Aw, go ahead...there's plenty for both of us.

Thanks everyone for your participation in this thread! I've read some great posts!

I think it's going to be helpful to a great many people.

Dale King

Reading through everyone's experiences and opinions was great. I just came across this excellent forum and look forward to spending a lot of time reading previous entries.

To be honest, I had never heard of the AWAI Copywriting course, but have since read their (rather hyped) website plus everyone's replies here. As someone with no formal copywriting experience, I'm looking to educate myself and get some experience. Writing has always been enjoyable and easy for me me, however that doesn't mean copywriting is the same.

Unlike many of you here, I'm not looking for a career as a freelance copywriter (although who knows, it may just end up that way sometime). As a web designer, I often receive little or no copy, or poorly written material for websites. It would be great to offer, and charge for, copywriting services as a stand alone service. Up until now, I've been doing the best I can, or sub-contract to a real copywriter.

Over the last few months, I've been accumulating and reading copywriting and advertising books, such as Ogilvy on Advertising, Advertising Secrets of the Written World (Joe Sugarman), etc, and following the latest Internet gurus. Sometimes I study sales letters of Perry Marshall, Alex Mandossian, Armand Morin, etc. Although far from a pro myself, I am much more aware of copywriting around me. But... I don't even know what I don't know - if that makes sense.

It sounds like the AWAI course has pros and cons. Despite all the negative reviews, I'm almost willing to try it. But, I don't want to waste my time and money. I don't have a lot of spare time, but would be willing to make some if this course were worth it (not sure how much I should realistically expect to set aside). Given my situation, do you think it's worth buying? I'm not aware of any decent college night school courses, so AWAI is starting to look good. What do you think?

Sounds like you are reading and studying the right stuff...

Welcome Peter!

PM me if you need any help on anything you have cookin'.

Thanks, I'll do that! It's good to hear that the materials I've been reading are regarded as well respected. In the next few weeks, I will put my knowledge to the test by writing my own sales letter. It would be great to get some critiques at that time.

From ...Butcher to Broker

Ok. If you know little to nothing, get the AWAI course. Now… to the real question can you make 6 figures your first year. Absolutely, heck I’m swamped and I’ve been at it 2 months. Anyone who says they can’t- I say Bulls@*&.

It just blows my mind. Why would you believe this- It is not true. In fact I plan on having the 6 figs done by Feb. 28th.

Granted my background is in sales (Stockbroker) and I tore the heads off my competition, but I started out as a meat cutter- with no college, no contacts, and I sure don’t come from money.

Just my not-so-humble opinion

WOW! That sounds very encouraging!

I"ll probably get the course then. At the moment, I'm reading a book I just got: Writing Copy for Dummies. It had a good review on Amazon. So far, so good. Mostly common sense things, but I'm only on chapter 4 so far.

Peter,

It's my opinion that you're going to ultimately get more from any Sugarman book than you will ever get from the course.

I would recommend an alternate course for you though. Victor Schwab's A short course on copywriting. It will set you back a whopping $20 and is pretty much the same basics you'll learn from AWAI... only in a much more concise form.

Peter,

Here are some books you'll need/want in your copywriting library:

Ogilvy on Advertising (and his other 2 books)
Robert Collier Letter Book (Guess by who)
Tested Advertising Methods (John Caples)
How To Write A Good Advertisement (Vic Schwab)
My life in Advertising/Scientific Advertising (Claude Hopkins)
Influence The Psychology of Persuasion (Cialdini)
Million Dollar Mailings (Hatch)
Advertising Secrets of the Written Word (Sugarman)
Successful Direct Marketing Methods (Stone)

I would add...
Think and Grow Rich (Hill)(for mindset)
Psychocybernetics (Maltz)

And then, get a world class swipe file.

This should be enough to get you started. Then come back for lesson 2.

Note: The Schwab "course" I mentioned is the same as the book Zach mentioned.