Words That Sell: Summary & Review

words that sell book cover

Words That Sell by Richard Bayan is a big collection of all the most common expressions copywriters use in their copy.
You can use it as an inspiration to compile your own copy.

Full Summary

It’s not easy to summarize this book because it’s a dictionary-style list of entries. But here are a few to give you an idea:

Part I – Grabbers

  • Free!
  • Free Gift
  • Exclusive offer
  • Win…
  • New!
  • Sale
  • X off!

Part II – Description and Benefits

  • Magical
  • Special
  • Fresh
  • You’ll fall in love with..

Self Improvement

  • Fulfillment
  • Rewards
  • Self-mastery
  • Life-enriching
  • Unlock your…
  • Taps your inner strength
  • Discover your inner talents..

Part III – Clinchers

  • Without a doubt
  • In short, this X will help you…
  • Why settle for X when you can have Y?
  • What have you got to lose?
  • Ask yourself if you can afford not to…
  • Put our X to the test
  • Discover why our customers keep coming back for more

P.S.

  • I should also mention that…
  • Did you know that…?
  • Don’t forget:
  • To claim your free X, simply…

words that sell book cover

Real-Life Applications

Flick Through It
Flick through the book to your relevant section and you might get a few ideas to get you going in your copy

CONS

No Guidance
All words are tossed out in the same list, there is little guidance as to what might sound better for your specific needs.

PROS

Lots of Words
There are really a lot of words and expressions which can help you get unstuck when you’re at a loss for words or adjectives.

Sparks Ideas
I guess it can be very helpful also to branch out for new ideas. If you’re writing about self-improvement for example you might not necessarily need to use the words in the book, but it can help you see other possible benefits of the product that you weren’t even considering.

Review

In the era of Google Dictionary Words That Sell loses a bit of its utility. But it’s still useful since the categories are very detailed. So for example you have ” luxurious” or “money-making” and all possible related adjectives and expressions are categorized for that specific copywriting need.

Personally, I was looking for a “normal” book and I was a bit disappointed to find out there is little explanation or little guidance as to what might work better.
But it’s supposed to be a collection of words and expressions, and it does what it’s supposed to say.

Read more summaries or get the book on Amazon

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