We were all taught the fundamentals of writing well in school. But how do we write effectively in today’s hyper-interactive world?
When The Elements of Style and On Writing Well were published in 1959 and 1976, the internet hadn’t been invented. Since then, there has been a radical transformation in how we communicate. The average adult receives over 100 emails and tens of text messages each day. With all this correspondence, gaining a busy reader’s attention is now a competition.
Todd Rogers and Jessica Lasky-Fink, both behavioural scientists, offer practical writing advice you can use today. They begin by outlining cognitive facts about how busy people read, then detail six research-backed principles for effective writing:
- Use fewer words
- Lower the reading level
- Use formatting judiciously
- Make the purpose clear for skimmers
- Emphasise value for readers
- Make responding as easy as possible.
Including many examples, a checklist, and other tools for the most effective writing, this handbook will make you a more effective communicator. Rogers and Lasky-Fink bring conventional ideas about text-based communication into the 21st century’s radically transformed attention marketplace.
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‘Inspiring and practical in equal measure and successfully shows the profound difference that effective written communication can make. The contest for people’s attention is fierce but we’ve all got a better chance with this book as our guide.’
" - BBC News
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‘[A] useful handbook on how to efficiently get one’s point across, whether in an email, work memo, or social media post … The thoughtful advice is pragmatic and the prose fittingly concise and straightforward. It’s Strunk & White for the internet age.’
" - Publishers Weekly
