The lowdown: Learn how to write words that keep customers coming back for more with this Everybody Writes summary.
Ann Handley is a columnist for Entrepreneur magazine, and Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs Handley was also listed by Forbes as the most influential woman in social media.
So, you could say she knows her shit.
In her book, Everybody Writes, Handley gives tips and tricks on how to write in an age where video content is taking over and emojis are basically a form of language.
- Audible Audiobook
- Ann Handley (Author) – Carolyn Jania, Ann Handley (Narrators)
- English (Publication Language)
- 03/14/2023 (Publication Date) – Ascent Audio (Publisher)
The three main lessons from the book are:
- Your first draft will always be ugly
- Grab your readers’ attention early
- Write an ‘about us’ page that is about your relationship with the customer
Lesson One: Your first draft will always be ugly
One of the main reasons we all get writer’s block is that we expect too much from the first draft.
Odds are, your first draft will be kinda shit. And that’s okay.
When you’re in the writing process, you need to edit and make changes. So, in order to make changes you need to write your ugly first draft.
This drat can even be a list of ideas with massive holes you’ll have to fill in later… the most important thing is that you start.
Lesson Two: Grab your readers’ attention early
The most important part of a sentence is the beginning. Mess up the start of a sentence, and odds are nobody will care about the end of it.
So, to grab the attention of your reader, place the most important part of your sentence at the beginning. Here is an example of a boring sentence, and how a small tweak can make it more engaging.
“According to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy Report, released in 2006 by the U.S. Department of Education, 30 Million adults struggle with basic reading tasks.”
If you’re anything like me, you were incredibly bored halfway though that… so much so, that you may have missed the important part.
So, let’s try this.
“Thirty million adults struggle to read, according to the
National Assessment of Adult Literacy Report, released in 2006 by the U.S. Department of Education.”
See how much of a difference grabbing attention can make?
This method is useful not only in a sentence but when planning your written work in general.
Lesson Three: Write an ‘about us’ page that is about your relationship with the customer
Most ‘about us’ pages are some kinda circle-jerk about how great a company is.
For real though. Most of the time you end up with some self-serving, buzz word riddled page that doesn’t do much for the reader at all.
Instead, focus on what your relationship to the customer is, as they’re the one who will be reading the page.
My Personal Takeaway
I loved the sentence structure outlined in this book. Being able to structure a sentence properly is something that I know, but not always something that I do.
Put it into action
Start writing now! As we read, that ugly first draft is a key step to writing that doesn’t suck.
You should consider buying this book if…
This book is great for any content marketer or anybody who has to do the majority of copywriting for their business.
Or, read our other business book summaries.
You should also check out..
a Swedish university student, marketing professional, and life-long learner. Here at BookSummaryClub I summarize my favorite non-fiction books into easily digested posts. Hope you like what you’re reading!
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