Ms. Smarty Pants Know It All

The complete title of this book is Persuading on Paper: The Complete Guide to Writing Copy that Pulls in Business. It’s rare when a book actually lives up to its title. This book does and is a very well done overview to writing effective business copy.

If you’re getting a book like this, I’m going to assume that you think you can write to a certain extent. If you are looking for Writing 101 help, this is not for you.

This book gives the whys and whats of flyers, sales, letters, ads, etc. The author tells about each piece’s purpose and how readers tend to interact with it.

But beyond the technical aspects of creating copy for these formats, this book also provides coaching on how to figure out your audience and on how to find an appropriate voice in your communications.

A point from the book that I really need to keep in mind is that describing a service or product is not as compelling as explaining how it will solve a customer’s specific problems. That’s a good tip for me because I don’t think I would have believed in the principle had I not read her examples.

I think the advice and guidelines from Marcia Yudkin are solid and authentic. I believe the points inside will help me successfully revise my existing materials.

Even if I decide to work with a copywriter to complete my projects, I’ll have a better sense of what to ask for and what to look for.

It doesn’t have much to say about writing for electronic media, but then again, electronic copy is not “on paper.” This is a book that delivers on its title.

Tags: Books, Starting a Business // 3 Comments »