Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content

If you had two days to learn everything about how to write killer marketing content, but could only choose one resource, glom onto Ann Handley’s Everybody Writes. Everybody Writes: Your Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content is Handley’s second book, following Content Rules, the New York Times best seller she coauthored with C.C. Chapman. She’s also the chief content officer of MarketingProfs, the well-known training and education company. Full disclosure: I’m a big fan of Handley’s work, having read and used her first book as a resource for a master’s thesis a few years ago. I also saw her deliver a memorable keynote at a content strategy conference. That said, I’ll keep my viewpoints as objective as possible, but I bet this book makes it on to your “must read” list. If you’re a marketer and create content for a living, this book should be mandatory reading. Why this book? Handley wants to “wage war on content mediocrity.” She says “Ninety-three percent of business-to-business companies are using content in their marketing mix. Yet, nearly half of B2B companies struggle to develop content that engages.” Today, content marketing pundits harp that we all need to be storytellers. And why not? Readers (customers and prospects) easily forget facts, but recall a good yarn in the right context. Handley offers this raison d'être for all content marketing pros: “What matters now isn’t storytelling: what matters is telling a true story well.” The quintessential how-to This is one of the most useful books on writing I’ve read. You’ll be able to put its principles into action immediately and improve your writing. Handley’s predilection for how-to books was one of the reasons that drove her to write this book in the first place. She says there are already many excellent books on writing, “but they aren’t very how-to or prescriptive. (Which is always my bias. I like how-to advice. I don’t know what to do with more high-level, other than to wish it were more how-to.) Alternatively, much of what passes for writing advice gets too deep in the weeds of writing construction. Great if you’re looking to up your score on the SATs, not so awesome if you just need some guidance on how not to sound like an idiot when you craft this week’s customer mailing.” The author followed her own writing advice in how she organized the book. It’s chopped into pithy, short sections and chapters with colorful titles, and digestible paragraphs. Plenty of graphics and Handley’s casual, sometimes funny style, make the 300-page book easy to plow through. Everybody Writes is divided into five parts: Part I: Writing Rules: How to write better (and how to hate writing less) Part II: Writing Rules: Grammar and Usage Part III: Story Rules Part IV: Publishing Rules Part V: 13 Things Publishers Write Part VI: Content Tools In the first few parts of the book, the author teaches you how to be a better writer by urging you to ditch your bad habits and get started on good ones. Some of her advice is not that new—active vs. passive voice—but remind us what the tenets are of good writing. She reminds us how marketing writing differs from most other genres in a chapter titled Develop Pathological Empathy. “Empathy for the customer experience should be at the root of all your content.” What matters most, she says, is the content must solve customer problems. Handley’s book is brimming with aphorisms, titles and tips that are just too numerous to name them all here. Here’s a list of my favorites: • Writing is a habit, not an art • Show, don’t tell • Shed high school rules—Yes, you can begin a sentence with and or but. • Utility x inspiration x empathy = quality content • Ban frankenspeak (buzzwords) like solopreneur, ginormous, etc. • Ditch weakling verbs • Be rabid about readability—use bulleted lists, subheads and short paragraphs • Use analogies to make your writing more colorful—instead of the leaves of the pumpkin plant are huge, say the pumpkin leaves are the size of trash-can lids, covering pumpkins the size of beer kegs. Another one of my favorite sections of the book is Part VI: Content Tools. Think of this as an enormous toolbox stuffed with dozens of gadgets and tools: • Research and knowledge management tools • Writing tools • Productivity tools • Editing tools • A few great style guides • Non-text writing tools • Blog idea generators • Google Authorship • Image sources (Or, stock that doesn’t stink) Finally, when it comes to telling true stories well, Handley implores us to speak from the heart (and get rid of buzzwords). She quotes author Neil Gaiman who says “Start telling the stories only you can tell, because there’ll always be better writers than you and there’ll always be smarter writers than you. There will always be people who are much better at doing this or doing that—but you are the only you.” “What sets you apart? What’s unique about your story?” Read this book …write killer marketing content and start telling true stories well.

