I haven't read Maria Veloso's book, but I've seen a lot of her copy. She's fantastic.

Cialdini's book deserves to be read and reread.

The Schwartz book is required reading but you may want to start with Scientific Advertising.

You can download it for free at Michel's Succes Doctor site.

Also Tested Advertising Methods By Caples, The Robert Collier Letter Book, Advertising Secrets of The Written Word, by Sugarman and How to Write A Good Advertisement.

These books (in that order, w/Breakthrough Advertising being the last one read), were recommended to me first by Dr. Kilstein. They're invaluable.

A.

Yeah, yeah, I'm the new punk on the block. (First post.) So excuse me till I find my groove...

As for the AWAI course, I haven't bought it but from everything I've read - which are a ton of reviews - seems it's more of a "basic" course. IMHO, it's much cheaper to read the classics, write or type out some of the top-gun ads, and just dive in. Besides, I have yet to find anyone who actually finished it. (What does that tell you?)

As for anyone earning 6 figures as a result of it, whilst sitting by the pool in Tijuana, uh, not likely. I, therefore, concur with Sharpe's thoughts overall. I think the sales letter comes on a little too strong. Smells of hype. I guess that's why I never bought it.

Other thoughts?

I've thought of buying it. There's always something to be learned from each book, kit or course. But... the price is a bit high for me at this point so I haven't ordered it yet. With my newbie skills, I'm sure there's quite a bit I could learn from it, but maybe not for someone who's more experienced.

I actually read Alan's rant when he published it in his ezine and it got my wheels spinning. I like what he has to say most of the time, but this one surprised me.

I bought the AWAI program 3 years ago and never completed it - meaning, I never did the projects or sent anything back to them. Was it a waste of money? HARDLY! In fact, it was probably the best program I've bought in the four years I've been freelancing. WHY?

For starters, it gave me some direction. I had written DM in the past, I just had no idea that's what I was doing (my corporate job didn't give it a name). In fact, I had won awards for it! So here comes this program, telling me how to become a better direct response copywriter and all of a sudden I realized - hey, this is what I want to do! I didn't know this market existed! And it's so interesting and fun.

It is a great reference manual for all things DM and the Hall of Fame book is a great swipe file for inspiration.

But most of all, it just opened the doors to this world for me and helped me realize that yes, this is a viable path and yes, you can earn six-figures as a freelance copywriter. I am living proof! Does it all come from writing for Agora and Nightingale-Conant? No. None of it does. Which is fine. (It does, however, come from Apple and TiVo and Palm - but that's another story!)

The AWAI program formally introduced me into this world of ours and I am grateful for that. Otherwise, I'm not sure where my path would have taken me. And as it is, I'm glad I'm on this one.

I don't know about sitting by the pool, but I'm personally aquainted with at least three copywriters who took the AWAI basic course and were earning 6 figures within a year or year and a half. If someone buys a course or book, hires a coach, whatever, and doesn't reach a designated income, it's not necessarily the fault of the course/coach/book. I think 95% of it is personal drive.

Cory, my story is similar. I think I bought the course in 01 or 02 - can't remember. It got me out of the 5-cents a word editorial writing doldrums and into the big bucks. I never finished the course, either. I didn't need to, I began getting clients almost right away. I have a bunch of other AWAI courses on my shelf as well, and most of them are very good. I've got just about every copywriting book out there, and the AWAI materials are among some of my most-used references.

Having read the post here, I'm curious.

If you (being the esteemed members of this forum) could recommend just one book/resource/course/seminar to teach a newbie LONG copywriting - which would it be?

I've seen the list posted here earlier - each of those works fills a gap in knowledge, but which would be the most useful for someone wanting to learn the structure and elements of long copy letters?

Hey Trebor,

The best resource for learning the STRUCTURE of long copy is free.

It's called "Beat the Blank Page Blues" and you get it free when you sign up for Clayton Makepeace's newsletter The Total Package

And check out theTotal Package Archives for more free help from one of the top copywriters in the biz. There's more substance there than in a lot of courses you'd pay hundreds for.

