Everybody Writes was a recommended reading book during Mark Smiths 90 Day Mentoring Challenge and if I’m honest a book about writing sounded like it might be a bit dull, so this took quite a long time to reach the top of my reading list. As soon as I started reading it, I realised how wrong I had been! This book is brilliant … informative, entertaining and something I will probably read regularly just to make sure I don’t get into bad habits.
We all write to some extent, Ann suggests … whether that writing is for ourselves or for others, whether it’s for business or for personal reasons … we all create written content of some kind at some time or another. Many of us spend a great deal of our working lives communicating with others via the written word, and even in our personal writing, more and more of us are choosing to share our content with others, either in our aspirations to help others or as a means of self-expression.
Ann tells us that in a world where so much of our writing is online, and we are challenged by platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to create short, snappy content, writing matters more now than ever. She says that our words are the ‘currency’ that tells our customers who we are and what we stand for. In Everybody Writes, Ann shares with us some of the tools that will help anyone involved in creating or publishing content to create compelling content.
The book is divided into a number of sections, each of which includes actionable advice;
- how to write better
- easy grammar and usage rules for business writing
- the gift of a story well told
- best practices for credible content
- things marketers write
- content tools
Ann delivers much of this in an easily reference-able format, and all of it in a fun and easy to read style. Her down to earth and self-deprecating delivery draws the reader in, and encourages us to be brutally self aware and honest about our current limitations so that we can see immediate and tangible improvement.