Writing has been my job and passion for twenty-five years, but I needed some "how to" advice that the author promised in her introduction: "... part writing guide, part handbook on the rules of good sportsmanship in content marketing, and all-around reliable desk companion for anyone creating or directing content on behalf of brands." She delivers everything she promised and more. I found the author's style to be entertaining and insightful as well as practical. One mere example among hundreds is her formula for judging the impact of your writing: "Utility × Inspiration × Empathy = Quality Content." Her point: you have to perform well in all three areas; if you score a zero for any one of these factors... well, you can do the math. Part I reviews much of what I already knew about the process of writing. She covers not only the key steps in the writing process, but also offers detailed insights into refining and improving your copy. Part I contains great advice for people who don't know how to approach the task of writing, and it's laid out in a way that's easy to understand and remember. Part II, about grammar and usage, offers lots of "Do this" and "Don't do that" advice. If you're a good writer already, then you'll find this section a refreshing, funny reminder about all the ways that we can go wrong with words. But if you're not as good a writer as you'd like to be, you'll learn a lot about giving your language more impact and power. Part III is the briefest section, but with some powerful advice about crafting a great story. Part IV contains lots of practical advice about what to write and how to write it. You'll find lots of detailed suggestions, such as how to properly cite others' work within your own. I particularly liked her chapter entitled, "See Content Moments Everywhere," which will open your eyes to the opportunities all around you for interesting stories that will help your brand punch above its weight. (And that's just one example of 15 subjects she covers in this section.) But Part V – wow! It alone was worth ten times the price of the book. She gives point-by-point guidance for 13 different types of content that marketers create, such as blog posts, tweets, emails, headlines, home pages, infographics, and more. Nearly every marketer will learn something on every page of this section, no matter how experienced you are. I expect to return to this section again and again. Part VI concludes with a list of pointers to various types of tools and resources that writers will certainly find useful. With so many wonderful resources available to marketing writers today, especially content marketers, it takes a lot to stand out above the crowd. But in Ann Handley's "Every Writes," she delivers one of the most useful pieces I've seen.

Ann Handley writes a nice, short book about writing more clearly and effectively with good tips. The book title "Everybody Writes" is true, yet technology has turned a lot of us into drones who get lazy waiting for Microsoft Word, Grammarly or another spelling/grammar checker to identify our mistakes. Full of humor and examples, Handley gives examples of long, ponderous sentences and paragraphs found in blogs, websites, emails and offline prose. Then she demonstrates how to clean up long-winded sentences, eliminate cliches, remove unnecessary words and avoid cliches. Handley even confirms what my grade school teacher taught me about leaving out the last comma in a series (i.e. "ham, beef and chicken"), despite Grammarly's insistence on putting a comma before the last word in a list. Writers can learn much of Handley's advice from other books and authors--E.B. White, in particular--but you'll miss the humor and wit of her book. So if you want to put more punch in your emails, letters and blog posts, I recommend this book. It's short, full of examples and suggested resources, and will make you WANT to write with greater impact.

If you type “content marketing” into Amazon.com’s search bar, you’ll get more than 21,000 results. Many of the books listed (especially those at the top of the list) are required reading for content marketers. But the one book that arguably could have the biggest impact on the expansion, impact and depth of content marketing by professional and amateur marketers alike was released last week. Ann Handley (who’s previous book Content Rules is at the top of that previously-mentioned Amazon search result) just published Everybody Writes, and the title is apt. With this book, Ann unbundles exactly how anybody can take advantage of the huge potential great content has to accelerate your awareness, inbound prospect inquiries, closed business and customer loyalty. While previous books have done an excellent job outlining content strategy, few have made content feel accessible to the masses. And by masses, I mean everyone from a company founder without previous writing experience, a small business owner unsure of their own communication skills, salespeople who want to become trusted resources, enterprise executives with ideas but no history of publishing, and everybody in between. Ann makes content marketing so accessible by making the book itself accessible as well. Its nearly 300 pages are broken up into short 2-3 page essays, making it easy for any attention span to learn, gain confidence, and start writing. And hidden at the end is a set of notes that open up a wide, wide variety of recommended additional books, blog posts, newsletters and other sources of best practices, inspiration and confidence-building tips to keep you writing. I’ve believed for a long time that the primary reason for writing reluctance is overthinking what writing needs to be. Especially in the age of blog posts and short attention spans, you don’t need to write New Yorker feature stories to get noticed. Even just a couple hundred words can inspire your customers, drive massive traffic, and convert into sales. Ann’s own ease with words makes the reader feel even more that great communication, great writing and great results are all within reach.

