There are two main ways for content marketers to absorb vital copywriting mechanics: learning and practicing.
I’m not going to help you with the practicing part today. You simply need to write … and keep on writing.
But I will assist with the education part by recommending 10 classic copywriting books that will help you obey the unbreakable law of the web.
Book #1: Scientific Advertising
Claude Hopkins expresses powerful tested truths about “salesmanship in print” that have remained relevant through the decades and across all media — including today’s online marketing.
David Ogilvy once said, “Nobody should be allowed to have anything to do with advertising until he has read this book seven times. It changed the course of my life.”
Read Scientific Advertising before you read any other book on advertising or marketing. It may change your life too.
Get the book here: Scientific Advertising
Book #2: The Robert Collier Letter Book
This is a fabulous book because it contains countless examples of winning ads.
Robert Collier’s sales copy sold thousands of The Harvard Classics. His circulars for the O. Henry stories brought in orders for more than $2 million, and his ads also generated orders for more than 70,000 books on The History of the World War.
Get the book here: The Robert Collier Letter Book
Book #3: Tested Advertising Methods
My copy of TAM is dog-eared, with pages covered in yellow highlighter and pencil marks. The spine is broken. It’s a book I try to skim at least once a year, and I usually end up reading large chunks of it.
John Caples was a former engineer who wrote one of the most famous headlines in history during his first year as a copywriter: “They Laughed When I Sat Down at the Piano — But When I Started to Play!”
Get the book here: Tested Advertising Methods
Book #4: Breakthrough Advertising
You won’t be able to get your hands on this book by Eugene Schwartz without paying a hefty price for it. So, if you know someone who has a copy, ask to borrow it. (I doubt he’ll let you though.)
My favorite part of this book discusses the five stages of buyer preparedness. You’ll look at your audience differently after reading it.
Get the book here: Breakthrough Advertising
Book #5: How to Write a Good Advertisement
The 100 headlines Victor O. Schwab shares in the first chapter alone are worth the price of the book.
But you’ll also learn:
- How to hook readers with emotional triggers
- How to close the sale with social proof
- How to justify with facts
Not to mention, the phenomenal examples throughout the entire book will pay dividends.
Get the book here: How to Write a Good Advertisement
Book #6: Ogilvy on Advertising
Crawl inside the mind of one of the 20th century’s brightest and wealthiest (he had a castle in France) ad writers. Time magazine called David Ogilvy “the most sought-after wizard in the business.”
He was renowned for sipping Scotch and water before he wrote and for the enormous energy he poured into each ad. This 1983 treatise on advertising is like having an intimate conversation with Ogilvy.
Get the book here: Ogilvy on Advertising
Book #7: Advertising Secrets of the Written Word
If you remember BluBlocker sunglasses or the JS&A Group, then you’re probably familiar with Joe Sugarman (it helps if you were born in the early 1970s). Joe’s ability to sell a product lies in his ability to tell a story about any product.
The central message of this book is: The purpose of the headline is to get you to read the first sentence. The purpose of the first sentence is to get you to read the second. And so on. Think of it as a slide.
Get the book here: Advertising Secrets of the Written Word
Book #8: Reality in Advertising
Not familiar with Rosser Reeves?
Perhaps this will help: Reeves was the model for the character Don Draper on Mad Men. Reeves is the hard-headed, hard-hitting ad man known for the Dristan and Anacin ads and other hard-sell classics.
The text is a comprehensive lesson about selling a product through advertising, based on 30 years of intensive research.
Ogilvy once commented about this book, “I shall order 400 copies — one for every officer and employee and one for each of our clients.”
Get the book here: Reality in Advertising
Book #9: Influence
Even though this book is not about the craft of direct-response copywriting, it converted me from a literary snob into a passionate direct-response copywriter.
It made me realize I could love marketing. I could love the ability to use words to persuade people … to influence people.
And I realized that the six techniques Robert Cialdini teaches could be applied to all types of writing — not just copywriting.
Get the book here: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Book #10: Confessions of an Advertising Man
Let me close with another classic from the father of modern advertising, David Ogilvy. Confessions of an Advertising Man was written in 1963 before Ogilvy in Advertising — and, for me, this is the better one of the two books.
Here’s a sample of the sections you’ll find in the book:
- How to manage an advertising agency
- How to get clients
- How to keep clients
- How to build great campaigns
- How to write potent copy
- How to illustrate advertisements and posters
- How to make good television commercials
By 2008, more than one million copies of this book had been printed and it’s required reading in college courses on advertising. It’s also a great book for anyone who wants to manage talent as well.
Get the book here: Confessions of an Advertising Man
Your turn
Which classics would you add to this list? How many of these copywriting books have you read?
