Book Review: Everybody Writes: Author: Ann Handley

There are many reviews of this book. In fact there is even a REVIEW OF REVIEWS of this book which was written in 2014 !

Most people think that they can't write, but that is incorrect. If you have a blog, if you regularly tweet, if you use any form of social media to communicate, then you are a writer. And a publisher to boot. The advent of social media has made us a community of publishers. 

Even when you sent an email, you are putting your thoughts into the screen. That is writing.  

Everybody writes.

That is the premise of the book 'Everybody Writes - Your Go-To Guide To Creating Ridiculously Good Content' written by Ann Handley. It aims to help everyone become a better writer. Communication is the key in this new age. Writing is the mainstay of personal communication. 

In this work-horse of a book, Ms.Handley has put together a number of rules and tools to help anyone to write better. In addition to great ideas, each chapter also contain links to more articles and artefacts that benefit a writer. 

Even though this book is meant as a content writing handbook for marketing professionals, the rules mentioned in this book will benefit every writer.

Don't wait for inspiration to start writing. Writing is a habit like any other habit. Half the work is done by just showing up. Be seated in your chair at the appointed time with a pen in hand and paper in front of you. You will start writing. It is tough in the beginning but with a few successes, you will start enjoying it. 

Writing is also a craft. Just like any other craft good writing also involves a set of rules. There are standard rules - 'Show, don't tell', 'don't use adverbs' etc. In addition there are specific rules relating to the type of content that you write. 

In the online world, your words are your ambassadors. They help you build your personal brand.

The buzzword in the age of Social Media is 'Content'. Just search for 'Content Creator Jobs' in Google and 65,50,00,000 results pop up.

So what is Content?

As per the author, Content is everything that your customer or prospects touches or interacts with - including your online properties and the associated user experience. Content is the medium through which you communicate with people who may use your product or service. 

The core of the user experience is writing. A good writing is the foundation of good content. It shows clarity of thinking. Good writing respects the reader.

Author lists three reasons why she wrote this book. At the start of this post, we discussed the first reason. We have become a planet of publishers. Content rules this planet. Much of the content is bad. There is a lot of opportunity for creating content that stands out. She wants to help create great content

The second reason is that with explosion of content, the need for brevity and clarity becomes key. It is important to respect the reader and express your ideas with as few words as possible. The ideal length of a YouTube Video is about three minutes. Saying the most with the least number of words is more important today than ever.

It is all about story telling. We need to teach people to tell stories that focus on quality, utility and empathy for customer / reader will stand out. Your content must help customer take action. It should relentlessly focus on the reader. Everything about the writing including words, design, and presentation should focus on user experience. 

That is the third reason. Teach people to become better story tellers

Whenever I start a book, I scan the table of contents. It indicates the main idea of the book and the flow of ideas as the book progresses. I did the same with this book too and the results were not encouraging. With an introduction followed by 74 chapters, and culminating with an epilogue, the book looked daunting. 

As I started reading it, I found that the chapters were small and were created to elaborate a specific point. 

The book is well structured into six parts. Part one, the longest part with 28 chapters offers rules for writing great content. Later in this review, I will discuss a few critical learning from this book. This part was the most useful for me.

Part 2 covers grammar and usage of language. This part teaches you where to use certain confusing words (lose versus loose?).  I never knew the difference in spelling between Canvas (a thick cloth) and Canvass (to seek support) even though I have been using the wrong word for a long time. As recently as in my blog post on Accidental Entrepreneur. (I have left it there as an example)

Part 3 on story rules covers ideas like using analogy, focusing on your voice and tone and telling the story from your heart.

Part 4 on publishing rules gives guidelines to consider before publishing your work. The focus is on ethical writing. Other suggestions included citing references, basing the writing on facts and data, being authentic, telling the truth and seeking permission before using other's content etc.

Part 5 discusses thirteen practical ideas for writing marketing content. I learned that the optimum length for a blog post is 1500 words. This is a 'How to' section on writing better content for different media including Blog pots, LinkedIn posts, Emails, Hashtags, Headlines, Infographics, Facebook posts etc. This is a must read section for anyone writing any of these content. (everyone).

Part 6, Content Tools, gives a list of references to make you a better writer.  This is an amazing section. Thank you so much @annhandley for collating this. 

Author has researched thoroughly to write the book. Each chapter cites different articles and gives the respective links. You must read all the linked articles to get the best value out of this book.

