Full Description
The New Writer's Guide to Producing Great Content
Everyone has that fabled "book in them" but not everyone has the talent to write it. Right? Wrong. Great writing's not a talent. It's a craft. It can be taught and learnt, affording everyone the confidence to express themselves in words.
Writing Well for Work & Pleasure teaches you how to start your writing project and how to keep going. It deconstructs the elements of writing - creating a step-by-step process for generating content that's ready for publication. With tips on style, eloquence and finding your voice, it also teaches you how to write for different audiences, including professionals, the public, students, customers and even your opponents. And it helps writers talk to editors, publishers and other industry insiders.
This book is for professionals and academics wanting to write that book; ambitious executives needing to write a white paper to accelerate their careers; managers being asked to write articles for publication; artisans and hobbyists with skills to convey; idealists and polemicists wanting to inspire and agitate; and anyone wanting to write well in order to improve their communications skills.
"If you follow Robert Kelsey's advice you will produce better prose, which will be both easier for readers to understand and more persuasive, whichever audience you are addressing. I strongly recommend it," Luke Johnson, columnist, author, serial entrepreneur and Chairman of Risk Capital Partners
Contents
Table of contents
Preface
Chapter One: What to write and why
1. Why write?
2. What to write
a. The book
b. Short books or pamphlets
c. White papers
d. Commentary articles
e. Blogs
f. Promotional material
g. Other media
3. Your audience
a. Peer professionals
b. The wider public
c. The "great and the good"
d. Adversaries
e. Children and students
f. Potential customers
g. The media
4. Who am I?
Chapter Two: The process of writing
1. Angle, content, structure, style
a. Angle
b. Content
c. Structure
d. Style
2. Motivation (or getting started)
3. Discipline (or keeping going)
4. Overcoming writer's block
Chapter Three: The elements of non-fiction
1. Body copy
2. Paragraphs
3. Sentences
4. Words
5. Headlines
6. Standfirsts
7. Crossheads
8. Eyebrows
9. Quotes
10. Lists and bullet points
Chapter Four: Writing by numbers
(or producing a first draft)
Step One: Confirm the angle
Step Two: Format the page
Step Three: Write block one, and two
Step Four: Write the tougher blocks
Step Five: Stitch the blocks together
Step Six: Add an opening paragraph
Step Seven: Add an ending
Step Eight: Add the headline
Step Nine: Add the standfirsts, bylines and picture captions
Step Ten: Check your facts
Chapter Five: Views on style
1. Developing your voice
2. Corporate and marketing speak
3. Making it eloquent and compelling
i. Alliteration
ii. Tricolon
iii. Epizeuxis
iv. Segue
v. Proverbs, idioms, similes etc.
vi. Antithesis
4. A brief word on punctuation
5. Considering SEO
Chapter Six: Preparing for publication
1. Proofing and editing
2. Graphs and tables
3. Images, illustrations and maps
4. Cover image
5. Pull quotes
6. Boxed text
7. Appendices
8. Forewords, prefaces, glossaries etc.
9. The introduction
10. A conclusion
11. Jacket and cover copy
12. Biography
13. Footnotes, endnotes and references
14. Killer titles
Appendix: some books worth reading (or not) on English usage, style and writing
1. Usage and style guides
2. Books on writing
Index
