• By Jimmy Cox
• Published 12/9/2009
• Copywriting

No one is born a famous sales copywriter. The art of copywriting is something to study and practice. It is also not a profession to be taken up from one day to the next and can’t be learned by reading just one little book on your own. Every sales copywriter has to go through some sort of training. So, if you were thinking of quitting your day job and sitting down to start writing some ads today you better think again. Even if you have a natural talent for putting words together right, you need to have some formal training. Copywriting is not as easy as you may think and is very different from writing a magazine article or an ebook. Before picking up that pen, read up on what it is to be a sales copywriter. There are several resources online and in bookstores that you should take a look at before you begin. Once you are familiar with the basics of sales copywriting, you will realize you need some training and lots of practice. Training options range from interning at ad agencies to studying under a well-known independent sales copywriter to taking college courses. Becoming an intern is usually the first suggestion to aspiring sales copywriters, although not always the easiest job to get. While interning will help you get a feel for what the real world of sales copywriting is like, formal training in the form of copywriting classes will allow you to develop your own writing style and work at your own pace. There is a wide variety of courses available to you when it comes to sales copywriting. Often professional copywriters will offer seminars or short courses to share what they have learned through their many years of experience. These events, like college courses can be about general writing, technical writing copywriting and other related fields. You need to sign up for the ones you feel most drawn to. The best place to start is at your local college or university. Community colleges often offer a wide range of writing courses that you can take as single classes. Universities that have liberal arts programs will also be able to offer you courses ranging from Journalism to Advertising and anywhere in between. If you don’t have time to fit in a college class (not even at night?) then you can look for online sales copywriting courses to start your training. The benefit of these online classes is that you can study each lesson at your own pace and practice as long as you like. Of course, this can also be detrimental if you don’t take the time to complete the course at all. Another important part of training to be a sales copywriter is of course, the time you put into it. After all, practice makes perfect. You will need to use everything you learn from these classes and other books you read on the subject to start writing your first sales copy.

Even if it’s just putting a new spin on an ad you already like, practicing your writing style to get a message across in an effective and interesting way is the best training you can have.