Customer Reviews

The Truth About the New Rules of Business Writing

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I got this book hoping to get some tips on writing for the Web and self-marketing but I got far more than I was hoping for. When I got this book I found myself reading through the first 6 or 7 chapters (or writing "Truths" as the authors call chapters) without intending to.

It says something when you pick up a book to flip through, and find yourself drawn, page by page, through the first 6 chapters. But it says even more when find yourself using the suggestions literally an hour after reading them. After I was forced to put the book down and go to work, I found myself recalling two very specific rules when writing emails. The first was to "Cut to the chase" and put the bottom line at the top, which is brilliant since it put what people needed to know on line one. It was un-missable.

I was impressed how quickly these "Truths" came back to me. The authors laid out 52 "Truths" in a concise and digestible format. Many are themed on very basic ideas, which unfortunately are often forgotten. For an example in the first 6 chapters there is a focus on setting goals for your writing and keeping your audience in mind. These are pretty basic writing rules, but again, often forgotten. However, the authors go further and tailor "Truths" to day-to-day business writing. Again, I lifted a "Truth" right from the book by wording an email to my boss' viewpoint, showing how a change we wanted to make helps the whole department. It garnered a compliment and acceptance from our boss, just by keeping the focus on how he sees our workflow.

OK, so an hour of reading and same day application. Can't beat that. I'm now on to day two and I have started Cherry-picking chapters. I have read the chapters on Web content and I see that I really need to rework a lot of the content on my site. Usually I wait until I finish a book before writing a review for it, but the jury is in for this one. If you do any type of writing for work or pleasure you should get this book. You can read it like a daily devotional and revolutionize your writing just by getting basic guidelines in your head each day. I'm sure this will become a reference for me.

This book has actually gotten me excited about writing. Before starting this review, I read the "Truth" on Jargon and Passive, then rewrote the paragraphs on my home page, and it is night and day. Add to that the "Truth" of less is more and a half dozen other ideas the book gave me and my copy is 100 times better.

Alright, I'll stop gushing now. But seriously, if you haven't thought about your writing process in a long time, get this book. It is not a grammar primer, it's an effective guide to everyday writing.

This compact volume offers plenty to differentiate itself from the scores of other similar offerings promising an express ride to clear business writing. Natalie Canavor and Claire Meirowitz take on the complex world of Information Age business writing, and break it down into 52 manageable, readable chunks of theory and practice. They address both modern options (email, blogs and web writing and the ubiquitous challenges of PowerPoint) and "legacy" modes.

You've heard much of this before, and they don't break what I would consider any significant new ground. But their message bears listening to again:
Consider your audience. Re-write. Edit mercilessly. Be direct. Be concise. Have a plan. Their packaging is relatively painless for content that many people may want to run and hide from. While dividing the content into 52 sections may suggest chewing in weekly bites...don't wait. Their ideas are well organized, illustrated with realistic examples, and can help even the hopelessly verbose and disorganized get a handle on their most important professional communication tasks.

The book invites registration at a companion Financial Times press web site. In return for your personal information, you get access to three .pdf files (guides to style sheet creation, document design references and an online resource guide). Overall, I would have preferred that these simply be included in the book. You'll also be offered a 35% discount...on the book you already own.

Go to the business writing section of a large brick and mortar store, or browse amazon's offerings. The choices are dizzying. Choosing this one can help cut through some of that confusion. If you are competing with your peers for scarce fiscal or personnel resources in the workplace, remember this. Among equally qualified, reasonably competent professionals, the edge in the battle for resources often goes to the better communicator. This book can help you gain that edge.

The authors practice what they preach in making every word count in this short guide. Chapters are brief and to the point with 52 truths or writing points laid out under 9 main parts. Bulleted items and headers in red or bold guide the eye to important elements in each chapter. I especially liked the before and after examples where the authors showed how to make writing that was okay or inappropriate into writing that was excellent. Everything in this valuable reference work is relevant in today's fast changing world of business and communication. Some of the topics covered are letters, emails, web content, grants, and reports and proposals. You can't get what you want if you can't communicate effectively and this book will go a long way toward showing you what you need to make your case.

Authors Natalie Canavor and Claire Meirowitz communicate their message in an easy to read style with the material so well organized that readers will easily find what they need, whether it's the right approach for a request to a supervisor or the best way to interview someone.

This is a great reference guide for anyone who works in the business world.

The new rules for business writing can be summed up as "write at a 5th grade level". That is my summary, not the summary of this book.

It seems that in this fast paced world, no one takes the time to really READ any more. Writing in business is necessarily short and to the point. This book gives guidelines for this sort of writing. What I was looking for was something with more substance to it. Sometimes writing short sentences using simple words just doesn't get the point across adequately.

This book delivers what it promises, which are the rules for writing memos and web pages that get a point across quickly before the reader is off onto something else. sorry, but I just object to this sort of writing.

I was hoping for something that would help with writing clearly, but this is just a collection of quick ideas that would be useful for short attention spans. What other reviewers liked about this book is exactly what I did not like.

I've had my own marketing business since 1996. I write all day, whether it's emails, proposals, bids, marketing copy, etc. This book has taken the skills I already had and sharpened and refined them.

It is very well organized into 9 basic parts (Chapters) - like 'The truth about what makes writing work' and 'The truth about successful e-mail'. Each section is then detailed into "Truths" like 'Tone makes-or breaks-your message and 'Less can be a whole lot more'.

