If you’ve decided that you want to be a copywriter, there’s some good news. The resources you need to develop your skills are all around you. In fact, you are bombarded with free materials every time you go outside, go online or turn on the TV or radio. If you can see every bus journey, long wait in a train station or trip to the dentist as an opportunity to consume copywriting, you’ll be subconsciously accumulating a knowledge bank of what does and doesn’t work.
Copywriting is everywhere, and not just on billboards. It’s on packaging and signage, it follows you around the internet, and it even sneaks in with your bills and business mail. Get into the habit of reading everything and learning to identify the techniques (scarcity, urgency, authority etc.) and structures (AIDA and so on). Essentially, learn how to switch from passive to active consumption of advertising and the copywriting that drives it.
The Best Books for Copywriters
That doesn’t mean you can’t work on your copywriting theory too. I’ve picked out here some of the most thought-provoking copywriting books I’ve read in recent years. You’ll notice that most of them are not really about copywriting itself, but about psychology and creativity. That’s deliberate. Copywriting is about ideas first and writing second. Clients are not looking for someone to fill in lorum ipsum blocks. They want the insight to unlock a persuasive truth.
Great Books for Inspiration
Gyles Lingwood’s Read Me, 10 Lessons for Writing Great Copy is worth buying just for the hundreds of examples of great copy. It’s a greatest hits of iconic and disruptive copy, but you’ll also find lots of solid tips that demystify the process. Recommended for those moments when you’re panicking and need to go back to basics.
The Copy Book by D&AD is a similar reference with every example you’ve heard about of great copy from some famous campaigns. Yes, it’s a bit of a coffee table book in places, but that’s fine if all you want to do is flip through it once a month just to keep your copywriting muscles toned up.
Books about Creativity
Outside the industry, there aren’t many famous copywriters. Screenwriters like Aaron Sorkin or Jed Mercurio have broken out of the anonymity bubble into the mainstream, but few people could name the person or team who wrote the taglines and jingles they see every day. But most copywriters will know Dave Trott, either from his excellent blog, his regular column in Campaign, or his books. Predatory Thinking is a must-read, with short, easy to digest lessons on thinking creatively and delivering what advertising is supposed to do: Get noticed, communicate, persuade.
That leads us into the fascinating world of behavioural psychology and the unconscious biases that influence the way we make decisions. Richard Shotton’s The Choice Factory takes you through the most common consumer biases you have to overcome as a copywriter, and lifts the lid on the techniques effective sales people use. If you’ve ever wondered why you just impulse bought what you did, this book will explain why.
Books about Selling and Negotiation
This won’t be the first or last time you hear about Robert B. Cialdini’s Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, which is still essential reading for anybody whose business is persuasion. Without persuasion, copywriting becomes content writing. Understand the techniques and you’ll raise your game not just in converting customers, but in finding clients in the first place as a copywriter.
Chris Voss’s Never Split the Difference might not be an automatic choice for a copywriter’s bookshelf, but then again most professional copywriters will have an eclectic collection of books that they use for inspiration. Voss was an FBI negotiator and outlines the theory behind negotiating terms, deals, arguments and sales pitches. Within the first few pages, you’ll realise that you’ve been doing everything wrong up to now.
Copywriting Books
Full confession: I have finished very few books to date that are purely about copywriting. There are only so many rules and templates to cover and you’ll see them rehashed and repurposed repeatedly in YouTube videos, online courses and so on. That’s a good thing. It means you can learn the basics at no extra cost, but I would recommend getting hold of a copy of the Copywriters Handbook by Robert Bly. We’re all writing in the digital age now, so Ogilvy’s On Advertising has its limitations. This handbook, on the other hand, will give you a thorough understanding of what copywriting involves and how to master the basics.
Another one of the books that I regularly go back to is Stephen King’s On Writing. Yes, he’s a fiction writer but this is still the best book I’ve read about the discipline and self-motivation you need to write professionally, as well as how to write clearly and effectively. It’s not a style guide - you’ll find lots of those online or can simply add Grammarly to your dashboard, but On Writing is a manual for good writing.
Disclaimer: These are a fraction of the available resources for copywriters and by no means a definitive list. And I can’t stress enough that you don’t need to read about copywriting to become a copywriter. The more you explore the psychology behind persuasion, however, the more likely you are to become a great copywriter.