Three Essential Persuasive Copywriting Books You Should Have On Hand

Reading time: 2 – 4 minutes

There are a bunch of lists out there of the best books on writing copy.  I’ve read a whole bunch of books on copywriting, many several times.  My opinion is that different books may help you at different stages of skill development.

For example – “Breakthrough Advertising” will probably be over your head if you are just starting out but if you’ve got the basics under your belt and you are really serious about understanding how persuasion in advertising works, you must read it.  It is a watershed work.

I recommend starting with the easy stuff.  Then you won’t be stuck slogging through advanced books you aren’t ready for yet.

THE CORE TRIO

The trio are the basic books just about anybody can read and comprehend at the beginning of your copywriting journey – and they are worth re-reading if you are more experienced since they deal with the fundamentals of writing copy.

1.  “Scientific Advertising” and “My Life in Advertising” by Claude C. Hopkins. The first you should read several times.  It’s short but very potent.  Everybody who writes advertising should internalize Claude Hopkins’s stuff.

2. “How To Write A Good Advertisement” by Victor Schwab.  Subtitled “A Short Course in Copywriting” it is just that.  It walks you through Schwab’s 5-step sequence of what every ad needs to accomplish in the first half, and in the second half are observations about direct mail, ad layout and so forth.  If you advertise online only you’ll find the first half valuable, since the second half of the book pertains largely to the problems of print advertising.

3. “Tested Advertising Methods” by John C. Caples.   I have the fifth edition, but some folks say the 4th is superior.  All I can say is the book is packed with good information and insight, but I find reading it front to back a little dry.  The book has examples from catalogs and brands we are familiar with today.  Allegedly the 4th and earlier editions are more fun to read, but  less contemporary.

Do get these books as soon as possible, and read them.  If you just read internet ebooks you are missing-out on the proven fundamentals of advertising.  Between the 3 of them, the authors of the above books had over 120 years experience when they wrote their books.  That’s a lot of wisdom.