For those in business, understanding advertising is as important as – well, as paying your taxes. You just gotta know it, folks.
Here is a list of 27 books that will “get you started.” Some are old, some new, all valuable.
1. The Copy Book (This is a compilation of work by several copywriters.)
2. Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Trout and Ries
3. How to Write a Successful Advertising Plan by James W. Taylor
4. Ogilvy on Advertising by David Oglivy
5. Building Brand Equity by Lynn Upshaw
6. The Turnaround Prescription by Mark Golston
7. Inventing Desire by Karen Stamina
8. Soap Opera by Alecia Swasy
9. Whatever Happened to Madison Avenue? by Martin Mayer
10. My Life in Advertising by Claude Hopkins
11. What is the Big Idea? by George Lois
12. Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This by Luke Sullivan
13. Where the Suckers Moon by Randall Rothenberg
14. Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples
15. Big Brands, Big Trouble by Jack Trout
16. The Copywriter’s Handbook by Bob Bly
17. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Ries and Trout
18. Selling the Invisible by Harry Beckwith
19. Secrets of a freelance Writer by Bob Bly
20. The Ultimate Sales Letter by Dan Kennedy
21. How the Cadillac Got Its Wings by Jack Mingo
22. The Copy Workshop Workbook by Bruce Bendinger
23. The Well Fed Writer by Peter Bowerman
24. Start and Run a Copywriting Business by Steve Slaunwhite
25. Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins
26. The Book of Gossage by Howard Luck Gossage, et al.
27. Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz.