Copywriting is an art and a science. It’s all about understanding your customer, what they want, and how your product can help them. Many business owners get this part wrong, and that’s why their copy is bad. They talk about themselves, and a customer doesn’t care about you, the business owner, they care about how you can help them.
How do you learn copywriting? The best place to start are books. There are so many out there, but the classics still remain the go-to for many master copywriters.
Here is our list of the best copywriting books.
Advertising Secrets of the Written Word
Joseph Sugarman
Learn advertising, copywriting, marketing and creativity from the man who made millions of dollars from the power of his pen. Many marketing experts teach you to put benefits in your headlines, use plenty of pictures and make your copy brief and to the point.
Ogilvy on Advertising
David Ogilvy
David Ogilvy is a master at advertising and his book is no exception.
The Boron Letters
Gary Halbert
These letters have been recommended to me so often. They’re a collection of letters from Gary Halbert to his son Bond and they’re a copywriting classic.
Tested Advertising Methods
John Caples
The fifth edition of this work on how to create successful advertising features new coverage on small businesses with limited revenues, non-profit advertising, as well as techniques of headlines, illustrations and layouts. There is also new information useful to smaller businesses.
Breakthrough Advertising
Eugene Schwartz
This might be one of the best copywriting books out there. Yes, it’s a textbook and sure it’s old, but many copywriting rules from decades ago still apply today.
Scientific Advertising
Claude Hopkins
Influence
Robert Cialdini
Influence, the classic book on persuasion, explains the psychology of why people say “yes”—and how to apply these understandings. Dr. Robert Cialdini is the seminal expert in the rapidly expanding field of influence and persuasion. His thirty-five years of rigorous, evidence-based research along with a three-year program of study on what moves people to change behavior has resulted in this highly acclaimed book.
How to Win Friends & Influence People
Dale Carnegie
For more than sixty years the rock-solid, time-tested advice in this book has carried thousands of now famous people up the ladder of success in their business and personal lives.
Don’t Make Me Think
Steve Krug
Since Don’t Make Me Think was first published in 2000, hundreds of thousands of Web designers and developers have relied on usability guru Steve Krug’s guide to help them understand the principles of intuitive navigation and information design. Witty, commonsensical, and eminently practical, it’s one of the best-loved and most recommended books on the subject.
Predictable Revenue
Aaron Ross
Discover the outbound sales process that, in just a few years, helped add $100 million in recurring revenue to Salesforce.com, almost doubling their enterprise growth… with zero cold calls.
