Non Fiction: How To Win Friends And Influence People

Fiction: Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
Prince Of Tides by Pat Conroy
Power Of One by Bryce Courtenay (highly recommended - written by a very successful copywriter who wrote this fiction book which quickly became an international bestseller)

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

I came across this blog post by Ben Myers comparing copywriting to fiction. He lists some other copywriters who are published authors too:

"Further research reveals many more authors who have been closeted copywriters and/or advertising executives - Joseph Heller (whose phrase Catch-22 has like the most effective slogans entered the language), Don DeLillo, William Burroughs, Dorothy L Sayers, Ogden Nash, Victor Pelevin, Dashiell Hammett, Antonia White, Augusten Burroughs and - pleasingly - Frank Zappa."

hi everyone i am very new here

i just finished an ebook and start to write a sales page

the thing is my writing english is really bad

i dont know where this - , . " " ( ) is suppose to go

i just want a book where it teaches you basic english so then it is readable and good enough for copywriting and an ebook

any recommendations

thank you in advanced

"Frogs Into Princes"

What did you expect me to say ?? (Bruce)

"Tranceformations" ain't bad either

Reframing

All are almagamated transcripts of live seminars by NLP co-founders Bandler & Grinder, edited by Steve Andreas

Gives you a fascinating look into language, and how language constructs our reality -- and a whole lotta other stuff, too.

And you can spend all day looking at the covers -- the most beautiful book covers I think I've ever seen (certainly that I remember...)

Live JoyFully!

Judy Kettenhofen, Profit Strategist/Copywriter
NextDay Copy

When I first became friends with Frank Kern it was
shocking how much we had in common.

I didn't read much as a kid, but I did read just about
every Charles Bukowski book when I was 16 to 17 years
old. It was really super easy to read, and I couldn't put
those books down.

What I really liked was that the chapters were super
brief and you could read for 5 minutes and put down the
book if you like.

As far as Frank only reading one copywriting book, I do
believe that was true back when he said it. He may of
thumbed through some materials on copywriting, but I
don't think he ever sat down and actually devoured a
entire book on copywriting.

To this day, I can't think of any book I've read other then
Carlton's about copywriting either. I did start Dan Kennedy's
"Ultimate Sales Letter" but never finished it.

Ultimately though, most of my reading came from two
authors and it has molded and shaped me more then anything
I've ever studied.

For a period of 4 straight years, I read books by a Indian mystic
named Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. He later changed his named
to Osho right before he died.

The guy was a nutcase, and his logic would frustrate even the
most educated professors throughout the land. You just could
not argue with this guy without looking like a complete fool.

He loved to antagonize people, and push their buttons like
no one else.

He bashed religion right and left, told racists jokes, and encouraged
all types of wacky stuff.

But deep down, I learned more about love and understanding people
from this guy then anyone else in the world. I could not read
any other material for a few years because his writings would literally
get me high!

The cool thing about most of his books was that they were simply
transcripts of his daily talks, and weren't edited a bunch of times. It
was raw, live, and absolutely brilliant stuff.

So for me, it's been Bukowski and Bhagwan.

And I've seen just about every book in Frank's collection and you
may be surprised to see what the contents are. (here's a hint...
HUSTLER).

Yea I always find that Hustler can give you some inspirational ideas.

Steve

Just remembered another one that is awesome. The Tipping Point. Freakonomics is good too.

Another good book by an ace copywriter - James Sheridan

"The Pandora Prescription"

Mr Subtle recently posted one of James' Sales Letters (The Forex System one) - you'll see it on the "Testimonial" Post - because the letter didn't have any testies...

You can see the complete letter on The (late great) Gary Halbert Letter Site

Steve

Those were my suggestions, too. I would add Blink which is by the Tipping Point author. I just got Cash Copy (but that's more about copy). I also took a course on NLP, neurolinguistic planning and there are books on the subject. I also like Unmasking the Face.

Two weird ones are Amy Vanderbilit's Manners Guide from 1950 and the Boy Scout Handbook, also from the 50s. Both are hilarious and for some reason have inspired new ideas and ways of thinking.

Forgot to add: I love your layout and copy Mr. Subtle. It's very fresh.

Absolutely. I was trying to recall the title and author earlier, but had already lent the book out and couldn't remember either title or author. Great story.