Something I learned from Dane Maxwell was to find the best direct mail copywriters and physically hand write their letters onto paper. I did this for a few months every morning and it defiantly helped me with absorbing the tactics they were using in the letters. Here's an example of an old school letter I copied: http://www.stopyourdivorce.com/

Also, here's a check-list Dane made from a Mixergy interview a few years ago: http://mixergy.com/Master-Class/Copywriting/TheCopywritingChecklist.pdf

I think the first step is to know your audience intimately. Figure out which words *they* use to describe their pains and use that in your copy.

Another important aspect is tone--is your audience okay with a casual tone? The word "awesome"?

I learned lots from Joanna Wiebe. I bought her CopyHackers ebook bundle, but you can also Google "Joanna Wiebe podcast" and find lots of free advice from her.

Copyblogger has a bunch of resources on copywriting which tend to be both informative and fun to read. Articles hit on a variety to topics, so you can find something specific to your needs (website copy versus headlines, etc).

http://www.copyblogger.com/copywriting-101/

Another great resource is the Gary Halbert Newsletters

http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com/newsletter-archives.htm

"This device isn't a spaceship, it's a time machine. It goes backwards and forwards and takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It's not called the Wheel, it's called the Carousel. It lets us travel the way a child travels........." Don Draper

Best 3 minute introduction to how to approach product messaging (and client pitching) ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suRDUFpsHus

This is a little crazy and intensive, but I advocate a brute force approach. The single most important thing that has made me a better writer is to write thousands and thousands of words. Over time you develop a taste for them, almost independently of anything else.

What helps a lot is to go back and rewrite your older work. But to do that, you first need a body of older work. Few people seem to consider this, but it works. Write copy for everything around you. Sell your coffee. Sell your mouse. Publish all of it on a blog. See what sticks.

If you're down to read, there's the work of Maxwell Sackheim. He's a famous copywriter from the time of mail order advertising. Personally, I haven't read it. But there's a place to start.

http://www.amazon.com/My-first-sixty-years-advertising/dp/0136084486/

Writing good copy has so many factors, that it's hard to just come up with a simple solution that works everywhere. Ultimately, testing headlines, copy, and content will get you results. Learn how to A/B test your copy and read up on the topic.

Copyhackers is great:
http://copyhackers.com/product-category/copywriting-ebooks/

Suprised to see nobody mentioned Neville Medhora and his blog: http://www.nevblog.com/

I found his book very helpful:
http://www.amazon.com/This-book-teach-write-better-ebook/dp/B00F209U6S/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1410098238&sr=1-1&keywords=this+book+will+teach+you+how+to+write+better

2 things I've been using a lot off late that have been immensely useful:

The AIDA framework: http://growthhackers.com/the-lizard-brain-and-email/ - which can apply to anything you write not just email

Once I've written something, I push it through Hemingway: http://growthhackers.com/questions/show-gh-hemingway-app-that-shows-you-how-to-make-your-writing-bold-and-clear/

There's clearly more systematic ways to learn as others have pointed out but to get up and going quickly, I've found these have made a drastic improvement in how I write (anything)

I took a college course on writing in general through a program called "The Little Red Schoolhouse" http://writing-program.uchicago.edu/

Although it is largely about writing convincing papers, the general background is writing in context of how people actually read. The guys who created the course have a number of books on amazon, all of which are good

This would be the basic textbook, if they used one. http://www.amazon.com/Style-Lessons-Clarity-Grace-11th/dp/0321898680/ref=la_B001H6MZ40_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1410010141&sr=1-1

I also highly recommend Strunk and White's Elements of Style as a general reference when dealing with nuances of grammar.

Don't bother buying it, unless you are getting the illustrated edition for your desk: the first edition is out of copyright, and is available for free in many places on the internet

Ogilivy "On Advertising" has a number of notes on copy.

That, and I've noticed that a lot of good copywriters take improv training at some point. Something about learning how to be funny.

