Fact is, it’s not that easy to stretch a few core ideas into a paper that spans 10 to 20 pages. However, if you try to cover too much, you can end up confusing the reader and losing the essence of your main argument. That doesn’t mean you’re stuck writing in passive structures and getting by with numerous fillers, though.

Stretching For Word Count Isn’t Bad

We tend to scoff at the idea of stretching a paper’s word count. After all, we’re always told that the more concise a piece of writing is, the better. However, word count requirements are a reality not just in school, but in a lot of writing fields. If you want to be published, for instance, it’s impossible not to embrace the struggle for reaching industry standard word counts for different types of work.

Give Historical Background

One way to beef up your pages is to discuss historical background about the topic, especially how discussion about it has evolved over the years. For some subjects, you can easily clear a page or two on this alone. To make sure the background exposition doesn’t get in the way of your actual discussion, try to keep it early in the paper, such as right next to the introduction or after discussing the first main point.

Look To The Future

Give your assessment of how your ideas could be relevant to the future of the subject. What areas can future researchers expand on and which ones should people pay more attention to? Basically, you give an educated prediction of how perception about the subject will play out in time.

Normally, you want this towards the end, right around the concluding paragraph. Word of warning: since this will be mostly conjecture aided by facts, you might not want to dwell on it too much. A few sentences to help add to your word count efforts should be enough.

Provide Counter-Arguments

Discuss counter-arguments to your points, then present a case why it’s a less persuasive option to take. You can do this for nearly every argument you present, so you can double the word count using this single technique if it’s necessary.

Develop A Point Further

Examine all the main points in your body paragraphs. Are there any that you can develop and explore further? Particularly, ones that you can break into sub-points for individual discussion. Chances are, there will be some. This could even work in your favor, as the further development can solidify the strength of your overall argument.

Make A Comparison

This isn’t applicable to all papers, but if you’re writing a book review, a play review or something along those same lines, you could spend part of the discussion comparing various aspects of the subject to another. If you’re writing a film review, you can compare it to the director’s previous efforts or to another director with whom the filmmaker is often compared. For a historical book report, you can compare it to other accounts, noting the similarities and differences.

Expand Summaries

Take a look at your supporting statements. Are there any parts where you summarized information lifted from a source? Consider expanding those into more detailed descriptions, quoting the original material and injecting your own ideas. More often than not, this requires you to be more specific in your discussion, leading to longer paragraphs that could solve your word count woes.

Explore Symbolism

This is more geared towards book reports and reviews of cultural items, such as films and plays. Basically, you look for symbolisms embedded in the work, then discuss them as part of your paper. Discuss the symbolism used and what they represent in the larger scheme of things, offering your ideas on how it helped shape the work.

Adjusting Your Scope

If you find yourself a few hundred words short after discussing all your main points, you could adjust the scope a bit. Just a tiny adjustment that could allow you to tackle an additional related point or two should be enough to let you expand the paper’s coverage to clear your word count requirements.

Add Examples

Inserting one more illustration for each main point is a great way to increase the length of a paper without resorting to fluff or veering off-topic. Just make sure to use an example that’s slightly different than what you’ve already used previously, so it actually serves to present a more complete picture, rather than merely act as repetitive filler.

Insert Quotes

Look at your research notes and seek out memorable quotes that you can use to add impact to your arguments. You can also return directly to your source materials for these, in case you never really paid attention to quotable materials during research. Either way, quotes can add some needed length to your paper, provided you don’t go around quoting entire paragraphs — doing that makes it a little too transparent that you’re being lazy.

Elaborate On Your Supporting Statements

Often times, you can find ways to further elaborate on your supporting statements and evidence. Take advantage of that. An additional sentence of explanation for several supporting points shouldn’t hurt your paper (in fact, it can be good in some instances), all while allowing you to increase page count considerably.

Add Details

Basically, look for opportunities to add more detail, especially factual and descriptive ones. Evidence and examples are great places to start, since they deal with facts, hard numbers and real events. You could describe a setting, talk about the characteristics of an object or explain the significance of a statistic to specific demographics. The good news? This could seriously improve your paper, as details can help turn dull prose into something more vibrant and picturesque.

Add A Summary To Your Conclusion

It’s not unusual for long papers to include a brief summary of the main points as part of the conclusion. Often, it works out as an effective way of reminding the reader about the preceding discussion, ensuring they remember the main talking points as you present your conclusion.

Accuracy

Nonfiction requires that you be true and factual in your writing. People expect you to talk about real things, not made up scenes in your head or conjectures about things you think are going on.

