy for a long time.

– Rhonda

[WordyWordpecker]

I just started reading the Gary Halbert letters. Lots of good info on that site.