Write to Sell

Most business writing is written from the inside. It describes the company, lists the features and sounds careful. Write to Sell is a short course in turning that around, and it is the part of selling that many owners never learn properly, because nobody teaches it.

The problem it solves

Maslen's starting point is that copywriting is a sales skill first. In his words, it is "primarily about selling and only secondarily about writing". Most people who write sales copy are either writers who have never sold or salespeople who have never written, so each half is missing. The book gives you both halves in one place: how a salesperson thinks about a customer, and how to put that on the page.

What changes in how you work

You stop starting from your product and start from one reader and their worries. You write a one-page plan with a specific goal before you open a document. You describe what your offer does for people instead of what it is. Then you edit hard, check the readability numbers and proof-read on paper. None of this is complicated, which is why it works: it is a set of habits, and the book gives you a checklist for each.

Where it fits in running a business

Every business has copy that does real work: the proposal that wins or loses a contract, the follow-up email, the landing page, the renewal letter. These pieces are written once and often never tested. Maslen's advice on testing long against short copy, on attributing testimonials and on writing a clear call to action is cheap to apply and easy to measure. The chapter on briefing an external writer is worth reading before you hire anyone, because a written brief that states the goal protects both sides.

The decisions behind the words

I like that the book forces decisions before sentences. What is the goal, who is the reader, what should they know, feel and commit to? Those answers can be written down and logged. Once a team has agreed them for one kind of message, the plan becomes a template that a colleague or an AI agent can follow, with the human reading the result against the stated goal. A writing process that starts with a recorded decision is easier to repeat than one that starts with a blank page.

When to read it and when to skip it

Read it when your copy is being ignored, when you are about to write a major proposal or site copy, or before you brief an agency. Skip it if you want current web tactics, channel strategy or search advice: the book dates from 2007 and its examples mention faxes, direct mail and Word 2007. The writing principles hold up. The tools around them have moved on, and the book's web appendix is brief.

The book argues that sales copy succeeds when it is written for one reader, built on a plan and a persuasion structure, and edited in plain English. Maslen mixes psychology, exercises and short case notes from his work as a copywriter.

Introduction

Maslen sets out four things to remember: copywriting is about selling, you must focus on the reader, short words beat long ones, and most people lack either the writing or the selling experience. He defines selling widely, as persuading someone to do or feel something they did not start out doing. The aim of the book is goal-focused writing, from emails and proposals to adverts and websites.

Section One: It's not about you

The first section is about the reader. In "Where most people go wrong" he explains that your reader has no investment in your message, so only a message aimed at their interests will hold them. His shorthand is Radio WIIFM: What's In It For Me.

"A few thoughts on human nature" suggests profiling your reader with questions and uses the seven deadly sins as a map of motives. His rule is that people buy on emotion first and then rationalise the choice, so give both a feeling and reasons.

"Getting to know your reader" tells you to leave the office and talk to customers and sales staff, or use your imagination. He suggests pairing what a person is running away from with what they are running towards, and picturing a single typical reader even when you write to thousands. The 3am question (what keeps them awake) is his favourite probe.

A word about businesspeople

B2B copy is still written to people. Executives are busy, so copy has to be relevant rather than short, and decisions carry personal motives as well as business ones. Plain English works for senior readers as well as anyone else, and corporate jargon only hides the point.

"The B-word (and why it's so much better than the F-word)"

Features are what you have. Benefits are what the reader gets. Makers love features, but the benefit makes the sale and the feature lets the buyer justify the purchase. Writing about features means writing for the company instead of the customer.

Section Two: What do you mean, you don't have a plan?

"Yes, but what are you trying to say?" is the planning chapter. Maslen asks six questions about goal, reader, content, space, tone and time, and the goal comes first. He recommends planning on paper with bullet points and sticky notes, grouping ideas into themes, and ending with a one-page plan.

"Setting out your goals" asks for SMART goals and warns that creativity is not a goal. Raising brand awareness is vague, while recruiting 125 customers by a set date is something you can check. If a line of copy pleases you more than it persuades, cut it.

