The book is titled: "AdWeek Copywriting handbook the ultimate guide to writing" the author is: Joseph Sugarman.
Great book, I highly recommend it. At sub $15, it's a steal really. Sugarman is a really good teacher and gives you a lot of great examples from his own portfolio... both hits and strikeouts and he tells you why he believes they worked (or didn't). Hope that helps, Mike
Do the one and two-star reviews on it at Amazon best describe this book? His site is crap, I'm afraid. And, yes, he lets lose with a few lies. One is: "Mail Order Maverick" by The New York Times." I'm not saying his book is bad, because I never read it, nor do I want to. I'm just saying that if the site is shit, and he is caught in lies, that is enough for me. And he said that he was 'Direct Marketing Man of the Year' in 1979." Um, ok. Anything recent, there, Johnny? But if you think you can get something out of his book, even just a few good ideas, more power to you. That's what counts in the end.
Not really. There's 3 two-star and 4 one-star ratings out of 36 reviews. One of those one-star ratings is from someone who gave it one-star because this book is an updated version of a popular Sugarman book that he absolutely loved and had hoped would stay out circulation... so he could keep his competitive edge. The majority of the bad reviews complain about the lack of online sales copywriting coverage. Well... that's not Sugarman's forte. After doing offline direct response marketing/copywriting for about 40 years... that's his forte. Same with guys like Dan Kennedy, Jay Abraham, or Ted Nicholas. Doing an Amazon search will reveal that's the title of one of his books from 1998. Most of the old school direct mail guys don't have pretty websites. Dan Kennedy's websites looked ugly for a lot of years until he started partnering with Bill Glazer. Didn't matter. Their target market still spends of money with them every month. How many direct marketing gurus can claim an award like that... even if it was from 1979? If memory serves me right, Sugarman is in his 80s now, so I believe he's focused on just teaching marketing and copywriting for a while now. I don't believe he still runs a big catalog/direct mail company any longer. I sure wouldn't want to work that hard if I was his age. And yes, I'm sure the majority of people will find more than a few good ideas if they read the book.
I wish I could say I agree with you, but.... For others to read, why not post some of those ideas you think are good?
Good point Perry. I'll share four things I really enjoyed or gained from this book that helped me improve my skills. Just like any other paid product, I'm not going to give away the "meat" of what he teaches on it in a public setting for free. I wouldn't like it if someone did with one of my own info-products so I won't do that to someone else. 1. Top of the list... The chapters on nailing the first sentence and the Slippery Slope technique. Those are two of the areas that I see many new(er) copywriters mess up. They might have a solid headline but then the opening of their sales letter goes CLUNK. Bye-bye readers. Well, Sugarman gives you a really easy tactic to nail the first sentence. Then the chapter on slipppery slope is absolutely great IMHO. As soon as I mastered those tactics my hit rate for my clients shot up. 2. The Chapter of Sugarman mail order ads - both hits and misses. Most copywriting authors don't share their strikeouts but Sugarman does and he tells you why he believes it bombs. I really liked that because it gives me a better idea of what NOT to do if I were to write for a similar product in the future. He also breaks down each ad and explains the history and what strategy or tactics he was trying to use. There's a ton of example ads throughout the book including a 6-7 page breakdown of Joe Karbo's famous "The Lazy Man's Way To Riches" ad. 3. The Chapter on Psychological Triggers. Yes, he has a separate book on Triggers but I liked getting the core info in the same place as the rest of this book. 4. The Chapter on Writing for different media. While it's lighter in terms of online copywriting, Sugarman shares some solid tips on writing copy for things like catalogs, infomercials, direct mail, flyers, TV, radio, billboards and more in this chapter. Here's my suggestion if you're on the fence: Pick up a copy of it at your local bookstore. Take a few minutes to sit and read the first few chapters. If that doesn't convince you it's worth the sub $20 price tag, then don't buy it. Personally, it's one of the top 3 copywriting books I refer to and recommend when I'm asked by new(er) copywriters (The others being Caples' Tested Advertising Methods and Dan Kennedy's Ultimate Sales Letter). Hope that helps, Mike
Hi Mike, Hope you are feeling fine. Now as a coywriter, and not writer of copy, you have already shown your professionalism. Considering that most of the people reading this post are either writing articles or copy, please answer this. The basic question, "what will it do for me." Will it benefit those to increase their skills. I am an old time member of DMA, direct marketing Association, as I am sure the author sounds to have been. So for say, writesr of content with 4 years of experience not going into copywriting as such is it beneficial? You opinion is appreciated.---also as money is tight for some, is the book old enough to appear as used editions on either Amazon.com or Half.com? Thanks
I'm doing well, thanks for asking. And thank you for your praise. What will it do for most people reading it? In my opinion, if you read it and apply it to your copywriting skills, then it will help you correct some of the fundamental mistakes that many new(er) copywriters make. I'm talking about things like using the wrong tone in the salesletter, not using the right psychological triggers (ethically) for your prospect, messing up the opening of a salesletter, and so on. Correct some of the mistakes you're making as a copywriter and then you will be writing better quality sales copy, regardless of what media or format it might be. I don't recall the book teaching things like "how to write bullets" but it's has a lot of great info on copywriting and marketing fundamentals that are rarely covered elsewhere... especially by online copywriting training products. Speaking of bullet writing, here's a top-shelf one by Clayton Makepeace that he made available a few years ago. It's still a free download with no opt-in needed. http://www.makepeacetotalpackage.com/clayton-makepeace/happy-holidays.html Checking the cover of my copy, it has a copyright date of 2007, so you should be able to find used copies out there. This book is actually a revised and updated version of an older Sugarman book that is no longer in print called "Advertising secrets of the written word". I understand about money being tight... in the early years of owning a massage therapy center, I frequently rented business books from the local libraries instead of buying them. I'd take them back to my office and take notes which I stored in 3 ring binders to be able to review later. I also found out that the local libraries held book sales 1-2x/year where they sold off donated books for dirt cheap. I picked up my dog-eared paperback copy of Think and Grow Rich at a sale like that for 50 CENTS. That book is one of my all-time favorite business books and I've gotten way more value out of it than the pennies I paid for it. In terms of starting out from zero copywriting knowledge... I'd suggest started with Dan Kennedy's Ultimate Sales Letter to learn basic salesletter structure and layout. Then move onto John Caples Tested Advertising Methods... and then read Sugarman's Adweek Handbook. For about $50, you'll have a good enough foundation to probably command $400-500 per online salesletter from studying and applying what you learn from those 3 books. I realize none of them really address online copywriting at all but... if you master the core fundamentals of writing copy, then it won't matter whether you're writing offline or online copy because you'll be able to write them both well. It's one of the reasons why I believe I've been able to continue write and produce six-figure hits for my clients in both offline and online copy. So that's my opinion and advice. Hope that helps, Mike
Thanks Mike, you answered the basics better then expected. It is nice to hear about an author revealing interchangeable principles, as so many books today are just the < how I got rich type. I like your mention on how certainly techniques can be applied to more than one type of writing. Reminds me of the principle I remember from my sales days, how writing an effective article goes thru the exact same steps. Maybe I will pick up a copy myself, as all it takes is one little twist, and it pays for itself tenfold over.
"Advertising secrets of the written word" is one of the best books ever written on copywriting. Sugarman's JS&A "space age" ads, which are featured in the book, were so memorable, that as a youngster I remember reading a lot of them from my dad's catalog. My favorite being the Magic Stat ad, where as a kid, I couldn't figure out why he started out by telling you NOT to buy it. Excellent persuasive advertising lessons which still apply today - and no, it is not out of print.