Meet the Persuasion Master Who Became the Pioneering Teacher

By 1999, David Garfinkel had already made it as a copywriter.

He’d written a sales letter that brought in $40 million for one client. He’d studied under the masters. He knew the craft inside and out.

While taking a screenwriting course in California, David often would cite connections in class between what they were learning and “the tawdry world of copywriting.”

Two classmates, Jane and Sue, approached him and asked: “David, what is this thing called ‘copywriting?’ Would you teach it to us?”

The Problem Nobody Had Solved

Garfinkel had spent years searching for a clear, systematic copywriting course.

He’d read the books. Attended the seminars. Studied with the best.

But every time, he came away with “more questions than answers.”

The successful copywriters could teach… but nobody had created a truly comprehensive, easy-to-understand system.

“I Wasn’t Sure It Could Be Done”

When Sue and Jane asked him to teach, Garfinkel faced a choice.

He could say no — teaching something he’d never taught before, something nobody had successfully systematized.

Or he could take the risk.

He said yes… with one condition: He’d record everything.

“It was a massive effort,” he says in his book, The Persuasion Story Code. “I took everything I had learned, organized it and simplified it. I sweated the details.”

The Breakthrough

His course worked.

Marketing consultant Burt Dubin, who had “sat at the feet of about every direct marketing guru in the Western world” and “invested mega-thousands of dollars,” wrote:

“Your course made mastering the simple truths of writing persuasive, alluring, magnetic prose, easier for me than all the others.”

In 2000 — when publishing courses online was still cutting-edge — Garfinkel’s systematic approach to teaching persuasion went digital.

First week: $6,000 in sales.

His discovery: “The language of persuasion could be taught… and learned.”

The Same Approach, Applied to Stories

Since launching that course, Garfinkel has written three bestselling books on copywriting, including The Persuasion Story Code.

In The Persuasion Story Code, Garfinkel outlines 25 distinct story types across 6 categories — each with step-by-step frameworks you can use immediately.

It’s my favorite book on storytelling.

Meet the Pioneer

David Garfinkel will join Ted Prodromou and me for the Mastermind Book Club on TUESDAY, October 21 (not our usual fourth Thursday) at 2:30 p.m. to discuss The Persuasion Story Code.

This is your opportunity to meet a copywriting legend, pick his brain, and discover how to produce persuasive, sales-generarting content.

There’s no charge to attend. But you must be a Club member (free) to join the meeting.

Click here to join the Club. We’ll send the Zoom link to members before the meeting.