From the desk of Razvan Rogoz
Dear friend,
I read. A lot. I’ve read ~70 books this year.
I can’t say that they are all on copywriting (since I do have other interests) but a large part of them are. Cashvertising by Drew E. Whitman is the last one that I’ve finished on this topic. Since there are around 40 – 50 in total, I will post reviews periodically on them.
This book comes highly recommended by many people. Many folks on Amazon consider it the best copywriting book ever written. I’m afraid it is not. It drags too long, it is a bit too hyped up (yes, I do hate hype) and there weren’t many “a-ha” moments in it. Plus, it deals more with advertising in general, the psychology behind it than with web copywriting.
What I’ve liked:
- There were many references to human psychology, behavioral psychology and why people act in the way they act. This is the soul of copywriting, understanding your prospect, not the writing part. I feel like there are better resources on this out there (like Influence by Robert Cialdini) but it gives you a crash course into it.
- It teaches you how to write in a very conversational tone. From how to structure your message to how to write in a way that gets read, everything is here.
- It places a huge focus on headlines and I like this. It is not really Breakthrough Advertising by Gene Schwartz (which many consider the bible of headline writing) but it teaches you the basics of how to write a good and interesting headline.
What I’ve disliked:
- Overall, there aren’t many memorable parts. It feels like watching a B movie trying to appear an A movie. It is not a bad book, it’s just that it won’t make you say WOW. For example, from “Writing Copy For The Web” by Maria Veloso, I remember involvement devices and the idea of advertorial, two things that really stuck with me. From this one, apart from the associative / disassociation theory, there isn’t much “WOW” material.
- It drags too long sometimes. There is almost an entire chapter on what font to use. Yes, fonts are important and any competitive edge is important. However, I am not interested in reading 20 minutes about damn fonts. You can simply go for Tahoma + Georgia + Arial most of the time and it will work just fine.
- Hyped. This is a personal preference but I do like factual books. The kind of books that don’t try to be too cute and too interesting and simply tell me what I need to know. Many copywriters think it is a good idea to write a book like a sales letter. I don’t think it is. It is one thing to read a long sales page and another one to read 60.000 words this way.
Do I like it? Do I love it? My view on books is that if I can get a single idea that I can use, then it is an amazing book. I’ve got more than one idea. However, since it touches on many topics that are not relevant for me or it drags too much on a simple subject, I’m not really excited to read it twice.
Best regards,
Razvan “The Copy Scientist”