John Caples was a legendary copywriter who also pioneered things like extensive research and copy testing. When I was a young copywriter I studied Caples, especially his classic headlines. The best known of those is “They laughed when I sat down at the piano …”
I still have my well thumbed and highlighted copy of his classic book How to Make Your Advertising Make Money. Here’s a quote from that work.
“Write your copy to the sixth grade level. Simple language is not resented by educated people. And simple language is the only kind that many people understand.”
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If you want even more writing advice from writers, check out Jon Winokur’s blog, “AdvicetoWriters.”