Tag Archives: how to write

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The 7 deadly sins of social media

In 2015, we wrote that for businesses, there were 7 deadly sins of social media. Now we think there’s 8.

Social media can be a great tool for growing your professional presence and showing off your expertise to new audiences. It’s a key distribution channel for any content you create or curate – like blogs and articles.

But there are many traps you’ll need to avoid if you want to spread your influence effectively. Here are seven of the deadliest. Continue reading “The 7 deadly sins of social media” »

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7 books that will make you a better writer

Our guide to the 7 books that promise to make you a better business writer.

Writing well is more important than ever. Now almost everyone writes for work – from emails to research papers, presentations, memos, letters, social media posts and more. And yet, few of us are trained in how to write well.

So if you’d like a crash course in the fundamentals of good writing, here are seven books guaranteed to help you improve. Continue reading “7 books that will make you a better writer” »

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How to write a legal case summary that gets read

Most law firms realise that they can win work by producing content that engages potential clients and shows off their expertise. And an effective way to do this is by producing summaries of recent judgments.

The problem is that most legal case summaries are neither good, nor effective. They lack relevance, and rarely get clicked on, opened or read.

So, if your law firm is failing to get its case summaries noticed, here are 8 tips to help: Continue reading “How to write a legal case summary that gets read” »

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How to write anything

Whether you’re writing a corporate document, a website, an advertisement or a novel, the writing process is always the same… So what’s this secret formula that will help you write anything?

Alarm bells should ring when you ask someone how they’re going with a document and they tell you they’re half way through it because they’ve written, say, 500 of a thousand words. Chances are unless they’re some kind of writing genius – if such a thing exists – their work will be flawed.
Continue reading “How to write anything” »

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What Hemingway can teach us about digital writing

What a 20th century master can teach us about how to write in the online age.

Ernest Hemingway died almost 55 years ago. But his writing philosophy and techniques have never been more relevant.

Here are seven things he can teach us about writing in the digital age. Continue reading “What Hemingway can teach us about digital writing” »

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How do you learn to write? 6 tips to improve your writing

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Our guide to becoming a better business writer

how to write, writing tips, business writing, professional“You learn to write by writing. It’s a truism, but what makes it a truism is that it’s true.” – William Zinsser, On Writing Well

The sad news is that there are no shortcuts to writing well. But we can let you in on a little secret: the best way to learn to write is to practice. You simply need to write.

While practice might be the cornerstone of learning to write well, there are some other simple ways you can improve your skills: Continue reading “How do you learn to write? 6 tips to improve your writing” »

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3 tips for editing your own writing

The essential guide for anyone who has to edit their own business writing.

editing tips, writing, how to edit, how to write“Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.” – Stephen King, author.

Writing and editing are not separate processes. To some degree, good writing IS good editing. But you can’t write and edit at the same time, and you need to do both to produce good writing.

As William Zinsser, American writer, editor and critic, argues: “the essence of writing is rewriting. Very few writers say on their first try exactly what they want to say… A piece of writing must be viewed as a constantly evolving organism… If the process is sound, the product will take care of itself.”

Increasingly, writing is part of what most people do for a living. But unless you’re a novelist or journalist you’re unlikely to have the benefit of a professional editor, so here are three tips for editing your own writing. Continue reading “3 tips for editing your own writing” »

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It ain’t your grammar: Why structure matters more

Is it really necessary to know grammar if you want to write well? Or are other things – such as structure – more important?

“It is necessary to know grammar, and it is better to write grammatically than not, but it is well to remember that grammar is common speech formulated. Usage is the only test. I prefer a phrase that is easy and unaffected to a phrase that is grammatical.” – William Somerset Maugham, The Summing Up, (1938)

For some years I worked as an editor, commissioning articles for websites. One thing people would often say to me when they felt unsure of the work they were submitting was: “Oh my grammar is terrible, you’ll need to check it”.

They were right in one sense. There was usually something wrong with what they’d written. But it was rare, if ever, that their grammar alone was letting them down.

In most cases it was the structure. What they were saying didn’t read well because they hadn’t given enough thought to what they were writing about. This meant that they hadn’t planned their writing properly, and that lack of planning showed. Continue reading “It ain’t your grammar: Why structure matters more” »

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