Each "Truth" section is 3-5 pages that make for quick reading. It is easy enough to peruse through a few topics or sit down for a longer read. Since there is so much information with specific detail, I found that after reading through a few truths it was hard to remember all the details. I revisited topics when they were pertinent to what I needed. I especially liked all the suggestions about writing e-mails since this is my biggest method of business communication these days.

It is hard at times to stop and think about changing a writing style you are so familiar with using but when you have the time to spend a few extra minutes, refining your message, the payoff is great and eventually it will become your new style.

Since "less CAN be a whole lot more" I will finish up by saying that this is a great reference tool for any business person. It will pay for itself very quickly in the successes you gain because of the professionalism and clarity of your writing.

Communications today in business is vastly different than it was even a few short years ago. People skim their letters, emails, blogs, reports.... attention spans are quick. Blink and you are on to something else.

Enter this book. A worthy contender in trying to address the information saturation and overload of our day. Good business writing is still essential. But the times have changed, so the writing has to adapt or be lost in that elusive blink.

Whether its email, business letters, web, reports, this book takes them all on and then some. Offering solid tips, strategies and insights that can help writers do a better and more effective job.

Open anywhere and you can pick up tips. No need to read cover to cover, though you should to get the most of it.

A great business tool for our fast-paced world.

"The Truth About the New Rules of Business Writing" is an excellent book for those wanting to learn about how to be more efficient in their writing, communicating with clients and even on social media sites.

Writers Natalie Canavor/Claire Meirowitz (Founders of C&M Business Writing Services) write about "52 Truths" when it comes to writing and the chapters are broken down into the following:

PART I: The Truth About What Makes Writing Work

Examples: "Me" Focused Messages Fail, Forget Yesterday, Write for Today, Tone Makes - or breaks - your message, etc.

PART II: The Truth About Self-Editing

Examples: The best writers don't write; they rewrite, Less can be a whole lot more, passive thinking and jargon undermine clarity

PART III: The truth about successful e-mail

Examples: Know your e-mail do's and don'ts, use e-mail to communicate in the fast lane-powerfully, etc.

And then you get into the more important chapters such as..

PART IV: The Truth About Letters

PART V: The Truth About Reports and Proposals

PART VI: The Truth About Web Sites

PART VII: The Truth About New Media

PART VIII: The Truth About Writing to Self-Market

PART IX: The Truth About Tricks of the Trade

And also the ability to access more materials by registering your book online.

JUDGMENT CALL:

Personally, "The Truth About the New Rules of Business Writing" could be a useful tool in college curriculum. In college, having taken writing classes that dealt with Associated Press writing, it was ingrained in our heads by our professors to write a certain way, to use words that most people don't use in their vocabulary and to write intelligently.

But when I took a business class which emphasized "Chicago" writing style, it was what we learned to write memo's, e-mails and business communication writing.

But as more and more people communicate via E-mail, chat, Twitter or utilizing social media, most people are in a hurry and don't bother to rewrite. And how many times have you had people take a message you wrote out of context. Sometimes good writing requires repetition, good etiquette and for the most part, both Canavor and Meirowitz do a good job in showing people how to write effectively.

Overall, "The Truth About the New Rules of Business Writing" is an excellent resource for business writing and communication and for those who know they are having problems with communicating via memo, e-mail, tweets, etc.

"Yeah, sure," I thought as I picked up this book. "New Rules" would undoubtedly focus on email, blogs, texting, and other new media forms of communications. The authors would expect that their readers are barely able to turn off their Caps Lock or remember not to use smiley faces in memos to their company CEO.

But I was surprised. So surprised that instead of skimming through the book, I sat back to read each chapter closely. The chapters are more than advice as to how to properly construct an email. They include approaches that enable readers to gradually move up through the corporate ranks. How can we convince, inspire, and energize the recipients of our written word? The chapters assist from this political perspective while educating readers about approaches to literacy that work well within today's fast paced society.

Naturally the obvious rules of thumb are incorporated: don't rely on spellcheck, don't click 'send' without proofreading, don't be critical. But these rules are built in to a chapter-by-chapter process designed to help the reader not only communicate thoughts but achieve goals as well. The result is a straight-forward and well-written (as one would hope for in a text about business writing) text presented in bite-size chunks. Well worth a few hours of close attention; you'll also want to keep this on your shelf for quick reference.

If everyone followed the business writing tips from this book, the workplace would be a much more efficient place. I cannot tell you how many times a day I have to deal with extremely verbose emails or documents. This book shows you examples and also the thought process for making your writing more concise and to the point. One of the biggest tips that is pretty much common sense but no one does is taking the time to read over their writing just once before sending. This book covers not only business writing for emails and summary reports but also writing for webpages and blogs. I found the writing tips for webpages to be extremely helpful and will be revamping my homepage to incorporate some of their ideas. I would highly recommend this book to anyone that communicates with others in a written form.

Well designed for the "skimming business reader" who is looking for something specific and not interested in hearing "guru-esque" opinion, this book lays out the key elements of what makes for good business writing, in a stylish, eye-pleasing and glossy manner.

That said, the "new rules" are very much like the old rules. Be brief, to the point, accurate and persuasive. We do need to be reminded of these rules and the authors do put a 21st century spin on them, but if you're already an experienced business writer, you may find nothing here that you don't already know.

If you're just getting started in business, or know that your skills could use improvement, by all means, this is the book for you, and even seasoned pros may find it a handy reference, but I wouldn't say it's "required reading" for the active business professional.