By the way, some of the books are rare and have high price tags. You might want to check your local library before you place an order.
If that doesn’t work, ask around. Or ask your company to invest in some of these classics for their library. That’s how I got a hold of several of these books early in my career.
Good luck, and I look forward to hearing from you!
Reader Comments (26)
I’d add two, more recent, classics from the ad world: John Hegarty’s “Hegarty on Creativity: there are no rules” and Dave Trott’s “Predatory Thinking”.
Both effortlessly achieve what so many fail to; to get you thinking ‘outside the box’.
I found On Writing Well by William Zinsser a really good book about writing different forms non-fiction
Great book, Jess.
Great post Demian. I’ve seen this list time and time again posted in various websites. Definitely classics. I’ve read all of these except Influence but plan to soon. I would include “The Greatest Direct Mail Sales Letters of All Time” by Richard S. Hodgson. This is an excellent compendium of successful sales letters worth studying. Thanks for your fine post!
That was a good one, too.
Great list, Demian. I’ve read every one of these books. They are all excellent, but I highly recommend #1, 2, and 4.
*Made To Stick*
I haven’t read any of these on this list, so I don’t know how it compares, but Made To Stick is a great read on how to make people remember what you told them long after you told them. It’s good for speakers and teachers especially, but since a content marketer is a teacher (What is your product and why do I need it?) it’s good for content marketing too.
Great list! I knew of a few of the books including Robert Colliers book, but not a lot of the others as there are so many. Thank you for expanding my reading list! Can’t wait to read them.
Great list! I have 6 or 7 of them on my shelf and if anyone wants to pay $400 for Breakthrough Advertising, just let me know. 🙂 Another good book is The Art of Writing Advertising, Conversations with William Bernbach, Leo Burnett, George Cribbin, David Ogilvey and Rosser Reeves. Get it here: http://www.amazon.com/Art-Writing-Advertising-Conversations-Bernbach/dp/0071410937
I also like some of Herschell Gordon Lewis’s books, especially the ones that focus on print.
Great selection!
Those books are valuable in many ways, especially when you are looking for some innovative approaches. Claude Hopkins’s Scientific Advertising is a must-read for everyone who is about to take on a job related to advertising. This book should be read over and over for the many witty lines and paragraphs with valuable information. For me, Ogilvy, Hopkins, and Bogusky are the kings of marketing and advertising.
I would like to recommend a book that impacted me recently: The Idea Writers: Copywriting in a New Media and Marketing Era by Teressa Iezzi. Teressa has an engaging voice. What I liked the most were the examples from real creative ad campaign challenges. The book can be valuable for creative types.
Thanks for the recommendation, Debjyoti.
Great list, and I add Cashvertising by Drew Eric Whitman to that as well, especially if you write ads for the digital space.
I also believe that Cashvertising is a book that would make a great addition to this list.
Hey thanks for the list. Before I moved into digital, I was in radio. And Roy H. Williams, who is known as The Wizard Of Ads suggests you read books on poetry. Same thought pattern as yours here 🙂
“Making Ads Pay” by John Caples.
“Sales Letters That Sizzle” by Herschel Gordon Lewis
“Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: The Classic Guide to Creating Great Ads” by Luke Sullivan
Good stuff, Tony.
Wow that’s a great list. I read several of them, but now my list of books to read just got bigger. Thanks for sharing!
One book I still treasure is the 1st edition of Joan Throckmorton’s “Winning Direct Response Advertising”. And from even further back, Bob Stone’s “Successful Direct Marketing Methods” was a key primer when I was starting out. There were far fewer good books around then. I don’t know if more recent editions have kept pace with digital changes but I bet they still have much to say about basic principles.
Cashvertising by Drew Eric Whitman
I scoffed at the thought of this list of classic advertising books but when I clicked over to each amazon link it surprised the hell out of me. Every single book is rated 4 1/2 stars which in itself is not a complete rarity, it was the reviews themselves that said every single book is a must own and gospel truth. Thanks Demian I feel like you basically gave us an arsenal of wordsmith weaponry that could help small business topple larger campaigns if we go back and look to the greats who originated it all.
These look like some great books to read. I have also looked into Dan Kennedy. I would recommend his book The Ultimate Sales Letter to add to this list. John Carlton has a good course also. Its called The Simple Writing System. I already read the Psychology of Influence. I will have to look into some of the others. Thanks.
Testing comments it is fun to test comments.
Ann Handley “Everybody Writes”
It is my Bible and will be a Classic!
Thanks for the list, very helpful!
“How to Write a Good Advertisement” is the book I love best. When we write “good advertisement”, that means we have “good income”, right? And there are some books I love more are the books written by Napoleon Hill.
Awesome list and many things to learn from this books!
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