Why £1,191.96 is an absolute bargain for a second-hand book

I swear, a second-hand copy of my book ‘Copy. Righter.’ was on Amazon the other day for £1,191.96. Plus £2.80 delivery.

Which sounds expensive. Especially as it wasn’t even a signed copy.

But then I got to thinking. The book’s 60,000 words long, so actually that’s less than 2p a word.

700 words equates to less than 140 quid. Whereas, if my agency charges a client for me to write them a 700 word letter, the fee would be several thousand pounds. By comparison, getting my book for under £1,200 seems like a bargain.

I remember reading something that advertising David Ogilvy said. Clients used to ask him how he could charge them so much for a piece that might have taken the copywriter only a few hours to write. ‘No,’ he’d reply, ‘it didn’t take them a few hours. It took them 10 years’ experience plus a few hours.’

And he’s right of course. A client isn’t just paying for the hours the copywriter is literally writing. They’re paying for the experience and expertise of that copywriter. The very experience that enables them to write great copy in just a few hours in the first place.

Anyway, you can ingest my 15 years of experience by snapping up the 60,000 beautifully-bound words of ‘Copy. Righter.’ from Amazon today.

Although they’re no longer advertising a second-hand copy for £1,191.96 (plus delivery). Perhaps they sold it.

You’ll have to make do with a brand new copy instead, currently available for under a tenner with free delivery.