This Christmas, I'm asking my inlaws (via my wife) for "Books I want" as my Christmas gifts.

I have a list below I've already sent my wife. What other books would you add to the list?

Also... are there any other "FREE Books" -- that are in public domain (like the Claude Hopkins "Scientific Advertising" book on Michel's website)??? Please share here...

BOOKS TO BUY

"The Robert Collier Letter Book"
-by Robert Collier
http://www.theletterbook.com/


"Tested Advertising Methods"
-by John Caples
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/013...83155&v=glance


"How To Write A Good Advertisement"
-by Vic Schwab
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/087...83155&v=glance


"The Lazy Man's Way to Riches"
-by Joe Karbo
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/188...books&v=glance

Here's some others recommended by our own Dr. Kilstein:

Advertising Secrets of the Written Word by Joe Sugarman

Breakthrough Advertising by Gene Schwartz

Thanks Andy... good additions to the list!

I second that! My favorite!!

Also:

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini

Enjoy,
Ed

Awesome books so far

I highly recommend Claude Hopkins "My Life in Advertising". It comes in a 2-book special with Scientific Advertising if you buy it on Amazon. If Scientific Advertising is the 10 Commandments of Advertising, then My Life In Advertising is definitely the Gospel to explain it.

Erik

Nice list so far...

I would add:

"2.239 Tested Secrets for Direct Marketing Success"
"Method Marketing"
and "Million Dollar Mailings" all by Denny Hatch.


If you wanted to go beyond copywriting to direct marketing and marketing I would add:

"$12 Billion Of Inside Marketing Secrets" by Steven Dworman
"7 Steps to Freedom" by Ben Suarez
"The Republic of Tea" by Mel Ziegler, Patricia Ziegler and Bill Rosenzweig
"Being Direct" by Lester Wunderman
"Marketing Secrets of a Mail Order Maverick" by Joe Sugarman
"The Complete Mail List Handbook" by Ed Burnett
"Infiltration Marketing" by Don Debelak
Any of the "Wizard" books by Roy H. Williams
"Peterman Rides Again" by John Peterman

Some flat out terrific business books that have influenced me greatly are:

"Winning Through Intimidation" by Robert Ringer
"The 80/20 Principle" by Richard Koch... his "The Natural Laws of Business" is also great.

And I can't forget the late great Peter Druckers, "Innovation and Entrepreneurship"... just a fantastic book.

i'll have to agree with all the picks above, but there's one guy who seems to be ignored these days and he ranks right up there with sugarman and that's ted nicholas. both are copywriters and MARKETERS and not "just" copywriters.

check out: "How I Sold $200 Million Worth of Products and Services" at ted's site:

http://tednicholas.com/ebooks.htm

my copy is 10 years old and came in a plain jane type binder and it's not as pretty as the one being sold today. it's 600 plus pages of ted's successful ads organized by category...sales letters, magazine/print ads, card decks, brochures, etc. every ad is rated by how successful it was. it is the ultimate swipe file. how many modern day gurus can pike that they have sold $200 million dollars worth of their own info-products?

also, while you're at it, grab a free copy of ted's book "Magic Words That Bring You Riche$" here:

http://www.tednicholas.com/mwtbyr.htm

i have the print version. you can skip the first 68 pages and start the chapter on page 69:

"How To Write Headlines That Makes Sales Soar!" the book is very good from that point on. it's probably one of the best FREE ebooks you'll ever read.

J-

I haven't read them all...yet.

Nor do I own them all...yet.

But here they are in no particular order...

Sales Letters That Sizzle
By Herschel Gordon Lewis

The Copy Book: How 32 Of The World’s Best Advertising Writers Write Their Copy
By Designers & Art Directors Association of the UK

First Hundred Million
By E. Haldeman Julius

Triggers
By Joseph Sugarman

Advertising Secrets Of The Written Word
By Joseph Sugarman

Powerful Advertising Copy from One of America’s Top Copywriters and Mail Order Entrepreneurs
By Joseph Sugarman

Business-to-Business Direct Marketing/Fool Proof Marketing
By Bob Bly

Direct Marketing: Strategy, Planning and Execution
By Ed Nash

Breakthrough Advertising
By Eugene Schwartz

How To Write A Good Advertisement/ My First 50 Years In Advertising
By Vic Schwab

7 Steps To Freedom
By Ben Suarez

The Ultimate Sales Letter/Ultimate Marketing Plan/No BS Business Success
By Dan Kennedy

Tested Advertising Methods
By John Caples

The Greatest Direct Mail Sales Letters Of All Time
By Richard Hodgson

My Life In Advertising/ Scientific Advertising
By Claude Hopkins

My First 65 Years In Advertising
By Maxwell Sackheim

The Robert Collier Letter Book
By Robert Collier

Ogilvy On Advertising/ Confessions Of An Advertising Man
By David Ogilvy

Magic Words that Bring You Riches
By Ted Nicholas

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
By Robert Cialdini

The Tipping Point
By Malcolm Gladwell

Reason Why Advertising
By John Kennedy

Secrets of Successful Direct Mail
By Dick Benson

Successful Direct Marketing Methods
By Bob Stone

Art of Readable Writing
By Rudolph Flesch

Unlimited Selling Power
By Donald Moine

Million Dollar Mailings
By Dennis Hatch

Direct Marketing Success: What works and why
By Freeman Gosden

How to Write Letters that Sell
By Christian Godefroy

Reality In Advertising
By Rosser Reeves

Words That Sell
By Richard Bayan

Method Marketing/Million Dollar Mailings
By Denny Hatch

All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World
By Seth Godin

Thesaurus of Alternatives to Worn-Out Words and Phrases
By Robert Hartwell Fiske

2239 Tested Secrets For Direct Marketing Success
By Denny Hatch

How To Turn Words Into Money
By Ted Nicholas

Get Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got
By Jay Abraham

How To Win Friends And Influence People
By Dale Carnegie

Story
By Robert Mckee

Writing The Blockbuster Novel
By Al Zuckerman

The Book Influence: the Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialini is by far the single best book you can get.

It will NOT give you swipe material to use...but it WILL give you access to the most powerful tools in human nature.

I repeat, this book is the single best book on persuasive writing that exists. In saying that, it was not written for marketers, and has nothing to do with copy.

Even though its not really *that old* it's the CLASSIC text on persuation.

It's scientific.....

Heres a link to amazon for it(not an affiliate link BTW):
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/068...books&v=glance

definetly check it out if you haven't allready.

Will change how you think about a lot of stuff....

Don't know what more I could say about this book to get you to buy it, just do and then read it 3 times, then another time and take detailed notes.....

-Dave Ryan

I would add "Secrets of Closing the Sale," by Zig Ziglar. Great book!

Also any books by Bob Bly. And "Ogilvy on Advertising," by David Olgivy.

John