How to write (or should we say rewrite?) advertising headlines that make you rich.

David Garfinkel, copywriter, marketing consultant, and president of the San Francisco-based Overnight Marketing, has written a new e-book that could both revolutionize and simplify your promotional headline copy-writing.

In Advertising Headlines That Make You Rich, Garfinkel begins by citing legendary copywriter John Caples's statement (in Tested Advertising Methods) that "in a print ad, 75 percent of the buying decisions are made at the headline alone." The same could most likely be said of DM envelope teasers, sales letter headlines, and e-marketing subject lines.

Garfinkel then presents the heart of his book:

"This book does something that many top copywriters privately (and often secretly) to to reduce the risk, and in many cases insure the success, of an ad or letter. It takes proven headlines--which have already been shown to work in the marketplace--and adapts them to other specific businesses. No other book has 297 custom, ready-to-use headlines for dozens of businesses, all created from proven winners.

"In each chapter there are many examples of headlines that will work for ads, web pages, letters, e-mail, and postcards for a variety of retail businesses, business-to-business companies, professional service businesses, and "free agent" (home office/ small office) businesses, and others."

While Garfinkel doesn't specifically treat promotions for newsletters and specialized information, his 297 examples are easily adapted to countless promotional situations.

He writes: "There's also a concise explanation of the psychology behind the headlines, which you need to understand to use the headlines to get the greatest results for your business. Finally, there's a fill-in-the-blank template that explains exactly how you can adapt this headline to other businesses."

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Garfinkel devotes a number of pages examining Dale Carnegie's world-famous book title, How to Win Friends and Influence People.

"It's a great book," Garfinkel writes. "But if Dale had titled it "How to Remember People's Names and Curb Your Incessant Urge to Argue," do you think it would have sold as well? Probably not. There's great power in good titles."

He also points out that Carnegie's words are not only the title of the book. "Those words were also the headline of a mail-order ad, which sold the book. The ad ran successfully for many years and sold hundreds of thousands of copies."

Garfinkel then goes on to dissect the words, saying that behind them "is a 'secret code" that makes it powerful.

"The 'secret code' is actually a generic formula that gets attention and creates desire in your prospect's mind. Every winning headline has a unique generic formula hidden inside. Here's the formula in Dale Carnegie's book title and headline:

How to ______ and______."

Garfinkel gives a number of examples of variations on the formula, including "How to Get a Better Job and Make More Money" for an executive recruiter, "How to Stay Fit and Protect Yourself" for a martial arts school, and "How to Kick the Habit and Feel Great" for a stop-smoking program.

He points out that the success behind the formula is that it offers two benefits. "And, there is a very subtly implied cause-and-effect relationship between benefit number 1 and benefit number 2. That is, it seems like if you achieve the first benefit--having friends--then you will automatically achieve the second benefit--influencing people."

Newsletter DM copywriter Don Hauptman says the concept behind Advertising Headlines That Make You Rich "is ingenious."

"There's a widespread myth that creative people come up with their great ideas out of thin air," Hauptman observes. "But as a copywriter, I'll eagerly seize any tool that helps me write more effective advertising. I've seen a lot of formulas, tips and checklists, but nothing compares with David Garfinkel's Advertising Headlines That Make You Rich."

This highly recommended e-book is available for $27