First, go read the summary of the writing videos.
Books
- Copywriting Secrets, by Jim Edwards
- Breakthrough Advertising, by Eugene Schwartz
- On Writing Well, by William Zinsser
- The Art and Business of Online Writing, by Nicolas Cole
- The Elements of Style, by William Strunk and E.B. White
Websites and services:
- Capitalizemytitle.com: a website that capitalizes your title as it should
- Convertcase.net: easily convert cases
- Medium.com has several publications dedicated to the art of writing.
- Grammarly.com is a free Chrome extension that spots grammar mistakes.
- Mirror.xyz is a decentralized writing platform.
- Julian Shapiro has put up this guide on writing.
- Steph Smith has written a book about writing content properly.
Writing Tips and Tricks
These tips have been collected from numerous articles about writing. Don’t follow them blindly. Context matters.
Content
- Don’t use the word “thing”
- Make short sentences (depends)
- Write short words (depends)
- Use a wide variety of verbs
- Always use verbs as specific and as clear as possible
- Always use verbs to describe action
- Appeal to the senses (hearing, smell, touch, sight, taste)
- Explain yourself as simply and as clearly as possible
- Write “fast”: reveal new actions and information fast
- Be specific. Don’t write “wanna lose weight?” Write “how to lose 2 kg in 3 days”.
- Don’t use adverbs (depends)
- Don’t use the passive voice (depends)
- Start with a strong sentence that makes the reader want to read the next sentence
- Talk about problems and how to solve them
- Write from the reader’s perspective -> use “you” a lot (easier for them to understand)
- Be evocative, cut flab, craft imagination using a variety of literary devices, metaphor, analogies
- Less is more: the best sentence is the sentence that conveys your thoughts in the least amount of words.
- Keep one idea per sentence
- Deliver a strong intro
- Have an actual message
- Write something that your readers can take away and practice in their lives.
- The best conclusions bring to the surface an important point that has been there all along.
- Write things nobody else would be able to write.
Form
- Capitalize your titles
- Don’t make paragraphs bigger than six sentences
- Use separators in between the parts of your text
- Use sans-serif font for online content, and serif for print (depends)
- Vary the length and structure of your sentences (don’t be boring).
- Highlight in bold the important words.
- Use italic for titles of books or movies.
- Underline links.
- Add images and/or videos.
Articles
- This article gives you 26 words you should avoid in your writing.
- So…Should You Keep Writing on Medium?
- The Easy and Highly Unethical Way to Get Traffic on Medium
- Earning $1k per Month on Medium: A Detailed Guide
- How to Write So That People Will Read You
You can also buy my book about writing.
For more content, head to auresnotes.com.
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