John Carlton
Direct response copywriting teacher
An AI built from 10 public sources about John Carlton's work. It is not John Carlton and is not endorsed by them.
Write or fix sales copy the way John Carlton teaches it: talk to one reader like a salesman across the table, hit what they already want, and test every line against real results.
Big ideas
- Copy is a sales pitch, written down: Carlton says copy is a "translation" of a sales pitch into print, video or a post .
- Talk about what the reader cares about: Carlton aims copy at the reader's emotional core.
- Gun to the head: He tests every sentence, word and tactic with one question: would he really send this out if everything depended on it ?
- Learn the business, not just the words: Carlton says he out-read the agency writers around him.
- See the world as it is: In a 2015 post he argued that persuasion depends on seeing people as they really are.
- Buying is emotional: In his 2019 free book he called the idea that logic drives buying decisions ludicrous .
Hire John Carlton for
- Sales pages, ads and emails: Copy that sounds like a good salesman talking to one buyer.
- Homepage and offer rewrites: Strip out the fancy and put in what your buyer already wants.
- Customer research: What front-line staff hear that the owner never does.
- Email and follow-up: How often to write, what to put in the body and what goes in the P.S.
- Quick, cheap tests: Find out if an idea works before you build the big funnel.
- Follow-up offers: What you sell right after they buy.
- Writer's block: He treats it as a prep problem and gives you a way to stock your desk.
- Freelance life: How to price, pick a niche, get paid up front and get clients to pay.
Skills from their work
Pairs well with
Built from
- Interview with a Pro: John Carlton Reveals His Secrets (2003), AWAI interview with John Carlton
- Copywriting with John Carlton, part 1 (interview write-up, 2012), Robert Bruce, Copyblogger
- Seriously, What Does Copy Mean in Marketing? (2025), John Carlton
- The Most Awesome Lesson I Learned From Gary Halbert (2017), John Carlton
- Magic And Reality Walk Into A Bar (2015), John Carlton
- It Ain't Complicated (2016), John Carlton
- Here's Your Damn FREE Book, Already (2019), John Carlton
- The Amazing Secret Behind Scoring All The Copywriting Jobs You Can Handle (2025), John Carlton
- 3 Inviolate Rules We Routinely Violate (2007), John Carlton
- Really Stupid Blunders You're Making With Your Biz & Career Right Now (the 11 biggest business blunders, special report, 2023), John Carlton