And sign up at www.bencivengabullets.com and go through those archives.

Take what you learn from those and start building a swipe file to anaylyze and study.


Do that and you'll get farther than a lot of people who spend thousands on courses and programs from mediocre writers, fake experts, and wannabe gurus who just wanted to get into the info-marketing business.

John

Hi folks - Newbie Dave Here.....

I just had to comment on this thread......

I started off 3 years ago with the AWAI course - and it is the best and most referenced of my books. I did send in the first assignment, but like others in this thread, didn't complete the final Men's Supplement copy assignment.

I also paid some $3000 to get to Delray Beach in Florida for a 3 day bootcamp and met and chatted many times to Michael Masterson (we even went out for a meal together - I won't divulge his real name...). He is a fantastic and passionate guy. He is the real deal. He is a direct response expert - which is where he made his $247M fortune.

I also met and worked with in an assignment group, Bob Bly. Another passionate, hard-working and talented guy...Boy! does he run on Nitro - a real funny man and a mouth-on-a-stick!

I've also bought AWAI's Graphics course, and Mailbox Millionaire course...and by a complete muck-up, they allowed me to download for free, his MainStreet Millionnaire course (Michael is now making serious money from property, and is an expert).

Maria Veloso's $20 book has given me the best start ever to writing web copy and you should all buy it. I also bought her 10 CD set and have transcibed it all (that's how much I valued it!). She is about to bring out a DVD version which I have pre-ordered.

Another Guru you may not have heard of..he's english - Phil Gosling - quietly living a millionaire's lifestyle in middle england. He must be in the top ten of copywriters, and I have bought much of his stuff. Check out these links:

Home Publishing - The Greatest Home Business

The Renegade Lemming Newsletter

I have been tempted many times to set up a tent outside his house and beg for (divine!) guidance.....he is one hell of a great guy.

Postscript.

BTW, ClickBank have just allowed me to sell my project management Toolkit for $97 so my very first site is about to go live ...I'm Sooooo excited

Don't wory moderator - I'm NOT trying to sell it here - my Toolkit would be of no value to copywriters....

Dave (who now lives in Spain - thanks to Michael's guidance - and really does write copy - with his feet in his swimming Pool....don't use ink, it's too messy! )

online project management training - Home

I'm coming late into this post. Read through 25% of the messages. Read Sharpe's article at the beginning. Impressed with most of what I'd hear... or maybe reassured is the better word.

Specifically the issue of net versus gross. As Dan Kennedy says, Net is all that matters. A 1/3 of my income, from copywriting/marketing year one went right back to into expenses. Another 17% went back into education.

I ended up with about $30K. $10K goes to the taxman.

Granted, a hundred things I did wrong that could have doubled my income, if done right. I really should say I probably spent $30-$50K on education -- in other words messing up.

Many of projects have been royalty based. And I have more and more passive income piling up everything month, so that's nice. Granted I do a little tweaking every month or so to the projects, so it's not entirely passive, but hardly very involved.

I wasn't impressed by Sharpe quoting Bob Bly, just because I sort of see him in the more editorial copywriting model, along with Peter Bowerman. It's much harder to make money as brochure copywriter versus a direct-response copywriter, no matter who you working with.

Currently I market/write for a alternative health clinic in a city of 500,000 for 90 minutes a day. They pay me 10% of the gross income of the clinic. There is no expenses involved, they cover all of it on top of th 10%. There's no need for me to "promote" myself to get more work from them. I just work hard, and send them a $10-$30 gift each month in the mail.

They are happy to turn over the 10% becaue already, in the first two months, I increased their revenue beyond 10%. And things are still rising.

I'm more so doing it for the point of having a rags to riches success story/testimonial which would worth more to me than the 10%. Plus I have rights to everything I write, which I could repackage and resell to other clinics in a sort of 90%-done-for-you product.

John