I bought this when I left my job as a high school English teacher and entered marketing for the first time. I realized that the way I wrote may have been appropriate for an academic setting, but would never fly for a general audience. But the truth is I could have read this book in college as an English Education major and gotten just as much value out of it. Although it seems geared toward content marketers, so much of it can be applied to communication in all forms. Handley is the Strunk and White for contemporary authorship. Her advice is designed to improve both the clarity and the engagement of your work, especially for consumption in the digital age. The book is broken into tiny chapters that zoom in on specific issues in writing, covering everything from planning to drafting to editing and everything in between. The end of the book is especially interesting, sharing insights into how to write highly practical things like blogs, LinkedIn profiles, and infographics. Handley is committed to actionable advice, providing a wealth of tools and tactics rather than esoteric, ivory tower advice. The one problem I had with this is really my own fault: I'm not sure it's best consumed cover to cover. Though it is entertaining, it covers so much information that by the end of it you may feel unable to sort it all out. It may be better used as a reference text that you consult at various stages of your writing process. I do think that reading it from top to bottom gave me an intimate understanding of its content, which means I can more effortlessly brush up on specific topics as the need arises. But a word of advice to anyone who is interested in this and wants to do what I did and consume it in its entirety to familiarize yourself with it: breeze through it. Try to knock it out in just a few days. I tried to savor it and collect all of the information, and it was a fool's errand. No matter how you choose to approach this, it is absolutely worth your time. I plan to keep it on my desk and look back at it frequently.

I find this book to be overly verbose in its writing style. I feel like the author is trying a bit too hard to be relatable. I do like the way it is set up, as a series of guidelines to follow. but it could be much shorter in length and be much more useful. The author needs to find her clarity and focus and use less conversation. We're busy people. Get to the point in a smart way with an anecdote or two, and move on to the next. I will read the whole thing, but it will be a struggle for me to want to read.

Save yourself hundreds of dollars buying other books looking for the secret sauce to good writing. "Everybody Writes" by Anne Handley is the one book I would keep if forced to give up all but one of the twenty five to thirty books I own on the topic of writing. "Everybody Writes" sits on my desk next to William Strunk's "The Elements of Style" within an arm's reach of my keyboard. Looking through the praise pages of "Everybody Writes" I was awed by the content creators that heap gushing praise for the book and author. It's a Who's Who of the best content creators of the day, David Meerman Scott author of "The New Rules of Marketing and PR" and Brian Clark who sits atop the Copyblogger empire and Jay Baer President of Convince and Convert are just three of the heavy hitters who love this book. I am not a heavy hitter, I struggle to find my voice and distill a story down to its essence. During my reading of "Everybody Writes" I found myself putting it down and sitting at my keyboard testing Handley's suggestions. I've tested some (to early to have adopted all of them) and they work if you are willing to put the time in. There is no shortcut for putting your fingers to the keyboard or pen to paper. You just have to do it. I encourage anyone who writes for pleasure or profit (or hopes to write for profit) to buy this book, turn off the T.V., radio, computer, etc. and just read "Everybody Writes" from beginning to end. Then go back and read it again extracting the strategies and tips that resonate to you. The responsibility to be a good writer then lies with you. The tools have been given to you, sharpen them daily and see how your writing improves. This is the most practical, readable, and enjoyable book on writing I've read.

