Copywriting Secrets is a copywriting book by Jim Edwards: a collection of plain-English formulas for headlines, bullet points, sales letters and emails, written for business owners who have to write their own copy. It is still in print, and a second edition is on the way. This review covers what the book teaches, who it suits, and where to get it now that the old free plus shipping offer has ended.
Correction, 10 October 2026: earlier versions of this page said the book was written by Russell Brunson and “backed by scientific research”, and quoted page counts, prices and upsell totals that could not be checked. Jim Edwards is the author. The details below come from the book’s Amazon listing and Jim Edwards’ own site, checked on 10 October 2026.
Table of Contents
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Run my audit →The Book at a Glance
| Detail | What the listing says |
|---|---|
| Author | Jim Edwards |
| Publisher | Author Academy Elite |
| Published | 10 December 2019 (Amazon paperback listing) |
| Length | 328 pages |
| Reader rating | 4.7 out of 5 from 2,244 Amazon ratings |
What Copywriting Secrets Teaches
The book is a set of short “secrets”, each one a formula or habit you can apply to a piece of copy the same day. Published summaries group them into five themes:
- Copywriting mindset: why copy is the skill that multiplies every other part of a business.
- Sales formulas and sales letters: fill-in structures for sales pages and offers, built on the idea that “great copy always leaves clues”.
- Making the reader “thirsty”: building desire before you ask for the sale.
- Selling without selling: placing small closes inside the copy instead of saving one hard pitch for the end.
- Polishing: editing and testing what you have written.
The best-known tool in it is a bullet formula that turns a product feature into the benefit a reader actually cares about. That one habit is worth the price of the book if your sales pages read like spec sheets.
Who Should Read It
It suits beginners best: founders, coaches and solo marketers who write their own pages and emails and want formulas they can follow. It is quick to read and easy to dip into. If you already write copy for a living, expect to recognise much of it, because it repackages direct-response ideas you will find in the older classics listed in the FAQ below.
How to Get It in 2026
For years the book was sold through a “free, just pay shipping” funnel. That order form no longer works, and copywritingsecrets.com now redirects to a reader survey. The paperback is still sold through Amazon and other booksellers.
A new edition is coming. On that survey page Jim Edwards says he is rewriting the book as Copywriting Secrets version 2 for release in fall 2026, with AI and copywriting as a major theme. If you are deciding now, the first edition still teaches the fundamentals well. If AI writing tools are your main interest, it may be worth waiting for version 2.
What I Actually Look For Before Trusting Any Copywriting Course
Here is my rule for judging a copywriting program, and it has saved me a lot of wasted money. Ignore the flashy income screenshots and ask one question. Does it teach you to understand the reader, or does it just hand you templates to copy. Templates fail the moment your market shifts. Understanding why a message moves a specific human is the skill that keeps working across every product you will ever sell.
Good copy is not clever wording, it is clarity about what your reader already wants and the courage to say it plainly. After 20+ years and four businesses, I can tell you the copy that sells for me is the copy that sounds like one honest person talking to another, not the copy stuffed with borrowed tricks, and that plain voice is what carries offers across four businesses on roughly 25-hour weeks. I break down the messaging that actually converts in my growth hacking video series and in my Substack case studies. For grounded data on what makes copy convert, HubSpot Research is solid, and the HubSpot blog covers the practical craft. Learn the reader. The templates were never the secret.
Verdict
Copywriting Secrets is a solid, practical first book on copywriting for people who write their own marketing. It will not make you a master copywriter, and it does not claim to. It will give you formulas you can use this week, and the habit of writing for the reader instead of about the product. Read it, then move on to Sugarman and Halbert.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who wrote Copywriting Secrets?
Jim Edwards. Amazon lists him as the sole author of the paperback, published by Author Academy Elite on 10 December 2019. Older copies of this review credited Russell Brunson as the author, which was wrong.
Is Copywriting Secrets still available?
Yes. When checked on 10 October 2026 the paperback was in stock on Amazon, 328 pages, with an average of 4.7 out of 5 from 2,244 ratings. The old free plus shipping order form is gone, and copywritingsecrets.com now points to a reader survey for a second edition.
Is there a new edition of Copywriting Secrets?
Jim Edwards says he is rewriting it as Copywriting Secrets version 2 for release in fall 2026, with a focus on AI and copywriting. He is collecting reader questions for it through a survey linked from copywritingsecrets.com.
Is Copywriting Secrets good for beginners?
Yes, that is who it suits best. It is a plain-English collection of copy formulas for headlines, bullets, sales letters and emails. Experienced copywriters will recognise much of it from the direct-response classics it draws on.
What are good alternatives to Copywriting Secrets?
The Boron Letters by Gary Halbert for direct-response fundamentals, The Adweek Copywriting Handbook by Joseph Sugarman for the principles behind persuasive copy, and Cashvertising by Drew Eric Whitman for the psychology of advertising.
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About the Author
Martin Ebongue is a solopreneur, automation specialist, and host of The Dose of Vital Content Podcast. He’s built and scaled multiple online businesses to six figures using automated systems, and now helps other entrepreneurs do the same. He’s been featured in Yahoo Finance, Forbes, and Business Insider. Connect with him on LinkedIn or follow him on Instagram.
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