Books:
-
THE GARY HALBERT LETTER* – Gary Halbert once wrote an article entitled ‘Why I am The Greatest Copywriter Alive’. From anyone else this would be arrogance, but he was simply stating a fact! See also: THE BORON LETTERS by Gary Halbert
-
MY LIFE IN ADVERTISING & SCIENTIFIC ADVERTISING* by Claude Hopkins. Published back in 1923, but hugely relevant today, Claude Hopkins is essential reading for copywriters.
-
TESTED ADVERTISING METHODS* by John Caples. Another stone-cold classic, John Caples’ book offers practical techniques and ideas for direct response copywriting.
-
ON WRITING: A Memoir of a Craft by Stephen King. Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer’s craft, comprising the basic tools of the trade that every copywriter must-have.
-
OGILVY ON ADVERTISING by David Ogilvy. The original ‘Mad Man’, Ogilvy is a legend of advertising and his agency continues to be a world leader. Far more importantly, Ogilvy was also a brilliant copywriter and understood the power of copy and how it must be judged on results.
-
THE ADWEEK COPYWRITING HANDBOOK: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Powerful Advertising and Marketing Copy from One of America’s Top Copywriters by Joel Sugarman
-
THE ROBERT COLLIER LETTER BOOK by Robert Collier
-
GREAT LEADS*: The Six Easiest Ways to Start Any Sales Message by Michael Masterson & John Forde
-
THE ARCHITECTURE OF PERSUASION*: How to Write Well-Constructed Sales Letters by Michael Masterson
-
COPY LOGIC! The New Science of Producing Breakthrough Copy by Michael Masterson & Mike Palmer
-
THE COPYWRITER’S HANDBOOK: A Step-by-step Guide to Writing Copy That Sells by Bob Bly
-
OUTRAGEOUS ADVERTISING That’s Outrageously Successful by Bill Glazer
-
WORDS THAT SELL: The Thesaurus to Help You Promote Your Products, Services, and Ideas by Richard Bayan
-
SALES LETTERS THAT SIZZLE: All the Hooks, Lines and Sinkers You’ll Ever Need to Close Sales by Herschell Gordon Lewis
ATTENTION & DISTRACTION
-
THE SHALLOWS*: How the Internet is Changing the Way We Think, Read and Remember by Nicholas Carr
-
IRRESISTIBLE*: Why We Can’t Stop Checking, Scrolling, Clicking and Watching
-
CAPTIVOLOGY*: The Science of Keeping People’s Attention by Ben Parr
-
PRESENT SHOCK: When Everything Happens Now by Douglass Rushkoff
-
THE ATTENTION MERCHANTS: How Our Time and Attention are Gathered and Sold by Tim Wu. See also: THE MASTER SWITCH: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires by Tim Wu
-
MOVE FAST AND BREAK THINGS: How Google, Facebook and Amazon Have Cornered Cutlure & What it Means For Everyone by Jonathan Taplin
PRODUCTIVITY FOR COPYWRITERS
-
DEEP WORK*: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
-
FLOW*: The Psychology of Happiness by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
-
THE ORGANIZED MIND*: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload by Daniel Levitin
-
TOOLS OF TITANS: The tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons and World-Class Performers by Timothy Ferris
-
THE POWER OF HABIT: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change by Charles Duhigg