Business Writing Makeovers: Shortcut Solutions to Improve Your Letters, E-Mails, and Faxes [Paperback]

Hawley Roddick (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1580627684 | ISBN-13: 978-1580627689 | Publication Date: November 2002

A renowned business editor and writing consultant shows readers how to transform ordinary e-mails, letters, memos, and reports into extraordinary business tools that garner positive and instantaneous results. Original.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

Now you can benefit from my 20 years of experience giving WriteAssets® workshops and coaching sessions from coast to coast. Workshops participants were from the Fortune 500, small companies, and academia.  You can learn much of what they learned and have it at your fingertips whenever you need it.

Business Writing Makeovers draws on what I learned helping to improve a wide range of business writing content and styles. Designed to make It easy for you to find here what you need, to write well, and to move on, the book can improve your writing and save your time.

For those times when you're way too busy, there are formulas to guide you through your writing task quickly. And as a bonus, because I'm a novelist, many of the examples of poor business writing and of skillful rewrites tell little stories. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Hawley Roddick is an accomplished business editor and writing consultant, with clients including American Express, Citibank, General Foods, McGraw Hill, The New Yorker, and Xerox. She is the author of Writing That Means Business, as well as three published Novels.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Adams Media Corporation (November 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580627684
• ISBN-13: 978-1580627689
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,753,235 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

The author of both novels and nonfiction books, I'm writing my memoir about a family and life of unusual contrasts.

My books and magazine articles have been published under these names: Ellen Roddick, Ellen Meade, and Hawley Roddick. My full name, including two married names: Ellen Hawley Roddick Haffenreffer Meade Roddick.

Always intrigued by life stories, I interview clients about their lives; record the interviews on the phone or in person; and write their personal, career, and family history in their voice. They order as many copies as they wish of the heirloom book their memoir becomes. They can also choose to have their story available as hardcover or paperback books online at amazon.com and elsewhere. The memoir becomes a rich family legacy that may also serve to strengthen an estate plan.

Visit my web site at http://www.hawleyroddick.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Helpful and readable, December 17, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Business Writing Makeovers: Shortcut Solutions to Improve Your Letters, E-Mails, and Faxes (Paperback)

Business Writing Makeovers should be useful to business people, teachers of writing, and anyone who wants to write better. It is also fun to read: I enjoyed the letters in which a company official complains to a supplier that the huge ice sculpture ordered for a sales conference had been set up so it melted onto an electrical unit, causing a short circuit that ruined the conference's most important presentation. Roddick's sample letters and emails show ways to make your writing more precise, concise, correct, and graceful. They will help you choose the right tone to adopt in a letter, the right details to include, and the right structure to convey information and ideas. I found good suggestions here for writing with greater tact, better grammar, and stronger impact. Roddick's own writing is elegant and clear--an excellent example for her readers.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everybody's business, October 18, 2002

By 

M. N. Matson (Guelph, ON Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Business Writing Makeovers: Shortcut Solutions to Improve Your Letters, E-Mails, and Faxes (Paperback)

The book covers so many occasions for communication, in and out of what is strictly business, that it is a useful guide to writing in general. It warns of pitfalls and recommends ways around them, but what I found most engaging were the transformations from Original to Makeover, the details and stories coming into focus: the "demotion" story, for instance, or the "retirement" details. Besides its practical purposes, the book discovers the inner workings of many business activities, and it is indeed enlivened by the novelist's invention.

5.0 out of 5 stars Writing Right, October 30, 2002

By 

Elizabeth R. Hardy (Twin Falls, ID United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Business Writing Makeovers: Shortcut Solutions to Improve Your Letters, E-Mails, and Faxes (Paperback)

Business Writing Makeovers by Hawley Roddick is a tremendously useful book. It is full of excellent information and advice that would benefit both business and non-business writers. Roddick's use of before and after letters, memos, reports, etc. is a practical and effective way to make important points. The concise checklists that follow are valuable aids. And joy of joys, the examples of writing deal with varied subjects and issues that are interesting, informative, and entertaining to read about! I highly recommend Business Writing Makeovers to anyone who wants to be the best communicator he or she can be.