Here is the 10-part letter formula.
Start with “Dear Dean,” which can be the name you give your perfect prospect. Remember, you can change it later. Don’t worry about the headline at this point. Next…
1. Start with the purpose of your letter.
“I’m writing to you because I want you to…” Insert your naked-truth reason you’re writing, as if you were making your request known to a lamp Genie who could grant your wish, like, “Take out your credit card and pay me $39 for my new book called…”
2. Reasons you are writing to this specific person.
“The reason I’m writing to you specifically is because I think you want…” And then list the reasons in bullet form, such as reason #1, reason #2, reason #3, and so on.
3. List the features and benefits of your product or offer.
“Here is a list of what you get when you [buy my book]…” Again, use bullets. First list the feature followed by the benefit after “which means,” such as “You get [feature], which means [benefit].” Write as many as you can drum up at this point.
4. Top 10 questions and/or objections.
You can say, “If I were to guess the top 10 questions or objections you will have about buying my product today, they would be these…” You then follow that by another bulleted list of the top 10 most asked questions or most pressing concerns.
5. Answers to those questions or objections.
“So here’s how I would clear those up for you…” Same idea as point #4. List, in bullet form, the answers to each and every question or concern you’ve uncovered.
6. Explain the guarantee or how you are removing the risks.
“I want you to be completely without risk, so here’s my guarantee…” Then explain how your guarantee works, how it reduces or removes the risk from the purchase in their minds, and how to take advantage of it if they need to.
7. The most important part: the call to action.
“It’s really easy to get started. You just…” (whatever it is they must do, such as “click this button,” “fill in this form,” “call this phone number,” “return this coupon,” etc). Provide the exact, step-by-step instructions on how they can take action.
8. The result of their taking action.
“Once you decide to get started here’s what’s going to happen…” Describe what’s going to happen once they go ahead. Educate them on how they will get their product, and how they will consume it. Tell them how to make the best use of their new purchase.
9. Add an element of scarcity or a sense of urgency.
“You need to do this right now because…” Tell them why they need to take action today. Is there a limit or a deadline? What will be the consequences if they don’t take action? What are the ultimate costs of not going ahead today?
10. Finally, testimonials from satisfied customers.
“Here’s a list of people who have already [done this] and exactly what happened for them…” Add testimonials or case studies from other customers. Of course, I don’t need to remind you that they must be real and genuine. 
There you have it.
When you’re done with this exercise in hopefully one hour or less, it’s easy to start taking the barebone copy elements from it and dressing them up to take out in public.
You can add more, rearrange the elements, expand points, add proper transitions between each section, make it flow neatly, tighten it all up, and so on.
Once you’ve done this naked-truth, skeletal salesletter, headline ideas will naturally jump out at you. You will have some groundwork from which to come up with several headlines and possible hooks that will appeal to your perfect customer.
Remember, the headline’s job is only one thing: to get your prospect to read your letter. Once you’ve accomplished that, the rest should be smooth sailing.
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