The Ultimate Sales Letter, 4th Edition: Attract New Customers. Boost your Sales. Paperback – February 14, 2011

For someone who is completely new to the world of sales letters, this book takes you through the whole process from A-Z. The book is extremely accessible (minimal use of jargon), gets right to the point (do this, don't do that), and you'll find yourself using the principles almost immediately. I had a freelance sales letter opportunity fall in my lap soon after reading this, and I made myself sound like an old pro; the client was satisfied from the first draft forward. The book really is that good.The only item that irked me, especially as the book drew to a close, was the amount of "upselling," both for the author's products as well as those of some of his colleagues. However, this is ultimately a sales book, the author apparently knows what he's doing, and it did not detract from any of the real content.Overall, I couldn't recommend more highly, whether you're a complete beginner looking for the inside track, or a seasoned pro searching for some fresh ideas.

Love this book!! get it and get to work on your business copywriting....learn what realy matters in your business; it is not "being" a good "technician, or getting better at the services that you provide, or the operations that you run...it is bout learning the psychology of the people that you sell to and what attracts them!! THis book has helped my in my learning of sales copy, but more importantly it gets into the core principles of marketing. Great great and very helpful.

Kennedy does a good deal of blowing his own horn, promoting his own sites and products he probably has a financial interest in. He also promotes his own copywriting skills and offers them for sale in the book. Moreover, he offers up his political views in more and more of his writing. When I buy a book, all I want is good, useful information --- not an ad for the author.But enough of that. This is a good book. As a professional copywriter who has written successful sales letters for over 40 years, I can tell you that Kennedy has presented some useful methods of putting together an effective sales letter. It's probably one of the better books on the subject to date. This update is a true update. Yes, there's some copy from previous editions but, for the most part, it's new stuff.Just about every copywriter has different ideas on what makes a good sales letter. Few agree on everything. But we all agree on the basics and that's more or less what you'll get here.This is not an in-depth book. It's not a course and you're not going to be able to go out and sell your skills as a copywriter for $15,000 a letter after you read it. But it will help you to get a basic understanding of the parts of the sales letter and how to put them together so they sell.Recommended.-- Susanna K. Hutcheson

I am rewriting some of my sales letters to adhere with the insights from this book.

While some information in this book is a bit dated and it was primarily focused on direct marketing, Dan Kennedy also shares timeless principles of writing sales letters that can be applied even today no matter what kind of sales letters you are writing.Getting to know your target audience will never become outdated, and the suggestions he shares from his past experience are quite thorough. He mentions that in order to get into the mind of his readers, in this instance dentists, he'd read every industry publication every month, visit websites that host discussions forums for dentists, subscribe to email groups where only dentists communicate back and forth, attend industry functions, conventions, seminars, trade shows, he'd play prospect, and routine mastermind with dentists.He then shares a step-by-step process he used to write a copy, very detailed with various examples. He shares a fill-in-the-blank headlines with examples, different ways to attract attention and to overcome barriers, how to re-write and then he offers an extensive check-list with 35 points to check your copy.Yes he does have a plug for his website and services which I find appropriate in this book, and he also has a plug for few other tools like mike Capuzzi's CopyDoodles.He then suggests re-writing for passion, and editing for clarity, and how to test your copy.At the end of the book you'll find additional resources.

Dan Kennedy is probably the greatest marketer period and one of the best copywriters. I’ve listened to many of his courses, but this is the first time I’ve read one of his books cover to cover and he definitely didn’t disappoint. I almost thought that because he has such high priced programs, there’s no way he would give value in a $10-$20 book, but it’s worth a 100x what i paid for it. Anyone that has a business or sells anything needs to read this book.

This is not a book that you just read it and forget it. It is actually a book to take notes and act right now, no games, no bs here, just proven formulas to get your business to the roof.I hace a follow up system in place based on sales letters and is working great with this formulas. I have control over the amount of business that I want and know exactly how much revenue I'll make every month in advance. Thanks Dan!!!

It was probably very cutting edge back when written but now the tips and process are tired and out of touch. Many examples are chock-full of paragraphs and clip art, a style that doesn't (IMHO) resonate anymore. And it certainly doesn't work in a B2B setting. There are definitely better books and websites on copywriting out there.