Everybody Writes: Your New and Improved Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content, Second Edition

  • 5h 3m
  • Ann Handley
  • John Wiley & Sons (US)
  • 2022

A hands-on field guide to consistently creating page-turning content that your audience loves. (And that delivers real results.)

In the newly revised and updated edition of Everybody Writes, marketer and author Ann Handley improves on her Wall Street Journal bestselling book that’s helped hundreds of thousands become better, more confident writers.

In this brand-new edition, she delivers all the practical, how-to advice and insight you need for the process and strategy of content creation, production, and publishing.

This new edition also includes:

  • All-new examples, tools, resources
  • Updated step-by-step writing framework
  • Added and expanded chapters that reflect the evolution of content marketing (and evolution of Ann’s thinking about what works today)
  • The same witty and practical how-to approach
  • How to attract and retain customers with stellar online communication
  • How to choose your words well, sparingly, and with honest empathy for your customers
  • Best practices and ideas for crafting credible, trustworthy content
  • “Things Marketers Write”: The fundamentals of 19 specific kinds of content that marketers like you write
  • Inspiration. Confidence. Fun.

In this book, you’ll discover:

Content marketing has evolved. Yet writing matters more than ever.

In this new edition of Everybody Writes, you’ll find the strategies, techniques, tips, and tools you’ll need to refine, upgrade, and (most of all) inspire your own best content marketing.

About the Author

ANN HANDLEY is a Wall Street Journal bestselling author focused on helping businesses worldwide escape marketing mediocrity to ignite tangible results. Her work has appeared in Entrepreneur, the Wall Street Journal, NPR, Chicago Public Radio, and the Financial Times. IBM named her one of seven people shaping modern marketing. More than 50K people subscribe to her popular email newsletter.

She is the world’s first Chief Content Officer, a principal at training and education company MarketingProfs, and a regular speaker at events globally.

Ann is also a mom, dog person, and writer. Her favorite food is kale salad. But don’t hold that against her.

In this Book

  • Start Here
  • Everybody Writes
  • Writing is a Habit, Not an Art
  • How to Keep a Daily Writing Ritual When You Aren't Feeling It
  • Shake off School Rules
  • Publishing is a Privilege
  • Why We Need a Writing Process
  • Introducing the Writing GPS Framework
  • Embrace the Ugly First Draft
  • Draft 2—Cross Out the Wrong Words
  • Draft 3—Swap Places with Your Reader
  • Draft 4—Humor Comes on the Rewrite
  • Develop Pathological Empathy
  • Think before Ink
  • Fifteen Ways to Organize
  • Start with Dear Mom …
  • If You Take a Running Start, Cover Your Tracks
  • Place the Most Important Words at the Beginning of Each Sentence
  • Notice Where Words Appear in Relation to others around Them
  • Leads and Kickers
  • Show, Don't Tell
  • How to Write Funny
  • Use Surprising Analogies, Meaty Metaphors
  • Add Another Sense
  • Add Obvious Structure to a List
  • Approach Writing like Teaching
  • Keep it Simple—But Not Simplistic
  • Find a Writing Partner
  • Avoid Hot Dog Writing
  • Hire a Human Editor
  • Set a Goal Based on Word Count (Not Time)
  • End on an I-Can't-Wait-to-Get-Back-to-It Note
  • Deadlines are the WD-40 of Writing
  • Use Real Words
  • Avoid Frankenwords and Words Pretending to Be Something They're Not
  • Don't Use Weblish (Words You Wouldn't Whisper to Your Sweetheart in the Dark)
  • Default to the Present Tense
  • Choose Active Voice over Passive Voice
  • Ditch Weakling Verbs
  • Adverbs Aren't Necessary (Usually)
  • Use Clichés Only Once in a Blue Moon
  • “Mistakes Were Made.” Avoiding These Simple Mistakes Will Make You Look and Feel Smarter Instantly
  • Words We Always Get Wrong
  • Grammar Rules Made to Be Broken
  • Limit Moralizing
  • Eggcorns and Mondegreens
  • Sweat the Smallest Stuff
  • What's Brand Voice?
  • How to Develop Your Brand Voice
  • Four Powerful Places to Apply Brand Voice
  • Voice Doesn't Change, Tone Does
  • The Six Elements of a Marketing Story
  • Your Brand Story—Tell the Story Only You Can Tell
  • Product Story—Make Your Customer the Hero
  • The Rudolph Framework in Action
  • Hermit Crab Content
  • Innovation is about Brains, Not Budget
  • Share News That's Really News
  • Biased and Balanced
  • Brands as Media Companies
  • Should You Ungate Your Content?
  • Memes, Trends, Newsjacking
  • Better Interviews with These Nonobvious Tips
  • Check Your Facts
  • A Mind-Like-Water Mindset
  • Seek Out the Best Sources
  • Beware of Hidden Agendas
  • Credible Data
  • Cite as You Write
  • Curate Ethically
  • Seek Permission, Not Forgiveness
  • The Basics of Copyright, Fair Use, and for Attribution
  • The New Ideal Length for Every Piece of Content
  • Writing Direct Response Email
  • Why You Need an Email Newsletter
  • Writing an Email Newsletter
  • Writing a Home Page
  • Writing the about Us Page
  • Writing Landing Pages
  • Writing Headlines
  • Writing Infographics
  • Writing for Video
  • Writing for Social Media
  • Writing Image Captions
  • Writing with Hashtags
  • Writing Your LinkedIn Profile
  • Writing for LinkedIn
  • Writing about Hard Stuff
  • Writing a Bolder Boilerplate
  • Writing Speech Descriptions
  • Writing a Sales Letter
  • Ghostwriting
  • Acknowledgments for Tools
  • Epilogue
SHOW MORE
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