Writing nonfiction is a lot like writing essays for academe — at least, in terms of its requirements for accuracy. You want to cite exact sources for your information; provide verifiable evidence for your arguments; and detail observed information with a faithful account. You can be less stringent on objectivity (many readers of nonfiction will understand specific leanings — in fact, it could give your books more character), but not so much that you sound like a devoted freak going by on faith alone. People still want a rational discussion after all is said and done, regardless of which position you’re taking.

Details

In fiction, you use detail to give the story tangible elements that ring true, making it easier for readers to suspend disbelief and immerse themselves. Details play even greater significance in nonfiction, allowing you to draw in readers before presenting heady concepts and big ideas.

Creativity

More and more, the techniques of creative writing are playing a stronger part in modern nonfiction. While facts and information are still your meat and potatoes, there’s no way you’ll keep readers engaged with writing that bears the personality of a lab report. And, at the end of the day, people read nonfiction for entertainment, as much as they do for the new information. So put those writing chops to good use and fashion words that can set people’s imaginations running.

Data Gathering

Your ability to gather and organize data will come into heavy play when producing nonfiction. In fact, a lot of the work you’ll do isn’t likely to involve actual writing. Instead, you’ll need to research existing material, interview sources and arrange all that information into a format that the target reader can realistically deal with well before you even begin putting your paragraphs together.

Good nonfiction rarely spins off ideas from a single source, then plugs it in with isolated examples and crafty opinion. Most of the time, the best nonfiction writing are filled to the brim with well-researched information from a variety of sources that are carefully curated and sorted through.

Insight

Nonfiction readers tend to appreciate insight a lot. With the whole nature of nonfiction being factual and informational, it’s too easy to say something that’s been harped on many times before. Bringing a unique perspective that you can share with the reader, especially one they wouldn’t have even thought of taking, always makes for an intriguing experience.

Credibility

Since you’re going to be dealing with factual information, people will need to believe what you’re talking about. As such, you need to speak from a voice of authority in the way you discuss the subject — in your tone, your attitude and your language choices.

If you have the credentials to establish authority, present it early on, so the readers know you’re actually qualified to speak on the matters at hand. If you don’t, it’s not an issue, provided you can demonstrate your grasp of the subject matter with the quality and depth of information you present. Additionally, back up all your arguments with sound evidence and reasoning — without them, people are likely to simply dismiss anything you say.

Genres

The genres of nonfiction writing are plentiful, since every field of human interest can be subject to it. If you’re looking to maximize your book’s potential, though, it’s usually a good idea to play in one of two categories: (1) a genre where you are an established expert and (2) a popular genre with lots of current interest.

The first one is obvious — the more knowledgeable you are about a subject matter, the greater the likelihood that what you write will carry real value for that field. The second, however, embraces commercial viability as the primary motivation, giving you a greater chance of both having your manuscript picked up and having it sell well once published.

The trio of “health, wealth and happiness” make up the three most lucrative fields in nonfiction writing. People, since time immemorial, have always wanted better health, more money and greater joy, regardless of their current standing in life. Being the most lucrative, though, those same genres tend to attract the most products, so the competition is also stiffer than other fields of nonfiction.

Find A Hook

The best nonfiction books aren’t just well-written, they usually have one strong hook that carries the entire material. The hook serves as the large arching theme that permeates throughout the document, holding everything together and serving as the central point for discussion.

With so many nonfiction work in the market today, a hook allows you to set yourself apart from other titles in the same genre. This holds immense value, especially for high-noise fields. Another book on meditation, for instance, will not carry that much weight, while a book on “meditation for the end of the world 2012″ should give you an interesting hook that draws some added attention.

Audience

Good nonfiction speaks to the audience for both its genre and its publisher. That is, it is in line with the kind of angles, attitudes and content that fans of the genre are looking for. This is crucial. Most publishers won’t even respond to proposals that are clearly mismatched with their audience and no reader will buy a book that simply doesn’t interest them.

Use language that’s appropriate for your target audience. Leave the academic babble to the university-published content. If you want to make books, you’ll be best served writing them for a lay audience. It’s okay to have some prerequisite knowledge, but don’t make it such that you severely limit the kind of people that can actually read what you write.

Tension works with conflict to create arousal and excitement in novels, pulling the emotional hooks up the point that they engage the reader wholeheartedly. Used well, they force the reader to becomes invested in the story, keeping them glued to the book — line after line, page after page, and scene after scene.

There are many ways to spice up your stories with tension. We discuss some of the most common ones below.

Suspense

Suspense relies on information. When the reader has more information about the dangers that face the protagonist than the character does, it lays the foundation down to create suspense. What actually builds the tension, though, are the constant reminders — events, dialogue and signs — of those dangers that appear throughout the narrative.