In 2011, I was attending the Exact Target Connections conference when I really noticed the term "content marketing" being used as a full direction and discipline. There were a few standout sessions at that show, but one that I just happened to pick really sunk in. I hadn't heard of Ann Handley or C.C. Chapman yet, or their book Content Rules, but I was blown away by their presentation. I bought their book quickly upon returning home. Now, Ann Handley has a new book that builds on the idea of content creation by focusing on one of the areas that can be the most rewarding, intimidating, frustrating, you name it. You've been there. We all have. Staring at a blank page. Whether you're writing for school, your job, just for fun or whatever it is, that blank page can haunt you. Just when you thought there was no help to be found, Handley comes out with "Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content" to save us all! This book shot to the top of my "must read" list. There have been plenty of books on writing, even some good ones ("On Writing" by Stephen King is one of the best). This is not your run-of-the-mill boring text book on writing. Not at all! the tone of the book and her stories are not only interesting, they're entertaining! If you've heard her speak, and I'm assuming the majority of you reading this have, then you know her quirky sense of humor. It comes across loud and clear here (for example, she compares writing to birthing a Volkswagon). "Everybody Writes" is part writing strategy guide, part grammar and style manual and part guide for writing tools and processes. This book is a reference for all writers regardless of how much or what you write. Handley believes that writing is a habit, not an art. The more you do it, the better you get at it. Her tips are meant as guidelines and not hard rules, because as she explains "there's no right way to write". There are a couple of tips that really stand out for me. The first is to follow a writing GPS so you can get to where you need to be. It keeps you on the right track. I've implemented this and it truly is helpful in keeping my thoughts in line with my topic. The second is The Ugly First Draft. For most writers, the first draft doesn't come out perfect, it's the editing that makes most writing great. So, get your thoughts on paper without worrying about grammar, spelling, structure, etc. All of that will be fixed during editing. Not only is this book great for those of us already in our careers, but I would issue this to high school and college writing courses. The writing style will keep them engaged in the book and the tips help them in their writing from the start. I'll be referring back to this book often and will re-read it regularly as well. Not only is this a must read, it's a must own! I'll leave you with my favorite rule: "Writing well is part habit, part knowledge of some fundamental rules, and part giving a damn." Damn right!

This is a text for a course I am talking. It is an easy read, compared to the textbooks I am used to. Ann Handley provides useful tips to creating great content, relates it not only to business but to other forms of writing, and she includes humour. I like that she provides readers with additional resources to further our knowledge. I would and have recommended this book to other writers and will keep this book close-by to refer back to.

The book reads easy but somehow I get the impression that some chapters are very thoughtful written and others were constructed in a hurry. Overall quite good but it didn't blow me away.

Me encanta el tono de voz que usa para escribir!! El libro puede parecer un poco gordo ya que tiene casi 300 páginas, pero se te hace super ameno leerlo y va al grano de lo que quieres aprender :"cómo escribir mejor" Estoy muy contenta de tenerlo. Es un mina de oro :))

This book has great ideas for blog writing, social media marketing, article writing and more with a sense of humour to keep you chuckling whilst you read. Sell your brand with this guide to better online writing. You will attract more customers and keep hold of your existing ones. However, I bought it as a guide to hobbyist non-fiction writing and I still learned beneficial ideas. The section on blog posting and social media I found particularly good with plenty of tips to get your message across to your audience. The first part of the book helps you plan out an article better and there is also a section to help you with grammar. These books can be ‘yawn’ material and they don't grip us like a good novel. They are there to teach us and sometimes that isn't engaging but Handley’s sense of humour keeps you entertained throughout the whole book. I would definitely recommend the book to marketers but also blog writers and hobbyists can definitely learn something here too.

This book is a really good guide for everyone to write better and to write with a useful meaning. I like how this book teaches every part or activity for writers and beginner writers. I'm a writer in Spanish, but this book helped me alot with some tips that can be applied in other languages.