Callum Birch

How Eugene Schwartz sold millions of books

Eugene Schwartz sold millions of dollars of books by mail.

He did so before the inter-web - when advertising was 10x harder than it is today.

Want to know a secret?

He used the same ad writing process every time...

... and you can use it to sell any digital product.

Here's how.

Step 1: Get a copy of the product

First, Schwartz got a physical copy of the book he was selling.

If you're selling a digital product:

  1. Transcribe all audio and video
  2. Print the transcriptions
  3. Print all other written materials
  4. Put in a big pile on your desk

Step 2: Highlight the claims

Next, Schwartz read the book and highlighted the claims with a red pen.

Every idea he found interesting, surprising or shocking got a red mark.

You can do the same with your materials.

In the process, scribble down any ideas on index cards.

Step 3: Type up the claims

Schwartz sent the book to a typist and asked them to pop all the claims into a document.

He called this document "the vocabulary" - a collection of the strongest selling points in one place.

You can just scan your materials and send them to a VA.

Step 4: Organise the claims

Schwartz had to make several documents so his computer could handle the volume of text.

Today, you can just open the document and begin playing around with the claims.

Organise, shuffle, connect.

Congrats: you now have a rough ad!

Step 5: Edit the claims

It usually took Eugene Schwartz a couple of weeks to get to this point.

And he still didn't write any headlines.

He just wrote short and punchy claims from the copy in the document.

You can do the same.

Step 6: Write some headlines

Only now did the copywriting legend begin writing headlines.

You can follow suit as a digital copywriter.

Stuck?

Grab some classic headlines and re-write them with your claims.

Or if it takes the pressure off - write some bullets instead.

Step 7: Study the product again

Schwartz aimed to know more about the book than its author.

So his next step was to read the book again and edit the ad for factual accuracy against the book.

This is directly transferrable to selling digital products.

Step 8: Edit the copy

Next, he edited.

First, with broad brush strokes.

Improve the structure. Write new headlines. Build better bullets.

Then, make finer & finer strokes.

Go from paragraphs to sentences to words.

Eventually...

You'll have yourself a sales machine!

TL;DR: How to write million dollar ads for digital products

  1. Print the product
  2. Highlight the claims
  3. Type the claims
  4. Organise the claims
  5. Edit the claims
  6. Write some headlines
  7. Study the product again
  8. Edit, edit, edit

So there you have it: how Eugene Schwartz - one of the greatest copywriters of all times - wrote successful product ads, and how you can too.