Write Everything Right!: Let the world’s highest-paid writers show you the secrets of making readers love your: e-mails, letters, memos, blog, ... website and yes, especially your résumé!

342 Pages·2014·5.39 MB·English

by  Denny Hatch

WRITE EVERYTHING RIGHT!
Let the world’s highest-paid writers show you the secrets of making
readers love your: e-mails, letters, memos, blog, reports, speeches, ads,
press releases, articles, books, PowerPoint, website and yes, especially
your résumé!
Denny Hatch
WRITE EVERYTHING RIGHT!
Let the world’s highest-paid writers show you the secrets of making readers love your: e-mails, letters,
memos, blog, reports, speeches, ads, press releases, articles, books, PowerPoint, website and yes, especially
your résumé!
Copyright © 2014 Denny Hatch Associates, Inc.
ISBN: 1-931068-73-9
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No parts of this work covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any
means — graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, Web distribution, or
information storage and retrieval systems, or in any other manner — without the written permission of the
publisher/author.
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter
covered. It’s sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or
other professional services. If expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person
should be sought.
Direct Marketing IQ
1500 Spring Garden Street, 12th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19130
215-238-5300
Denny Hatch Associates, Inc.
310 Gaskill Street
Philadelphia, PA 19147
215-627-9103
DennyHatch.com
[email protected]
To arrange bulk purchases of this book for educational purposes, please contact the publisher.
Also by Denny (Denison) Hatch
Nonfiction
Million Dollar Mailings (1993), (2001)
2,239 Tested Secrets for Direct Marketing Success with Don Jackson
(1998)
Method Marketing: How to Make a Fortune by Getting Inside the Heads of
Your Customers (1999)
Jack Corbett, Mariner by A.S. Hatch, (2002), Edited by — and Afterword
by — Denny Hatch
PRICELINE.COM: A Layman’s Guide to Manipulating the Media (2003)
The Secrets of Emotional, Hot-Button COPYWRITING (2010)
Career-Changing Takeaways: Quotations, Rules, Aphorisms, Pithy Tips,
Quips, Sage Advice, Secrets, Dictums and Truisms in 99 Categories of
Marketing, Business and Life (2011)
Fiction
Cedarhurst Alley (1969), (2005)
The Fingered City (1973)
The Stork (1976)
Coldcocked (2010, Kindle edition)
Newsletter
WHO’S MAILING WHAT! (1984-1994)
Online
Business Common Sense on the Target Marketing website
Thanks, Bob …
This book is dedicated to Bob Scott for a lifetime of sound advice and editorial
excellence including the painstaking work on this manuscript.
Contents
Two Quickies
Prologue
1. We Are All Authors — and We Are All Selling
2. Four Horrifying Roadblocks
3. Your Private Archive Can Make You Rich
4. Don’t Get Hung Up on QWERTY. Learn It!
5. Never Start With an Outline or a Title
6. Research Has Never Been Easier or Quicker
7. What You Own and What You Can Lose
8. The Perils of Plagiarism
9. Start Right or Suffer Writer’s Block
10. Conceptualizing and Using the USP
11. Takeaways: Don’t Leave Your Reader Without Them
12. Headlines, Titles and Teasers, Oh My!
13. Your All-Important Lede and Your First 10 Words
14. How to Keep Your Reader’s Eyes Moving: Part 1
15. How to Keep Your Reader’s Eyes Moving: Part 2
16. Why Johnny Can’t Read and the Evils of Sans Serif Type
17. In Search of the Best Online Reading Experience
18. Prose: Organize It and Write It Right
19. Words, Words, Words: All About ’em
20. Gunning for Readability
21. Masters of Obfuscation
22. Your Résumé and Chartres Cathedral
23. Your Résumé: “Can You Add Value?”
24. Your Résumé: Importance of the Envelope
25. Your Résumé and Francine’s Résumé
26. Your Résumé and the Almighty Cover Letter
27. The Raw Power of a Letter
28. The E-mail Conundrum — Receiving and Sending It
29. Public Relations, Publicity and Press Releases
30. The Secret of a PR Blitzkrieg Campaign
31. When You’re Asked for a Review
32. Don’t Hide Your Emotions
33. Books: It’s So Easy to Get Published These Days
34. Speeches: Write and Deliver Them With Power
35. Words and Phrases That Irritate People
36. The Art of Being a Superb Interviewer
37. Are Footnotes (or Endnotes) Necessary? Nah
38. Good Design: Why It Died and How to Resuscitate It
39. Danger! Safeguard Your Work!
40. Three of the Greatest Letters Ever Written
Two Quickies
A world renowned author once asked the Welsh master of best-selling thrillers,
Ken Follett, if he thinks about the reader when writes. Follett said he thought
about the reader all the time.
“I never think of the reader,” the author said. “I always write for myself.”
“That’s why you are a very great author,” Follett said. “And why I am a very
rich author.” —From a Charles Osgood PBS Interview with Ken Follett
………………
“What do you do?” a guy at a cocktail party was asked.
“I’m a brain surgeon,” was the reply. “What do you do?”
“I’m a writer.”
“Ah,” said the brain surgeon. “I’ve often thought when I retire I’d like to try
some writing.”
“And when I retire,” said the writer, “I plan try a little brain surgery.” —Old
anecdote
PROLOGUE
Below is an e-mail I received from former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell.
Presumably it went to a list of Democratic voters — average folks.
Statistically, half the people who received it could not understand it. Here is the
governor’s e-mail in full:
A really big deal
Friday, Mar. 22, 2013 9:21 AM
From: “Ed Rendell” [email protected]
To: “Denny Hatch” [email protected]
Denny—
Right now, Republicans in our state are trying to diminish Pennsylvania’s importance in future
presidential elections — meaning that the issues that are important to you and me will get less
attention at the national level. They know they can’t win our state on the issues, so they’re
resorting to under-handed tactics and undermining the influence of our voters.
Their plan would change the way Pennsylvania allocates its Electoral College votes — splitting
our votes between the winner and the loser, rather than the traditional winner-take-all approach
we’ve used for centuries. It would end our historical role as a critical electoral state, and create a
detour around Pennsylvania on the road to the White House.
In short, it’s a bad idea that will hurt every Pennsylvanian, Democrat and Republican alike. And
it’s up to us to do everything we can to stop it.
Call Governor Tom Corbett’s office right now at [phone] and politely let him know
you oppose this plan because it’s neither fair nor the right thing for Pennsylvania. Here’s a
sample script you can use:
My name is (YOUR NAME) and I live in (CITY). I am calling today because I am opposed to
changing the way Pennsylvania allocates its Electoral College votes. This plan will diminish
Pennsylvania’s importance in future elections and its historical role as a key swing state where
candidates spend time and money focusing on issues that are important to Pennsylvanians. I urge
you to publicly oppose Senate Bill 538.
After your call, let us know how it went.
Look, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why Republicans are trying to pull this trick in
Pennsylvania: They haven’t carried our state in a presidential election since 1988. They haven’t
been able to beat us, so now they’re trying to rig the game.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Pennsylvania Republicans try to rig the election in their favor.