Now that the mechanical aspects of the book are behind, let me tell you my feelings as I read this book. 

It is difficult to review a book such as this. Each chapter is discussing different points, where do you start? Once reviewer discusses the structure of the book, he faces an impasse. He does not know how to proceed. What will he write now? Should he write that the book is good and be done with it?

The book is good, of course. The beginning of the book lists an unending stream of rave reviews. If you want to learn adjectives for SAT, this is the go-to section. My experience has been that when a book starts with such rave reviews it flatters to deceive. At least it deceives me. Once I read these reviews, I become vigilant and critical. I try to find mistakes that others missed. I want to prove others wrong.

I am a demanding reader. Once I spend time reading a book, I have expectations. The book should teach me something new. Or it should inspire me to do something. Or it should nurture my soul. The worst book is the one that raise your expectations at the beginning and goes downhill from there. 

This book is the exact opposite. It raises expectations and outperforms. There are sections that improved my knowledge of the craft of writing. There are places where I said to myself "wow, I did not know that" or "that is new" or "this is useful. I should try this" etc. 

You will see the phrase 'Respect the reader' appear in many places. How do you do that? By focusing on brevity, clarity and utility. Brevity means you should place your ideas using the least number of words. Clarity means know what you want to write before writing. As the author says 'think before you ink'. 

The content should have utility to the reader. It should teach something new, inspire the reader or get the user to take some action.

A writer should follow a process to ensure consistency. The book provides a 12 step process for a writer to follow. The key steps in the process are to identify your writing goal, identify the reader whom you are addressing, write to one person, quickly prepare the first draft, have someone else edit it and publish it. Before publishing, be clear what you want the reader to do after reading it 

Prepare that Ugly First Draft (UFD) fast. Brilliance comes in the editing process. Great writers are great editors of their work. Don't criticize yourself for a poor UFD. Poor UFD is a rule.

Edit your work on your own before you hand over the work to someone else to edit. There are two types of self-editing. In developmental editing you look for clarity of ideas and flow. Ensure that every paragraph and every sentence is relevant. Ensure that there is a flowing story there.

In Line Editing, you go into each word. Trim the blot, remove wrong words, use single word (although in place of  'in spite of'), replace weak verbs with strong ones, remove adverbs, ensure logical transitions between paragraphs etc 

Lede (lead, the start of a story) and kicker (the end of a story) are the most powerful parts of your writing. Lede sets the tone for your writing. One suggestion is to place the most important words and ideas at the start of the sentence. The first few words should encourage the reader to continue reading. It should 'encourage conversation ' between the writer and the reader. It should put the reader into the story. 

There are many ideas for a good lede. You could ask a question, describe a problem that the reader can relate to, set the stage or you could start off with a relevant anecdote. 

Some words and phrases to avoid at the beginning of a sentence are 'In my opinion', 'According to', 'However', 'There is a..' etc. 

Finish strong. Have a great kicker. Summarize the key idea. End with quote from someone. End with a tonal change. The kicker should keep the key idea in the reader's mind for a long time.

An interesting idea is to ask the question 'from what hell will my writing deliver my reader?'. There are many hells out there. There is no-time hell, stressed-out hell, bored as hell hell, out of shape hell, overworked hell, disorganized hell, no budget hell...  

Your writing should target a specific hell and deliver your reader from that hell. 

Use specifics. Use 'Rose' instead of  'a brilliant flower', point out the 'dew drops on the leaves' rather than saying the 'morning was cool'. Use 'Kevin' rather than saying 'the boy'.

Design your writing for words. Have white spaces between words. Make words heroes of your design. Remember content is the design.

Another great idea is to find a writing buddy. The book gives many places where you can find your writing buddy. LinkEds and Writers (LinkedIn), Co-writers.com etc are some of the ideas. 

Make your writing readable. Have short paragraphs, small sentences and simple words. In formal writing use bulleted or numbered lists, highlight key points, add visual elements etc. The Flesch-Kinkaid method available in Microsoft word gives you a readability number. Try to get a score of 8 (the lower the better. This post has a readability of 6).

That was a few ideas from part one of the book. The remaining parts provide ideas and pointers to become a better writer. 

Everyone wants to write. Everybody has stories and ideas within them that they want to germinate. Their ideas are raw and skill is sketchy. This book is for them.

It will make them  better writers.