Herschell Gordon Lewis on the Art of Writing Copy

by Herschell Gordon Lewis

Book Overview

The essential guide to copywriting - jam-packed with rules, tips, easy "how-to" nuggets & commandments. With more than 100 simple, time-tested rules that copy professionals use to captivate & convince... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0133873099
• ISBN13: 9780133873092
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: Prentice Hall
• Length: 1382 Pages
• Weight: 3.10 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The Art of Writing Copy

This book was single handedly responsible for taking my copy writing from good to much better. Herschell Gordon Lewis has written the benchmark of copy writing with this volume. His writing about our writing is so practical, you'll be asking yourself "Why didn't I think of that?" Buy this book. Read it. Practice its lessons. Improve your copy writing. Will move you forward years beyond your experience.

Tops on the Copywriter's "must read" list

There are a ton of books available about how to write copy, and you will learn something from just about any of them. But in that vast array of titles, few do what THE ART OF WRITING COPY by Herschell Gordon Lewis does. This book, if studied and closely followed, will keep the copywriter from writing BAD copy. Lewis meticulously guides the student through the process of things to avoid doing. Whatever grand idea you've come up with, chances are very good, Mr. Lewis has something to say about it in this book. If you're like me, many times throughout this book, you'll feel as if Lewis is pointing his rather sarcastic finger directly at you as he uncovers mistakes I know I've made in the past, and probably you have too. But that's okay. The whole purpose of reading such books is to study the craft and hone our skills, right? Sometimes it takes someone like Herschell Lewis to point out our mistakes so we don't keep making them. Usually in a book like this, I can single out one or two chapters as "favorites." Here, not so much. I loved the whole thing from cover to cover. The format is great, leaving ample margin space for note-taking. There are countless examples of good and mostly bad ad examples to illustrate the points covered. Along the way, the pages are laden with tips, rules and in-your-face quips. I hesitate to even mention chapters 26 & 27, which are composites of the major lessons covered in the preceding 25 chapters. Please, do yourself a favor. Read the book in its entirety and don't get lazy and skip to the back. You'll lose much of the flavor of the lessons. This is not a book for someone looking for their first volume on copywriting. Read some of the other fine volumes available first. You are invited to check out my profile where you will find my listmania list "freelance commercial writing 101" that details other volumes to start your study. Read the basics first, then treat this one as "second-tier" study. But by all means, definitely do not delve too deeply into the profession without first studying this volume in detail. This is one of the very best copywriting volumes available.

A useful book, though some fat could be trimmed.

This book is an excellent resource for any writer, professional or not. It gives insight into audience, word selection, and proper (his interpretation) style of writing. Learn the conventions so that when it comes down to breaking them, you will do so KNOWING it, instead of accidentally doing so. That said, the placement of the graphics was odd, almost never fitting on the page in which they are used to illustrate the point and causing more work for the casual reader. Much of his point goes beyond making it and into flogging it. That said, the book is darn useful, and will continue to be so for a while. It's timely and fashionable.

He should practice his Second Great Law.

In his Second Great Law, Herschell Gordon Lewis comments that cleverness for its own sake might become a liability. Unfortunately, he attempts to write with cleverness and sarcasm. His style often gets in the way of the excellent points he makes. The points need no "I'm-as-hip-as-thou" embellishment. Chapters 26-28 are worth the price of the book alone. But he runs out of steam in the appendix. It truly is vestigial. In spite of his writing style the book is a must read.

Again, a winner book on copy and ads

Again, Herschell Gordon Lewis has written a great teaching volume on copy and ads.In just the first four chapters, I ended up writing three new approaches to sell my wares. And, there are twenty three (23) or nearly Two Dozen more chapters for inspiration.As an engineer turned merchant, the biggest drawback to the works of H G Lewis is his assumption that the reader actually understands the English language. This is sometimes a shock to an engineer who defines a sentence simply as : " It starts with a big letter, and ends with a period." Reading these works actually improves my understanding of my native tongue.The examples used are quite up to date. Lots of visuals are presented for one to relate the ideas.I specifically appreciate seeing the many examples of High Tech (modest budget) ads which he has selected as examples of Hucksterism. Clever guys substiting cleverness for understanding - a deadly combination.I look forward to making money from reading this work. Oh, it is also just plain fun to read as well.James D Buch PhD - too old, too educated and too experienced for today's Aerospace High Tech (read more easily, salary too high and harder to manage than some less expensive young kid.