Steal This Book!: Million Dollar Sales Letters You Can Legally Steal to Suck in Cash Like a Vacuum on [Paperback]

Harlan Kilstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2005

The number one goal of every business is to increase the return on investment of each marketing dollar. Whether you want to generate a huge response from a newspaper or magazine ad, a direct mail letter, or an internet site, the most important element you need to know is "What really works?" Every time a business experiments in testing, it costs money and may not produce a return. Finally, there's an opportunity for the ordinary business to become extraordinary. Harlan Kilstein has produced a collection of proven sales letters that have generated millions of dollars in sales for both online and offline companies. Kilstein's sales letters are pure gold; one recent online letter brought in $110,000 a minute. In Steal This Book: Million Dollar Sales Letters You Can Legally Steal To Suck In Cash Like A Vacuum on Steroids, not only do you get examples of what really works, you also get instructions on how to adapt these letters for any business. Ask any copywriter what his most important possession is and he'll point to his "swipe file" of proven winners accumulated over years. Now, you have the opportunity to get a multi-million dollar swipe file in your hands and put it to use. The Forward to Steal This Book was written by copywriter John Carlton.

Product Details

• Paperback: 372 pages
• Publisher: Morgan James Publishing (March 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 193359649X
• ISBN-13: 978-1933596495
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,884,202 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't waste your money, March 10, 2008

By 

Reading & Writing 24/7 (Southern California United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Steal This Book!: Million Dollar Sales Letters You Can Legally Steal to Suck in Cash Like a Vacuum on (Paperback)

The price of this book is a joke. You can get more and better letters and instruction for FREE just by going to Bencivenga Bullets or Clayton Makepeace on the web, or saving your junk mail. I'm a direct response writer and have made $100k+ a year freelancing for over a decade, and I think it's morally reprehensible to try and get this much money from beginning writers. Author doesn't seem to have even one original idea -- the book's name isn't even original -- Abbie Hoffman famously wrote "Steal this Book" more than 30 years ago. Kilstein isn't interested in helping beginning writers, just in stealing from those trying to learn how to make it in the biz. SHAME ON HARLAN KILSTEIN!!!!!

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not Recommended, November 15, 2007

By 

Joe Karbo - See all my reviews

This review is from: Steal This Book!: Million Dollar Sales Letters You Can Legally Steal to Suck in Cash Like a Vacuum on (Paperback)

This book was disappointing and over-priced. First, Harlan Kilstein is not a recognized A-level copywriter. I don't think he is even a recognized B-level copywriter. If you are going to study ads and salesletters and add them to your "swipe file", shouldn't the ads be written by a top professional who has proven their ability by writing controls for the big name publishers? Has Harlan Kilstein ever written a control for Boardroom? Or Philips? Or Agora? Or any other well-known mailer? I don't believe he has, or he would say so in his book and on his web site. Your money would be FAR better spent picking up Clayton Makpeace's "Steal These Secrets Volumes I & II" where you will find actual full color magalogs Makepeace wrote, which mailed in the MILLIONS of pieces. Makepeace is an established and widely recognized A-level copywriter who earns a reported $4,000,000 + per year in royalties from the copy he has written. Now THERE is a copywriter to learn from. Owning both "Steal This Book" by Kilstein, and "Steal These Secrets" by Clayton Makepeace, I can tell you Makepeace's swipe file is 100 times more valuable.

30 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Price Tag is a JOKE for a Huge Swipe File..., August 18, 2007

By 

Monica Main "Monica Main" (Valencia, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Steal This Book!: Million Dollar Sales Letters You Can Legally Steal to Suck in Cash Like a Vacuum on (Paperback)

First of all, his sales copy isn't that great. If he claims that these letters have made his clients (and not even himself) millions then it goes to show that any half-a-brain can write a decent sales letter and make money.

This book was over $100 and maybe worth $35 at best. Why? You can collect your own swipe file for free by just saving your "junk" mail.

I analyzed a lot of the copywriting and established that Harlan Kilstein isn't really that great. Some of his grammar is off. He doesn't write a headline or subhead properly. Some of the letters are capitalized while others aren't, ruining the continuity of the piece(s).

I recommend you study Dan Kennedy (The Ultimate Sales Letter) or study Gary Halbert's letters (if you can find them) because those two are the two best copywriters on earth. (Gary Halbert is now deceased as of this year but his copywriting legacy will live on forever.)

Furthermore, it seems that Harlan Kilstein just did copywriting for companies and never took his own risk in doing his own mailings (like I do). Therefore, does he care how the copywriting turns out? Does he give it 100%? And does he really know what the results were when the mailings went out?

He claims that he is giving you million-dollar sales letters but then admits that one (or more) he's written were never mailed. What!? That makes the title sort of deceiving, right?

I do like his book title, though..."Million Dollar Sales Letters You Can Legally Steal to Suck In Cash Like a Vacuum on Steriods."

That would make an excellent headline (in a slightly different variation) for any kind of business opportunity piece.

It is inaccurate, though. Since he wrote those pieces for clients as a "work for hire" situation, you cannot "steal" or plagarize any of the sales letters word-for-word, no matter what he says. Even as the author of the materials, he cannot give the legal go-ahead for just anyone to copy his work because he did it as a work-for-hire for someone else.

Check out Herschell Gordon Lewis and his "swipe file" (or any of his copywriting books) or just collect your junk mail. Within a short time you'll have your own million-dollar sales letter treasure chest.

One last comment: For being a "swipe" file, there aren't that many sales
letters anyway!

Not recommended.