Renovating Your Writing


Book Description

Renovating Your Writing outlines the principles of effective composition by focusing on the essential skill set and mindset every successful writer must possess. Now in its second edition, this novel text provides readers with unique strategies for crafting and revising their writing, whether for school, work, or play. The new edition emphasizes, in particular, the importance of the writer embracing a rhetorical perspective, distinguishing between formal and social media compositional styles, and appreciating the effort needed to produce clear, concise, and compelling messages.




Start Where You Are


Book Description

“Gardner is encouraging us all to start where we are and dare to make our lives bigger and stronger, more satisfactory, and better. Chris Gardner is a knockout!” —Maya Angelou Chris Gardner’s astonishing memoir—the phenomenal New York Times bestseller, The Pursuit of Happyness, which inspired the film of the same name starring Will Smith—served as a shining beacon of hope for countless people. In Start Where You Are, “a book that teaches you how to transform the impossible into the possible” (Sidney Poitier), Gardner offers indispensible life lessons in getting from where you are to where you want to be.




Strategic Sales Presentations


Book Description

When your big moment comes, will you be ready? Strategic sales presentations, those given to high level decision makers at the crucial time in the sales process, are the most highly leveraged activities in sales-and those that most sales professionals are least prepared for. Strategic Sales Presentations prepares you for the presentations that could make or break you as an accomplished sales professional. And it will help polish your skills for any presentation that matters. This is a presentation book like no other! In Strategic Sales Presentations you will improve your ability to: Position yourself strategically for success Craft presentations that speak the language of senior decision makers Deliver engagingly, confidently and professionally. You will see the concepts in action as Jack Malcolm expertly weaves an example of a strategic sales presentation throughout the book. Implement the ideas from this book and you will be able to create a clear, concise, compelling presentation that you will be able to confidently present to executives. This book will take your presentations to a new level! "This book will transform any salesperson into a strategic salesperson and the more strategic you are, the higher value you sell." Nancy Duarte, CEO, Duarte, Inc. award winning author of slide: ology and Resonate "Do you want to learn, step-by-step, how to design, build, and deliver compelling strategic sales presentations that will achieve your objectives with senior executives? This is where you need to start-and finish. It's the most comprehensive, direct, and insightful book on the subject that I've read." Dave Stein, CEO and Founder, ES Research Group "After spending countless hours listening to sales presentations during my career, I wish every salesperson had read a copy of Jack Malcolm's Strategic Sales Presentations. From the perspective of a sales decision-maker, had a salesperson utilized the exceptional wealth of experience and how-to practicality offered in this dynamic resource they would have clearly differentiated their sales presentation in every competitive situation." R. Luke Lively-- Financial Service Industry Consultant, C-Level executive for over 20 years including CEO of three banks and author A Questionable Life




Writing for the Web


Book Description

Many books offer instruction on how to use software programs to build Web sites, podcasts, and illustrations. But 'Writing for the Web' explains when and why an author might choose an illustration over a photograph, motion graphics over text, or a slice of Beethoven's Fifth over the sound of a bubbling brook. Focusing on storytelling techniques that work best for digital media, this book describes the essential skills and tools in a Web author's toolbox, including a thorough understanding of grammar and style, a critical eye for photography, and an ear for just the right sound byte for a podcast.




How to Write Copy That Sells


Book Description

Communicate with potential customers—and persuade them to buy: “The best copywriting teacher I know.” —Michael Hyatt, New York Times–bestselling author of Your Best Year Ever This book is for everyone who needs to write copy that sells—including copywriters, freelancers, and entrepreneurs. Writing copy that sells without seeming “salesy” can be tough, but is an essential skill. How to Write Copy That Sells offers tips for crafting powerful, effective headlines and bullet points, reveals the secrets of product launch copy, and supplies specific copywriting techniques for: email marketing websites social media direct mail traditional media ads, and more “Ray invites you into his inner sanctum where he opens his real-life copywriting toolkit . . . Get this book!” —Judith Sherven, PhD, and Jim Sniechowski, PhD, bestselling authors of The Heart of Marketing




