DON'T LET YOUR WRITING HOLD YOU BACK. When you’re fumbling for words and pressed for time, you might be tempted to dismiss good business writing as a luxury. But it’s a skill you must cultivate to succeed: You’ll lose time, money, and influence if your e-mails, proposals, and other important documents fail to win people over. The HBR Guide to Better Business Writing, by writing expert Bryan A. Garner, gives you the tools you need to express your ideas clearly and persuasively so clients, colleagues, stakeholders, and partners will get behind them. This book will help you to:
- Push past writer’s block
- Grab—and keep—readers’ attention
- Earn credibility with tough audiences
- Trim the fat from your writing
- Strike the right tone
- Brush up on grammar, punctuation, and
HBR Guide to Better Business Writing (HBR Guide Series)| Bryan Garner (Author)| Harvard Business Review Press
Table Of Contents
Introduction: Why you need to write well
Section 1: Delivering the Goods Quickly and Clearly
- Know why you're writing
- Understand your readers
- Divide the writing process into four separate tasks
- Before writing in earnest, jot down your three main points--in complete sentences
- Write in full--rapidly
- Improve what you've written
- Use graphics to illustrate and clarify
Section 2: Developing Your Skills
- Be relentlessly clear
- Learn to summarize--accurately
- Waste no words
- Be plain-spoken: Avoid bizspeak
- Use chronology when giving a factual account
- Be a stickler for continuity
- Learn the basics of correct grammar
- Get feedback on your drafts from colleagues
Section 3: Avoiding the Quirks That Turn Readers Off
- Don't anesthetize your readers
- Watch your tone
Section 4: Common Forms of Business Writing
- E-mails
- Business Letters
- Memos and Reports
- Performance Appraisals
Appendixes
- A Checklist for the Four Stages of Writing
- A Dozen Grammatical Rules You Absolutely Need to Know
- A Dozen Punctuation Rules You Absolutely Need to Know
- Common Usage Gaffes
- Some Dos and Don'ts of Business-Writing Etiquette
- A Primer of Good Usage
LINK FOR THE BOOK