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| Supply: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |
Ann Handley’s new guide, 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 checklist 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 invaluable insights the guide comprises. That manner, you can begin making use of Ann’s ideas to enhance your writing initially of the brand new yr.
Ann Handley is well-known and extremely revered within the advertising and marketing neighborhood. She is the Chief Content material Officer at MarketingProfs, a advertising and marketing coaching and schooling firm, and a frequent speaker at advertising and marketing business 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 getting 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 guide, Ann makes two factors that present the rationale for Everyone Writes. First, she argues that efficient advertising and marketing requires good advertising and marketing content material, and good advertising and marketing content material requires good writing – whatever the format the advertising and marketing content material takes.
The proliferation of promoting channels and content material codecs, and the practically ubiquitous embrace of content material advertising and marketing have put excessive pressures on entrepreneurs to feed the content material beast. Sadly, this incessant demand for content material usually leads to the manufacturing of content material that is not superb.
Ann describes this downside 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 we now have to speak immediately with these we care most about reaching.”
Ann’s second level is that writing is a craft that may be realized. Subsequently, any marketer can enhance his or her writing abilities by “working the suitable muscle groups.” She writes, “You possibly can be taught to be a greater author – the identical manner you may be taught algebra or Excel formulation or enjoying the ukulele. You want solely just a little information, a number of constant effort, and good habits.”
What’s Within the Ebook
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 strategy makes Everyone Writes extraordinarily reader-friendly. You possibly can learn the guide in small increments with out dropping your manner.
Ann organized the 91 tapas-sized chapters in six thematic elements.
- Half I comprises Ann’s guidelines for find out how to 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 name voice.
- Half IV digs into the significance and worth of name tales.
- Half V spells out Ann’s guidelines for efficient and moral publishing.
- Half VI comprises Ann’s recommendations for find out how to create 20 frequent kinds of advertising and marketing content material.
Half VII of the guide comprises descriptions of a number of content material instruments that may assist advertising and marketing writers produce higher work extra effectively.
My Favourite Elements
It ought to be evident by now that I am an enormous fan of Everyone Writes. With this guide, Ann Handley has created a useful resource that may assist any marketer develop into a greater author. As well as, the guide is simple to learn, and Ann’s effervescent character exhibits in each web page.
Everyone Writes is full of invaluable insights and recommendations from cowl to cowl, however two particular elements of the guide 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 identify suggests, Ann says it is best to view your writing course of as a type of international positioning system that may get you the place you should 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 want a framework that goes past the fundamentals in an effort to see the place just a little 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 gives on the finish of the guide. These instruments embrace writing instruments, modifying instruments and phrase finders amongst others. I used to be already aware of a few of these instruments, however a number of had been completely 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 Remaining Phrase
Once I’m creating the early drafts of any important piece of content material, I favor to write down by hand in a cushty chair with a dictionary, a thesaurus and a duplicate of The Components of Fashion inside straightforward attain. To any extent further, I am including Everyone Writes to my small library of arms-length writing aids.
