The Copy Workshop
Copywriting was by far the most influential and rewarding class of my college career. I sometimes wonder what my academic experience would have looked like had I taken it as a freshman instead of as a senior. Professor Shaw was a witty, sixty-something professional who had worked in the industry for decades. She was a quality assurance Nazi. If your work stunk (and it usually did), she would look you in the eye, smile and say something like, "I said to use your words sparingly," or, "Spend more than ten minutes on the next draft." If it was a bad final draft, she'd tell you it wasn't the final draft. She was as sparse in speech as she was on paper. I learned much from what wasn't said.
On the first day of the semester, Shaw greeted the class with something very close to the following address:
"You're all horrible writers. Don't feel bad, it's not entirely your fault. You've been taught to write poorly. Your English teachers may have said, 'It's quality, not quantity that's important,' but I've no doubt they still pushed for 'ten pages on this' or 'one thousand words on that.' If you write one sentence, you should write it well. And if you've written one good sentence, a second will often be superfluous - at least in the world of advertising."
Years later, that address still rings in my ears when writing. So get on with it already, Donovan!The Copy Workshop," is so much more than a book on copywriting. It should be required reading for anyone who has to write or even speak to anyone ever.
This is the textbook on making a point. It's packed with entertaining example ads and fun (albeit challenging) exercises. Bruce Bendinger quips his way through his instruction in four sections: Forewords, More Words, Your Words, and Onwards. From history to how-to, from typography to television, Bendinger covers the gamut. This was my course reading for Copywriting 3401. If you talk and/or write to people on occasion, I commend this book to you. If you work in Marketing - you should have read this years ago. If you've already read it, you should read it again. I return to it annually.
