I have a confession. Although I write technical documentation, I’ve spent a good portion of this year reading books about copywriting.
First off, what’s copywriting? Copywriting is the fine art of making someone do stuff through your writing. Like making someone buy something from you. In elementary school, we called it “persuasive writing”.
Good documentation is educational, but it should be persuasive and engaging. It should make me want to spend my evening tinkering with your API.
Anyhoo, I wanted to share some of the copywriting books I’ve read this year:
“Everyone Writes” by Ann Handley
“Ogilvy on Advertising” by David Ogilvy
“Ca$hvertising” by Drew Eric Whitman
“Building a Story Brand” by Donald Miller
I’m in the process of figuring out what I should read for next year. What’s on your list of books to check out?