Read This!: Business Writing that Works

Go on, admit it: most of the business documents that cross your desk really test your patience. If you're brave enough, you'll skim through them in an attempt to capture the key points. More often than not, you'll find them or throw them into the bin.

That's because most business writing is long, complex and takes forever to get to the point. This is self-defeating as the available reading time is often only a few minutes or less.

In this book, you'll learn to:

• Grab and sustain your reader's attention
• Produce a user friendly layout
• Draw attention to key passages

It's a fundamental set of techniques that you'll be able to apply to all kinds of business writing - letters, e-mails, reports, memos, websites, business plans, forms, sign boards and even graphs.

Read This! Will demolish many of the enduring myths that many of us hold dear about business writing - for example, that Times New Roman is the best font, that you must always start a letter with Thank you, or that a report must always have a conclusion at the end.

Robert Gentle has over ten years of business writing experience. Working as an award-winning financial journalist, then as a successful financial public relations consultant, he has written everything from press releases and promotional literature to newsletters and annual reports. Gentle regularly runs writing workshops for leading South African companies. He is the founder and managing director of Plain Business Writing, a Johannesburg-based plain language consultancy.