Here are the best books on copywriting that I know of. I have read pretty much all of these books myself or at least skimmed through them. Each link is an affiliate link so I make money if you buy using my link… but that just helps cover the costs of the staff and tech I use to run this site.
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Best Books On Copywriting
I will return from time to time and add pictures and update descriptions, etc. I’ll also add more books as I think of them or discover them.
I have segmented the books into different categories based on what area of copywriting the book best helps to serve. You’ll see categories like idea creation, sales, marketing, thinking, and writing. Each of these are important tools in the copywriter’s belt.
I will need to return and add more books around Psychology, but for now, there are quite a few books on persuasion that help in that area. If you read all these books and take really good notes, I feel as if you can’t be stopped. (no guarantees of course).
I recommend that you read these books one at a time and take really good notes. I don’t believe you have to start with one copywriting book over another. What you really want to focus on is learning. When you actually learn something that’s when your results go up.
So, if you can start or continue to improve your copywriting skills by reading the best books on copywriting, then I think you are well on your way to achieving your goals.
Let’s dive in!
Here we go… enjoy this list of copywriting books!
- IDEA CREATION:
- A Technique For Producing Ideas
- Simply Brilliant (Bernhard Schroeder)
- LOGIC/ARGUMENT:
- Start With No (Jim Camp)
- How To Win Every Argument (Madsen Pirie)
- Win Your Case by Gerry Spence
- SALES:
- The Secret Of Selling Anything (Harry Browne)
- SPIN Selling (Rackham)
- THE CLASSICS:
- Scientific Advertising
- Tested Advertising Methods
- Ogilvy On Advertising
- How To Write A Good Advertisement
- The Copywriter’s Handbook (Robert Bly)
- The Adweek Copywriting Handbook (Joseph Sugarman)
- Breakthrough Advertising (Schwartz)
- The Robert Collier Letterbook
- MODERN CLASSICS:
- The Boron Letters
- Breakthough Copywriting (Garfinkle)
- Great Leads (Michael Masterson)
- The Ultimate Sales Letter (Dan Kennedy)
- EDITING COPY
- Copy Logic
- Halbert Copywriting Method Part 3
- STORYTELLING:
- The Story Equation
- Save The Cat
- The Writer’s Journey
- Story
- IMPROVE WRITING:
- The Elements Of Style (Strunk & White)
- Spunk & Bite
- 100 Ways to Improve Your Writing (Gary Provost)
- The Writer’s Process (Janzer)
- How To Write A Sentence (And How To Read One)
- On Writing Well
- Writing To Learn
- WRITERS BLOCK
- The Obstacle Is The Way
- The War Of Art (Pressfield)
- Turning Pro
- Do The Work
- PERSUASION:
- Influence
- The One Sentence Persuasion Course by Blair Warren
- 27 Powers of Persuasion: Simple Strategies to Seduce Audiences & Win Allies
- Triggers (Joseph Sugarman)
- MARKETING:
- The 22 Immutable Laws Of Branding
- The 22 Immutable Laws Of Marketing
- 80/20 Sales & Marketing (Perry Marshall)
- Overdeliver by Brian Kurtz
- The Wizard Of Ads
- RESEARCH:
- The Craft Of Research
- Marketing To Mindstates
- How To Lie With Statistics
- THINKING
- The Great Mental Models
- How To Take Smart Notes
- How To Read A Book
- Learn To Think Using Thought Experiments