Introduction

The aim of this book is to help you get all of your writing done faster and to build your confidence and skills as a business writer. In the pages that follow, you’ll find:

A seven-step method you can use with all kinds of business writing

You can apply these seven steps to anything you write at work, and you can do so quickly. You’ll find before and after examples of what happens when you apply the step to a sample piece of writing. I’ve put the steps together in a checklist you can use as you write at work.

You’ll notice that you’re already good at some of these steps and less good at others. Feel free to spend as much or as little time with each step as you like. The last thing I want is for you to have to read the whole book to learn a system. Instead, the book is designed for you to pick it up and find helpful tips you can use right away.

Guidance on the most popular types of business writing, including e-mails, instant messages, and PowerPoint presentations

You’ll find detailed advice on how to write these successfully, as well as special tips on how to implement the seven steps in the various kinds of documents you write.

Easy-to-use resources on writing skills, style, grammar, and punctuation

Are you looking for a remedy for writer’s block? Don’t remember exactly when to use a comma? Can’t recall what the heck a semicolon is for? Always confusing “affect” and “effect”? You’ll get this information and more in the “Resources” chapter.

You’ll also find brief sections to help you with things like tone, structure, formatting, and writing for mobile devices.

Finally, you’ll find sidebars written by a group of experts in various fields, offering their insights and tried-and-true methods for writing successfully in business.

Throughout the book, the emphasis is on practical application in a real business setting. It’s my hope that this book will answer your questions, clear some blocks, and get you writing quickly and efficiently at work.

FOR INSTRUCTORS AND STUDENTS

For instructors who wish to use this book in writing courses, additional resources are available on my website at www.howtowriteanything.com. Students will find downloadable samples of different genres of business writing, as well as other writing resources, there

HOW TO WRITE ANYTHING

Readers who are interested in writing guidance that goes beyond business writing should have a look at my previous book, How to Write Anything: A Complete Guide (W. W. Norton, 2014). With nearly six hundred pages of guidance, How to Write Anything combines a unique approach to writing with a comprehensive encyclopedia of more than two hundred writing tasks—complete with model outlines, dos and don’ts, and examples—designed to help you get through all of life’s writing tasks.

The section on writing in your personal life includes useful tips spanning thank-you notes, apologies, wedding invitations, notes to teachers, condolence messages, and obituaries. The section on writing at school covers the basics of note taking and bibliographies, the compare/contrast essay, lab reports, and school newspaper articles. It also offers tips on written communications for the academic environment, such as e-mails requesting a recommendation from a teacher or professor.

You can learn more about the book and download free excerpts from my website at www.howtowriteanything.com.