Write better headings – EXAMPLES
Headings really matter, and we all need to sharpen up our writing at times. Here are some less good and better examples from my recent book on Business Writing Tips – For Easy and Effective Results.
Below you can read what were the original headings to my book’s parts (in bold) and chapters … and what they were in the final version (in italics). Only a couple of parts/chapters did not change their headings/titles.
I think you will agree that the final headings/titles are more specific, more practical … and hopefully more compelling to read.
List of Contents
Background → Before you start writing
Where business writing went wrong → What makes writing hard
Write with ease and speed → How to write with ease and speed
General → Putting pen to paper
Write for your audience [no change]
Learn from the maestros → Learn from the professionals
Style and tone of voice → Who’s talking?
Intros and Endings → Grab reader’s attention
Overcoming writing challenges → How to overcome writing’s challenges
Particular issues → Achieving your goals
Make your writing memorable → Ways to make your writing memorable
Write with impact → Persuading your readers
Specific outputs → Writing for particular outputs
Writing for the web → Improve your website
Writing features → Tips for case studies, features and blogs
Increase your report’s impact [no change]
Securing media interest [no change]
Tidying up → Tidying your text
Grammar: commonest mistakes → Ten common grammatical and other mistakes
Punctuation made simple [no change]
Perfecting your copy → BEFORE you press ‘Print’
3 Videos of my book launch
I launched my book, ‘BUSINESS WRITING TIPS – For Easy and Effective Results’, in March 2015.
You can now watch 3 VIDEOS of the event
1) An interview with me at the launch (2 minutes – Professionally made)
2) “Writing a book is like having a baby” (HE says) (7 mins)
3) My speech in full (12 mins)
HERE is how to buy my book – using Paypal OR on Amazon
‘Writing a book is like … having a baby’
The analogy between writing a book and having a baby might sound a very strange claim – especially coming from a man. But I have been struck by the parallels as I have moved through the stages of conception and gestation through to birth and beyond.
Mothers, hear me out!
Everyone, please let me know what you think
1) You know exactly when it was conceived
Just as some people know the place of their conception, I know when and where my book was born. In May 2014 I went to a talk by rally driver, Penny Mallory. Using wonderful videos of her races, she encouraged the assembled businesses to push themselves to the limit, as she does – to have a clear vision of what you want to achieve, to reach for the skies, and to nudge yourself beyond your comfort zone from time to time, to attain new highs.
Back home, I remember having a coffee in my garden and writing down a commitment to write a book that summer, starting in August. Writing a book, I decided, would significantly enhance my reputation. It would help me in my goal to be a famed trainer of writing skills, of high quality, across the Thames Valley – that was my goal.
Copywriting – best practice examples
Why does corporate copywriting have to be so dull?
Below are three examples of what I think are copywriting best practice from my recent book – with my comments, that I believe engage, attract customers and stand above their competitors.
Are there any best practice tips for your writing?
Let me know what your comments …
1.) Pret A Manger (website)
Our kitchens get replenished with wonderful ingredients early each morning and our Hot Chefs are often the first through the door. In their quest to keep our shelves full of oven-fresh, homely hot food, they bake in small batches. Little and often is the key. Straight from the kitchen. Hot off the shelves.
MY COMMENTS: I always love shopping here, and guess why?
- Note the accessible language (‘our’)
- There are also strong images and messages (‘oven-fresh, … small batches’)
- Some nice rhythms and alliteration (‘homely hot food’)
- Short sentences emphasise the final messages (‘Little and often is the key …. Hot off the shelves.’).
Writing a book? 10 things I learnt
- Writing a book does not take long, once you start – I decided I would write my book last August, and except for taking a break to do a lucrative copywriting job later that month, that is pretty much what I did. I then returned to and completed it in September, and did the editing and proofreading, bit by it, over the following months.
- Write a book over a sustained period – I made most progress in August, when I avoided doing any other work at the same time. Beware: once I had stopped for a few weeks, I found it slightly hard to get back into it. (more…)
Where my book started
Apparently, when I was young I told people that when I grew up I wanted to be a lorry driver.
APPARENTLY.
Maybe it was because of my dinky car collection, the time I spent playing with it, or that I did not know there were more exciting driving jobs to be had.
However, what I do know is this…
I was brought up in a house filled with books and rather news-obsessed. In my early teens through to my twenties my father worked a lot in in Germany, and because I spoke virtually no German …
Writing tips – Learn from the pros
Want some writing tips? Then why not learn from the pros … In my training courses on effective writing I show delegates some of the writing techniques used by professionals, and then let the delegates apply the techniques to their own writing. I summarise these pros/professional writers as the ‘3Ms’: people who write for
- Mass Markets (i.e tabloid journalists)
- Marketers (writers of advertising copy)
- Maestros (newspaper/magazine feature writers).
Here’s a few of my writing tips from the pros — two from each — which you can easily apply to your writing.
(A full version of this and other writing tips will appear in my forthcoming book on Business Writing Skills).
Training courses – ‘I’m in demand’
GOOD NEWS … Demand for my training courses continues to be strong…
So, here are examples of the sort of training I do.
BUT first things first: I am in talks with 2 new training clients – the National Union of Journalists and Executive PA – for training courses that will start this autumn. That’s exciting!
AND this month I gave a 5 training courses for a mix of public, private and third sector clients as follows:
- Writing for the web – University of Oxford, for Media Training
- Improving your Website and Blog – Reading Voluntary Action
- Report Writing – high-street retailer, for Kaplan UK
- Report Writing – county council, for Reed Learning
- Business Writing Skills – county council, for Reed Learning.
Business writing tips – Headings
WRITING A BOOK… The timing has to be right, in terms of one’s work and availability, and these two threads are now coming together for me — I plan to write a book on Business Writing Tips this summer. Even if I get delayed it will be published by January 2015. How exciting is that!
Here is the rough plan for my new book.
The book’s aim is to provide easy and practical advice on around 20 writing topics (each of these chapters will have 10 hints and tips), aimed at a wide business audience — people who who want quick ideas for how to improve their writing and/or make it an easier process.
Can you think of any writing gaps?
‘A good read’ – My recommended books
LOOKING FOR a really good holiday read, or one for bedtime?
Here are the books I have enjoyed most during the last few years, and would really recommend to you. Read good literature and it will improve your writing …