This Book Will Teach You How To Write Better – Book Summary

Why read this book

This book gives straight-to-the-point, simple & actionable tips and ways to improve your writing!

Summary & Key Insights

Nobody cares about you. They only care about themselves.

When people come across your written content, you want to immediately grab their attention by showing what you can do. Way too many websites, emails, etc., talk too much about themselves first, making you sound boring.

What not to do:

Welcome to Ace Tennis Coaching. We are dedicated to serving our customers. We have been focusing on the quality of service for years and have dedicated staff to help fulfill your tennis needs. Our team …blah blah blah

Write this way instead:

Every amateur player has the exact same problem with their tennis swing: they don’t bend their elbow at the proper angle for their height.

…

Come by for an analysis of how you can improve your tennis swing. It only takes 20 minutes. We will identify all the tweaks you can make in your game that will take you to the next level.

See? We talked about the company a little, but the main point was the benefit the customer would get. This is what the customer will find interesting!

Don’t be Boring

Write funny. Write informative content without sounding boring.

If you want people to listen to what you have to say, you’ve got to be interesting! Even if you have something to say, how you deliver it will make people either want to read or run.

Write Casual Copy

Neville Medhorha means that you should write in a style that’s casual for you. And that’s different for each one of us. Imagine you’re at a dinner with a close friend or grabbing a coffee with your sister. How would you sound? I doubt you’d be looking to give a formal speech, right? So stop trying to be clever. Instead, be clear.

The AIDA Formula: The easiest way to structure your copy

The AIDA Formula is a simple and effective way to get people interested in your copy. It’s been used for decades and still works like a charm. Here’s how it works:

Attention: Grab your reader’s attention with a catchy headline or opening line.

Interest: Capture their interest by providing interesting facts and statements about their pain point. 

Desire: Make them desire your product by highlighting the benefits of using your product over features.

Action: Convince them to take action.

The AIDA Formula is a great way to increase sales and build your brand.

Text is art. Style your stuff!

The Staggered List:

Don’t just write down some random list. Turn it into art. For example, 

This is a random list of things we want to do on our website:

• Write about profiles of people in SaaS
• Get email subscribers
• Share our thoughts about SaaS, bootstrapping, and product-led growth.
• Create a resource content hub as a linkable asset

This is the list of things we will do on our website as an art:

• Get email subscribers
• Write about profiles of people in SaaS
• Create a resource content hub as a linkable asset
• Share our thoughts about SaaS, bootstrapping, and product-led growth

Bolding:

Want to emphasize something? Simply bold it.

“If you’re running in the Spanish bull run, I’d highly encourage you not to wear red! “

Try not to overdo it. Maybe once every paragraph. But there’s no exact science to it, so if it makes communication more effective, utilize it.

Fonts & Seizing:

Use Arial sized 12.

It’s easy to read, and all devices recognize it.

Black text on a white background is best for reading. It’s easy on the eye.

Subject Lines

Write four headlines before settling on one version. 

Most people will only ever read the headline and not a single word. So we have to try to get them hooked on it.

An easy formula to produce great headlines:

{End result customers want} + {Specific time period} + {Adress the objections}

For example:

{Triple the conversions on your e-commerce store} + {in 3 days} + {or we’ll refund your money}

Short vs. Long Copy: Which is better to write?

It depends on what you are selling. The longer copy is fine if it’s a difficult or expensive product. If it’s a simple and cheap product, then short is better.

Making things easy

Reading a paragraph and finding it hard to read? Re-word it or completely delete it. Ask yourself: “is it really necessary? Will it change the meaning and context of the sentence if I remove this?” If it won’t, take it out. 

If you read something that requires “extra cycles” in your brain to process that information, delete it. Get straight to the real point so that the message is CRYSTAL CLEAR to every reader.