Brief


Book Description

Get heard by being clear and concise The only way to survive in business today is to be a lean communicator. Busy executives expect you to respect and manage their time more effectively than ever. You need to do the groundwork to make your message tight and to the point. The average professional receives 304 emails per week and checks their smartphones 36 times an hour and 38 hours a week. This inattention has spread to every part of life. The average attention span has shrunk from 12 seconds in 2000 to eight in 2012. So, throw them a lifeline and be brief. Author Joe McCormack tackles the challenges of inattention, interruptions, and impatience that every professional faces. His proven B.R.I.E.F. approach, which stands for Background, Relevance, Information, Ending, and Follow up, helps simplify and clarify complex communication. BRIEF will help you summarize lengthy information, tell a short story, harness the power of infographics and videos, and turn monologue presentations into controlled conversations. Details the B.R.I.E.F. approach to distilling your message into a brief presentation Written by the founder and CEO of Sheffield Marketing Partners, which specializes in message and narrative development, who is also a recognized expert in Narrative Mapping, a technique that helps clients achieve a clearer and more concise message Long story short: BRIEF will help you gain the muscle you need to eliminate wasteful words and stand out from the rest. Be better. Be brief.




Nicely Said


Book Description

"Whether you're new to web writing, or you're a professional writer looking to deepen your skills, this book is for you. You'll learn how to write web copy that addresses your readers' needs and supports your business goals ... Topics include: write marketing copy, interface flows, blog posts, legal policies, and emails; develop behind-the-scenes documents like mission statements, survey questions, and project briefs; find your voice and adapt your tone for the situation; build trust and foster relationships with readers; make a simple style guide."--Publisher's description.




Clean, Concise Writing


Book Description

What is clean writing? Whatever you write should be clear and understandable to most readers. Clean copy consists of text that is logical and free of extra words that might muddy its meaning. Whether for business, academics or social media, it is important to shape sentences in a way that is concise and compelling. In particular, "Clean, Concise Writing: Streamline Your Wordy Sentences" is an answer for teachers, students, copyeditors and novice writers who have written or received comments about clarity, wordiness or vague language. Written by an experienced English instructor, this book shows you how to write succinctly without sacrificing variety or style. Each chapter is loaded with examples and self-grading comprehension exercises that demonstrate how to convert sentences into longer pieces of writing that are engaging and pleasant to read.




The Compelling Communicator


Book Description

You attend numerous presentations and meetings a year--filled with the typical dense and disorganized PowerPoint decks--and leave most of them thinking, "Well, that's an hour of my life I'll never get back." But out of this sea of mediocrity, a rare few rise up, captivating you and driving you to action. What makes these few so special? Despite what most people think, it's not because they were delivered well. It's because they were crafted in a way that deeply aligned with how your brain wants to consume information. The presentations that failed did so precisely because they violated the largely unknown "natural laws" that govern how people actually learn. In The Compelling Communicator, you will learn a proven process for designing presentations that touch your audience in a highly impactful way, motivating them to take your desired action by: Building around a small number of powerful ideas Keeping content within the audience's "brain bandwidth" Developing logical narrative structure Anchoring communication in the listener's priorities Creating "mind-sticky" storytelling and visuals Crafting handouts that allow your presentation to live on after the handshakes Filled with examples of exceptional--and not so exceptional--presentations, along with clear explanations of why they do and don't work, this comprehensive guidebook provides every tool you need to become a standout presenter whose message is certain to leave a powerful, lasting impression.




Assaulting the Gates


Book Description

Learn the “Big Picture” approach that will aim your congregation at the mission field in your back yard, or around the world. Many churches want to make the transition from an inward to an outward focus, from catering to the needs of members to reaching out into the world to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Too often they try to accomplish this radical change by taking half steps and partial measures, initiating a new program here or adding a new staff members there. Yet this kind of change requires more. To succeed in changing its core focus this way, a congregation must learn strategic thinking; it must commit itself to seeing the big picture, and to taking the steps necessary to paint that picture afresh. Everyone, including pastors, lay leaders, key teams and groups, and the congregation as a whole must be involved in a process of transformation. Paul D. Borden, author of Hit the Bullseye and Direct Hit, knows that this transformation will not be easy. But if the target is bringing more people into saving relationship with Jesus Christ, what could be more worthwhile?