More Words That Sell

This is a great book if you write ad copy for a website selling products. sometimes it's very hard to break a mental block while trying to describe a product to a customer you have never seen. Crack this book open at times like that and your block will be resolved!

I've been using this book for years and it's been a fantastic reference for me. As the author of a guide book (Walt Disney World® with Disabilities) and the owner of a business, I've been involved with promotion for several years. I find this book to be an excellent tool that's helped me to dramatically improve our marketing copy.


This book provides numerous ways of getting an idea across with the highest impact. The author provides descriptive, compelling, and effective alternatives for creating copy for marketing purposes. The book is completely easy to use, with a super practical table of contents.

Chapter titles include:

Part 1 Grabbers
Part 2 Descriptions and Benefits (this includes words like comfortable, improved, indispensable, convenient, etc.)
Part 3 Clenchers
Part 4 Terms and Offers
Part 5 Special Strategies

Using this book as a reference can help you make your copy have far more emotional/psychological impact. I highly recommend it to anyone who writes for marketing or public relations purposes.

I've given More Words That Sell 4 stars because I'm the author and I'd rather not look like an egomaniac. My book isn't Moby Dick, after all, but I feel obligated to defend it against the previous reviewer's assault. In fact, I will address that reviewer personally.

I can only assume, JM, that you're the sort of person who likes to make assumptions. When you imply that my 5-star ratings are the result of "fraternization," you're taking a reckless swipe at my integrity. Take a swipe at my book if you must, but kindly keep your personal assumptions to yourself. I didn't know any of the folks who granted me those 5-star ratings; the book obviously worked for them. It might work for you, too, if you use it the way I intended: as a supplement to the original Words That Sell. (The word "More" in the title should be a tip-off.)

You're right on one count: More Words That Sell is not a thesaurus; that subtitle was added by the publisher against my will. The original Words That Sell IS a thesaurus. Use that book first, then take advantage of the more targeted material in More Words That Sell to reach niche markets, promote your ideas, or fine-tune your copy for desired effects.

I can only assume some level of fraternization with the nice people allocating this book five stars. When you find an entire chapter dedicated to words you might use in a personal ad and such innovative real estate gems as the venerable "Hurry!" and "Great Buy!", you can't help but feel the most powerful suggestion in the entire book was on the cover. To that I give kudos to the author.

If you are a practicing copy writer, there is little in this book to recommend for direct use, or even as a launching point to get the creative wheels turning. The color section is useful for those plagued with creating color names every season but little else is really useful to anyone at a professional level. I suppose every little bit helps but for this little bit, I'd suggest a quality Thesaurus and some Zoloft. This book is NOT A THESAURUS. I'm not sure how he gets away with that claim - a cardinal rule of good (virtuous) copy writing broken.

If on the other hand you are absolutely green to the idea of writing to sell, you could benefit form the brief intros to each section and the occasional tidbit. But try something else first. If this is the best you can find, you'll sound as green as a hungry stowaway in a storm with this book as your guide.

Good for copywriters. It is literally just a book full of different types of words and phrases. Not really an exciting read but I guess if you're searching for a certain phrase this might help.