"A simple but powerful fast-food mnemonic for creating perfect plans" introduces KFC: what should the reader know, feel and commit to? Most writers manage the facts and the ask. Few plan the feeling, and he argues that is where buying decisions are made.

Understanding what you're really selling

A product appears to be one thing and is bought as another: a fountain pen is a status gift, and a lottery ticket is cheap escape. Work out what it really competes with, show life with and without it, and use the grid of what will and will not happen if the reader acts or does not.

The killer structure for every piece of copy

The core of the book is AIDCA: attention, interest, desire, conviction and action. Attention comes from the headline, and he cites a test in which benefit headlines beat news and curiosity, while a mix of all three did best. Interest comes from benefits, built with the feature, advantage and benefit chain and the noble, immediate and basic types of benefit. Desire comes from picturing the product in use and from limiting supply. Conviction comes from attributed testimonials, guarantees, free trials and statistics. Action means a short, direct command, repeated and easy to follow.

Section Three: What works and what doesn't

"What works" lists staying focused on the reader, brevity, long copy, storytelling, questions, rapport and fresh ideas. On length, his tests in direct marketing show that long, interesting copy usually beats short, though you should test for yourself.

"And what doesn't" lists showy writing, jargon, wind, talking about yourself, boilerplate, over-excitement, humour and subjectivity. His example is a proposal that opened with a company history and reached its first benefit on page seven. He also warns against exciting and similar adjectives, which describe the writer's feelings rather than the reader's.

Section Four: OK, start writing

"The black arts (and a few magic words)" gives page-level tricks that keep people reading: broken lists, teasers at paragraph ends, pages that end mid-sentence and promises of more to come. It adds words that work, including please and a guarantee.

"Why your sales copy should be like a bowl of Rice Krispies" is about snap, crackle and pop: short power words, verbs instead of noun-heavy phrasing, and everyday Anglo-Saxon words in place of Latin ones.

"Good English style for copywriting" builds on Orwell's six rules and adds more of his own: prefer nouns and verbs to adjectives, use the active voice, and aim for sentences averaging about 16 words. Put the strong word last.

Tone of voice, punctuation and school rules

"Tone of voice: What is it and what to do with it" says to write as you speak and read your copy aloud. "Why punctuation is a sales tool" treats punctuation as a way to be understood, and favours full stops over colons and semicolons unless you can use them well. "Stuff you learned at school you can forget" dismisses the rules against starting a sentence with and, ending with a preposition and splitting infinitives, while reminding you that a reader who dislikes them may still matter.

Section Five: Dressed to impress?

Editing, proof-reading and readability close the craft. A first draft is never good enough, and writing is rewriting. Proof-read on paper, slowly, even emails. Use the readability statistics in Word as a guide: passive sentences, Flesch Reading Ease and words per sentence.

Layout and design are treated as copywriting tools. He covers contents lists, a ranged-left ragged-right setting, black on white, and keeping designers focused on helping the reader. He argues for original photography over stock images of smiling executives.

Section Six: What now?

"My tips for action" is about practice: read widely, print and review your own work, cut recent copy, find a writing buddy, plan the next piece, check the statistics and copy out passages that work.

"How to brief an external copywriter" explains the brief as the basis of the agreement. It should say what you want to achieve and not how. Changes caused by a misunderstood brief are the writer's to fix, while changes you added later are yours to pay for. Start feedback with something positive.

"The last word" argues that good writing still matters because there is more written communication than ever.

Appendices

"Writing for the web: myths and realities" says online copy follows the same rules as print. AIDCA still applies, short sentences help, and the claim that web copy must be short has little evidence behind it. A list of reference sources and a note on the book's own readability scores follow.

What to do with it

• Pick one live piece of copy, such as a proposal or landing page, and write its goal as a measurable sentence at the top before you edit.
• Write the KFC line for it: what the reader should know, feel and commit to.
• Rewrite the opening so it answers what is in it for the reader, and turn each feature into a benefit.
• Add an attributed testimonial or guarantee for conviction, and finish with one direct call to action.
• Edit for plain words and short sentences, check the readability figures, then proof-read a printed copy.
• Next time you hire a writer, send a written brief built on the book's questionnaire.