One great read by legendary copy writer is the book by Dan Kennedy "The Ultimate Sales Letter"

For great copy writing tips (and a whole lots of marketing psychology), I'd recommend you visit websites related to direct marketing. One of my favorite is www.ilovemarketing.com. You'll be surprise how the host, Joe Polish and Dean Jackson, have networked their way to interview the worlds greatest copywriter and business man (e.g. Richard Brandson ,Jay Abraham, Dan Kennedy, Michael E.Gerber (The E-Myth), Tony Horton (P90X) and Dan Sullivan (Strategic Coach) etc"

This is what his marketing does to me, to refer organically with passio

I think the best thing to do is offer something of value - think of documenting your past experiences or following your own journey towards something. Research the topic if you have to, and offer your own insights.

You can always get ideas from other people's content, really..There is so much out there.

I agree with what @DaveHowe said. Find newsletters and landing pages that made you purchase something and copy it down using pen and paper - not on a computer.

Next (you can do this on paper), break out each paragraph and try to figure out what the psychology of the text is. Are they using social proof? Are they using scarcity? Are they using collection set theory? Are they trying to demonstrate higher value? What is the psychology behind each paragraph?

Finally, what's the positioning that they're using? What are they trying to convey. What's the subtle difference from their competitors?

In addition to a couple of ones already mentioned (Copyblogger & Copyhackers), I really like some of Amy Hoy's recent posts. This one from July features a video case study where she goes through her process of helping rescue a local Kickstarter project by improving the clarity of the copy on their project page:

http://unicornfree.com/2014/is-bad-copy-killing-your-product

Another great one featuring advice from Amy is a long and detailed post by Nathan Barry on the process they used when creating the copy for the ConvertKit landing page:

http://nathanbarry.com/step-by-step-landing-page-copywriting/

Anyone took the American Writers & Artists Inc course? Or has an idea if it is recommendable?

From Gary Halbert - you can get his swipe files here: http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com/

Also John Carlton is awesome sauce.

Frank Kern has a great style that is very powerful with his chosen market.

For an inbound approach, check out HubSpot's inbound certification: http://academy.hubspot.com/certification

Another way to learn how to write effectively is to read. Not just tech articles and books, read for pleasure about whatever you're interested in.

You'd be surprised how much easier it gets to express an idea when you read different things regularly. If you want to write well, you can't just go to class, you have to live it.

You can only read so many copy writing books before your head explodes, and 9 times out of 10 if you read too many articles you'll start over thinking every word and start spiting out some real junk.

Best tip I ever got was "Get to the point" , which obviously I still struggle with.

I have a folder where I save all the great copy I encounter. Especially ones that address the same audience I target.

I analyze their
a) length
b) content
c) tone

to inspire my writing.

Formulas and frameworks are great to nail the basics. For example, a well-known basic: describe how something benefits the customer, not its features.

However, the basics are not longer effective because everybody else is doing it. You need to develop an unique voice on top of the basics to wow people.

Resources to Learn Copywriting

Copyblogger
http://www.copyblogger.com/blog/

Declaring War on Bland
http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/TEDxGramercy-Jean-Tang-Declarin;search%3Atag%3A%22tedxgramercy%22

The 87-Point Sales Page Checklist
http://copyhackers.com/downloads/worksheets/The-Copy-Hackers-87-Point-Sales-Page-Checklist.pdf

The Content Marketing Institute
http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/blog/

Michael Fortin
http://michelfortin.com/

Bob Bly
http://bly.com/blog/

To learn storytelling, seek out the writings of Jon Morrow. Also read Problogger, CopyBlogger, ConvinceandConvert. As DaveHowe mentioned, the strongest copywriters are direct mail experts. Today we also have conversion optimization testing to improve skills.

Knowing what to do is one thing. What really grows skills is actually doing it. The challenge is there are so many skills to learn and those who are actually doing them rarely make mentoring their priority. This is unfortunate, as the transfer of skills is much faster when experience gets transferred directly.

What we need is to create teams with various specialties willing to mentor each other and/or trade work. If anyone is interested please contact me.

This is a great discussion; thanks to all.
PS: It seems as if copywriters have a bit of an advantage while planning their own product! :)

Single best copywriting book out there - Cashvertising:
http://www.amazon.com/CA-HVERTISING-Ad-Agency-Psychology-Anything/dp/1601630328

There is a great playlist on Gibbon full of free resources about copywriting and how to engage people in your content, might be useful. check it out:
https://gibbon.co/snsmth/the-art-of-copywriting