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| Supply: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |
Ann Handley’s new ebook, Everyone Writes: Your New and Improved Go-To Information to Creating Ridiculously Good Content material (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2022), was launched final month, simply in time for astute entrepreneurs so as to add it to their want listing for the upcoming holidays.
Even higher, it is best to simply go forward and purchase Everyone Writes for your self and use the vacation season to learn and digest the various useful insights the ebook comprises. That approach, you can begin making use of Ann’s rules to enhance your writing firstly of the brand new yr.
Ann Handley is well-known and extremely revered within the advertising neighborhood. She is the Chief Content material Officer at MarketingProfs, a advertising coaching and training firm, and a frequent speaker at advertising trade occasions. Briefly, Ann is aware of whereof she speaks (and writes).
Everyone Writes is a second version; the primary version was revealed in 2014. However the brand new Everyone Writes is, nicely, new in some ways. Ann Handley says she went into making ready the up to date version considering that it could take “possibly 10 minutes,” that she would, “Run the vacuum and puff the throw pillows and spritz some Febreze across the pages . . .”
As an alternative, the replace took six months, and Ann says she “additionally constructed an addition on the again. Changed the draftiest home windows. Put in a bouncy home within the yard . . .”
Early within the ebook, Ann makes two factors that present the rationale for Everyone Writes. First, she argues that efficient advertising requires good advertising content material, and good advertising content material requires good writing – whatever the format the advertising content material takes.
The proliferation of selling channels and content material codecs, and the almost ubiquitous embrace of content material advertising have put excessive pressures on entrepreneurs to feed the content material beast. Sadly, this incessant demand for content material usually ends in the manufacturing of content material that is not superb.
Ann describes this drawback in unambiguous phrases: “We’re a planet of publishers, but many people are polluting the pool with content material garbage. We’re all creators, but many people are squandering the chance now we have to speak straight with these we care most about reaching.”
Ann’s second level is that writing is a craft that may be discovered. Due to this fact, any marketer can enhance his or her writing abilities by “working the best muscular tissues.” She writes, “You may be taught to be a greater author – the identical approach you may be taught algebra or Excel formulation or taking part in the ukulele. You want solely somewhat information, lots of constant effort, and good habits.”
What’s Within the Guide
Everyone Writes comprises an introduction, 91 chapters and a bit dedicated to content material instruments. You learn that proper . . . 91 chapters. Ann selected to share her recommendation with readers in bite-sized parts. The shortest chapters do not fill even one full web page, and most are solely two to 4 pages lengthy.
This method makes Everyone Writes extraordinarily reader-friendly. You may learn the ebook in small increments with out dropping your approach.
Ann organized the 91 tapas-sized chapters in six thematic components.
- Half I comprises Ann’s guidelines for how one can write higher and “hate writing much less.”
- Half II discusses some fundamental guidelines of grammar and utilization.
- Half III focuses on the significance and use of brand name voice.
- Half IV digs into the significance and worth of brand name tales.
- Half V spells out Ann’s guidelines for efficient and moral publishing.
- Half VI comprises Ann’s strategies for how one can create 20 widespread forms of advertising content material.
Half VII of the ebook comprises descriptions of a number of content material instruments that may assist advertising writers produce higher work extra effectively.
My Favourite Elements
It needs to be evident by now that I am an enormous fan of Everyone Writes. With this ebook, Ann Handley has created a useful resource that may assist any marketer turn into a greater author. As well as, the ebook is straightforward to learn, and Ann’s effervescent persona reveals in each web page.
Everyone Writes is full of useful insights and strategies from cowl to cowl, however two particular components of the ebook stand out for me.
Chapter 7 describes the Writing GPS, a 17-step course of that Ann recommends entrepreneurs use when creating “longer” content material items. Because the title suggests, Ann says it is best to view your writing course of as a sort of international positioning system that may get you the place you want to go.
Ann explains that seven of the steps within the Writing GPS framework are the “required minimal” for writing content material. These are steps that the majority content material writers already use in some type. The opposite ten steps “add magic and journey to a fundamental journey.” She writes, “We’d like a framework that goes past the fundamentals in an effort to see the place somewhat additional effort or consideration could make the magic occur.”
My different favourite a part of Everyone Writes is the outline of “content material instruments” that Ann offers on the finish of the ebook. These instruments embrace writing instruments, enhancing instruments and phrase finders amongst others. I used to be already accustomed to a few of these instruments, however a number of have been totally new to me. I’ve already experimented with a few of these new-to-me instruments, and I can inform they are going to be extraordinarily helpful.
A Ultimate Phrase
After I’m creating the early drafts of any important piece of content material, I want to write down by hand in a cushty chair with a dictionary, a thesaurus and a duplicate of The Components of Type inside simple attain. To any extent further, I am including Everyone Writes to my small library of arms-length writing aids.
