Tested Writing Methods

This book is for anyone who writes on the job and wants to learn how to write better. In fact, although the focus of this book is on business writing, the tested methods in this book work for all types of non-fiction. To write well, you need to think and write from the top down, and that’s what this book shows you how to do.

This book presents all of the tested writing methods that you need for success on the job with the emphasis on the methods that aren’t included in other books on writing. That’s why the two sections in this book will help you improve in ways that other books don’t even address.

In section 1, you’ll learn the tested writing methods. That includes how to use headings and subheadings to plan what you’re going to write and guide your readers...how to write paragraphs that sell your ideas...how to write sentences that are easy to read and understand...how to show the relationships between your paragraphs and sentences...how to write the first draft in record time...how to edit that first draft without “thrashing”...and when and how to use AI writing tools like ChatGPT to improve your writing.

In section 2, you’ll learn how to use the Microsoft Word features that every writer should use: templates and styles, the outline feature, and the spelling and grammar checker. If that seems out of place in a book on writing, it’s included because most writers don’t use these features, even though they will help you write faster and better. So if you use Word but aren’t using these features, this section will show you what you’re missing. And if you aren’t using Word, this section will show you why you should be.

To a large extent, writing has been treated as more of an art than a science. In business, though, you want your writing to be more science than art. You want your emails to communicate efficiently. You want your reports to draw the right conclusions and your proposals to get results. You want your marketing and web copy to sell your products and services. In short, you want your writing to get the intended results. And any writing that doesn’t do that is a waste of time...for both the writer and the reader.

So what we mean by the “tested” writing methods is that our publishing company has tested them on the job in the real world for more than 50 years. During those years, we used these methods to write dozens of books and to sell more than 1,000,000 copies of them. We also used these methods to write our emails, reports, proposals, procedure manuals, web copy, and more. From the start, the success of our company has depended 100% on how well we write...and we’ve used the methods in this book to do that writing.

When we started, though, we had to develop many of the writing methods ourselves. That’s because we couldn’t find anything useful in the dozens of books that we reviewed. That includes: How to plan what you’re going to write. How to use headings and subheadings to guide your readers. How to get the most from visuals. How to write the first draft. How to edit that first draft. And how to write effective paragraphs.

But when it came to writing sentences, there was voluminous information in other books on writing. The trouble is that there’s so much more to good writing than writing good sentences. In fact, your writing can fail dismally even if your sentences are carefully crafted.

So for writing sentences, we selected the best methods, tested them on the job, and improved them. Now, chapter 4 presents those methods in a single chapter from the top-down with the most important methods first.

If you’re like most business writers, you don’t use effective writing methods. That’s why it’s so easy to improve. Here, for example, are some of the ways that our tested writing methods will help you improve.

• You will do a better job of planning what you’re going to write.
• Your headings and subheadings will guide your readers.
• You will use visual aids whenever they can help you present ideas better than you can with text alone.
• You will write the first draft faster than ever.
• You will go from the first draft to the final draft in one editorial pass.
• You will always know what to do next.
• You will think carefully and critically at every step in the writing process.

Like all our books, this one has features that you won’t find in competing books. Here are four of them:

• This book presents a top-down approach to writing that starts with how to plan what you’re going to write and ends with how to use Word’s spelling and grammar checker to catch a final error or two. No other writing book is that comprehensive.
• Above all, this book presents the writing methods that are either neglected or ignored in other writing books...especially, the methods used by professional writers.
• This book not only shows you how to write better, but also how to write faster. That starts with planning and ends with writing the first draft just once, editing it just once, and proofreading it just once. That contrasts the write, edit, rewrite, and edit again approach to writing that we call “thrashing.”
• This book also shows you how to use the word processing features for writers. Why include that in a book on writing? Because most writers don’t use these features, even though they will help you write faster and better.