The Everything Guide To Writing Copy: From Ads and Press Release to On-Air and Online Promos--All You Need to Create Copy That Sells (Everything: Language and Literature) (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The Everything Guide to Writing Copy is a step-by-step guide to writing effective copy for a variety of media including print, Web, radio, trade journals, and much more. Packed with tips and tricks used by the pros, this valuable resource teaches you to promote products and services, build brands, and write copy that boosts your company's bottom line.

Features expert strategies for you to:

• Write compelling headlines, tag lines, and leads
• Avoid common copywriting mistakes
• Strengthen brand development
• Start a freelance copywriting business
• Write copy for all media--print, radio, TV, and Web sites

Whether you're a professional copywriter or just starting out, The Everything Guide to Writing Copy will inspire you to create innovative, sales-generating advertising and marketing pieces.

About the Author

Steve Slaunwhite is an award-winning copywriter, author, and seminar leader. He has worked with such clients as UPS, Hewlett-Packard, Mitsubishi, AAA, and more than a hundred others. The author of several books including Start & Run a Copywriting Business and Secrets of Writing for the B2B Market, Slaunwhite also wrote the groundbreaking handbook 101 Writing Tips for Successful Email Marketing. His copywriting expertise has been featured in Inside Direct Mail, Direct Marketing News, and The Wall Street Journal. popular ezine for professional copywriters, and he lives in Brampton, Ontario.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Adams Media (June 14, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1598692518
• ISBN-13: 978-1598692518
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #135,746 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good overview for beginners, August 27, 2007

By	Janice King "Author, "Copywriting That Se... (www.writinghightech.com) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you are exploring a career as a copywriter, this book will give you good sense of the projects, skills, and work activities involved. The book is well organized and the information is relevant and clearly presented. However, the broad scope of projects covered means a cursory discussion of each and may lead new writers to believe it is possible and necessary to be an "I write anything" writer. In fact, most successful copywriters focus on certain types of projects and industries in order to build a strong expertise. Readers who want to pursue copywriting as a career will want to use this book as a starting point for identifying a focus, then supplement it with other books and resources covering that focus.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book on Copywriting I've Ever Read, January 12, 2008

By	Lisa Aldrich (Albany, Oregon, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you're looking for a comprehensive book on copywriting, stop right here. The "Everything" in the title tells no lies. Steve Slaunwhite covers it all, from the mechanics of writing copy to the many niches available to copywriters to tips on getting hired or starting your own freelance copywriting business. Steve's often humorous and always delightful writing style will encourage the budding copywriter as well as give fresh tips to the copywriter who has been around a while.

From this book I learned aspects of copy and copywriting that I never knew existed. Replete with examples--oops, I mean full of examples (Steve says not to use impressive words)--the book reveals specific secrets of writing for specific markets and specific publications within those markets. Steve covers brochures, newsletters, white papers, direct marketing packages, and catalogs. He addresses the business-to-business and Internet markets, too, and explains the different techniques for different markets and different types of media, including print, television, and radio. Perhaps most encouraging of all, Steve tells you which markets are desperate for copywriters.

In this fun, reader-friendly book, Steve assumes the roles of coach, cheerleader, teacher, mentor, advisor, even therapist. Steve tells you in Chapter 18 what to do if your boss or client absolutely hates your copy. He tells you what to add to or take away from your copy to make it more convincing. He walks you through a "copywriting post-mortem." He gives you all the ingredients of highly effective copy. And Steve even tells you, on page 254, why you can't sell penguin traps to an Eskimo!

I'm not kidding, this is THE book to own if you want to learn, at the very least, to write effective copy, and then to go on to turn your skills in to a lucrative business.

(Oh, and by the way, if you really want to have some fun, take Steve's online class, "Secrets of Strategic Copywriting," for which he uses The Everything Guide to Writing Copy as a text.)

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent reference book for any writer, September 5, 2007

By	Dianna Huff - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have a few books on copywriting that I refer to repeatedly: Bob Bly's The Elements of Copywriting, John Caples' Tested Advertising Methods, and David Ogilvy's Ogilvy on Advertising. These are books I'll never resell on Amazon. One, because they're that good and two, because they're filled with underlinings, notes, and dog-eared pages.

Steve Slaunwhite's new book, The Everything Guide to Writing Copy, is also destined to become one of my top reference books.

(Full disclosure: Steve and I are very good friends -- but I'd write the following even if I didn't know him.)

In this approximately 300 page guide, Steve explains how to write -- well basically everything and anything that needs to be written in order to sell something.

What I like about this book is that the information includes writing for the Internet as well as "lingo" and writing strategies that many of us might not know.

Although the copywriting strategies are brief, given the nature of the book, what you do get is factual and useful.

For example, I don't write video scripts. But, should I need to write one (especially with online video becoming more mainstream), Steve includes an entire section that covers this topic as well as writing radio spots and even billboards.

A book of this type can easily overwhelm the reader, but not in this case. The content is broken down by subject matter and type. Short paragraphs, bullets, and sub-heads make it easy to find what you need.

I especially like the smartly placed call-out graphics which draw the eye to important information, and that these tips are placed within the body of the main text versus the margin. (I hate when my eye is dragged from the middle of the page to something hanging out in left field.)

More important, Steve's prose is clean and smooth as silk, making this book, like everything Steve writes, a true pleasure to read.

In short, this is a great reference book for the pro or someone just starting out. In fact, I plan on giving a copy to my friend who recently started a copywriting business.