Good suspense stirs intrigue, making readers want to know how the situation actually plays out. Suspense makes you commit to the story, sucking you into the events that take place in it. As such, you want to know if the protagonist actually takes the right road or ends up making the wrong choice.

Ticking Clock

Add a time limit of some sorts to the story. This presents the protagonist with a pressure situation, requiring them to accomplish a goal or face the consequences. You, of course, play it up even more by placing unforeseen obstacles in their path, making the imposed deadline even harder to meet. Deadlines raise the stakes for your characters, creating mental tension, emotional tension and a sense of impending trouble.

Pacing

Each time a character encounters a point of crisis, pace needs to speed up. That keeps the story vibrant and exciting. Once resolution sets in, then you can fall off into a leisurely pace — until the next crisis appears. Switching between modes this way allows you to give the reader a few relaxed moments, further highlighting the tension when the action flows thick. The slow moments, of course, have to dwindle down as the plot speeds up to the climax to maximize the tension during the most crucial moment of your story.

Surprise

Surprises are very welcome for creating tension, provided it doesn’t come without context. When the path of the story appears clear, a surprising turn of events can be just what it needs to keep the succeeding events interesting. Just make sure the “surprise” isn’t a convenient excuse to resolve the protagonist’s troubles (classic example: the “it’s just a dream” twist) — cop outs are always a little too obvious and can end up making the reader feel cheated.

Antagonist

Make the main antagonist powerful and ruthless. I know it sounds cliché, but it almost always works for added tension. From the large corporation bullying the small plaintiff into dropping a suit to the rich father driving a wedge between lovers to the jock making life hell for the nerd, a powerful antagonist always makes for a worthy adversary. One worthy of the reader’s intense feelings of loathing, that is.

Make Life Hell

Tragedy and misfortune makes the world go ’round. At least, as far as stories are concerned. When things go too smoothly for your protagonist, there is no point of conflict and no challenge to really overcome. The solution is always to go the other route, making the life of your hero one that is laden with unsavory occurrences. Make the worst thing that could happen actually happen and watch your lead character dig out of that hole. An interesting protagonist is never sheltered from tragedy — in fact, they’re usually mired deep in it.

Weakness

All superheroes have one weakness that makes them vulnerable. It’s a good rule of thumb for most protagonists — give them at least one big weakness to confront. While it can be a fatally allergic reaction to kryptonite, it can also be something more common, like a serious fear, phobia or source of anxiety. And then, keep putting them in situations where that weakness plays out.

Add External Events

Turmoil doesn’t just come from interactions between characters. You can add external circumstances and events to put layers of obstacles for your protagonist to clear. Natural disasters, disease, political events, wars and other situations far away from your character’s grasp can all be put to use to lend an extra source of tension for a story.

Past Failures

Characters shouldn’t be born the minute your novel started. Instead, they should have lives long before the first scene in your book — a past that you can use to give additional context to their actions and attitudes in the story. Previous failures and sources of disappointment are particularly poignant points as they can lead characters to become weary or fearful of certain things. Involve these in your story (as in, make their past haunt them), putting your protagonist in situations where the same failure could become a reality again.

Sentence Structure

Write your sentences as a mirror of your protagonist’s emotional states. If their heart is racing, write short, choppy text. If they’re casually going through their day, write sentence structures that linger and stay awhile. Doing so allows you to capture the tension in the way you present words, making the text a lot more complementary to the emotion of the story.

Every Story Is Different

Each story you write will require different kinds of tension, depending on the genre, the theme and the target audience. For instance, it won’t likely be appropriate to use the same stress points to create tension for a young adults mystery novel as you would for a romance book targeted at middle-aged women.

Always use a combination of the different tension builders to add emotional hooks to your stories, testing different ones to see how they play together. If you’re writing a novel, tension is non-optional — without it, readers are likely to get bored before they even get through the first chapter.

The process of coming up with content is always tricky. Too often, it’s hit or miss — you can get as many of one as the other. Even pros can struggle when coming up with material that actually makes for compelling reading, especially if they need to put out stuff with the same consistency that maintaining an active blog requires.

Sometimes, inspiration strikes and a really compelling concept just pops up in your head. If you rely on those moments to get you by, however, you’re not likely to be updating the blog with any consistency. Inspiration is cool, but it’s always happenstance — you need to develop ways to deliberately come up with interesting content.

Fortunately, there are many ways to do just that. And regularly coming up with interesting material is what usually separates blogs that make it to those that fade in obscurity. Here are some of them:

• Get inspired by other people’s material. Your content need not always be a clever and original piece. Most of the time, your most reliable recourse for finding material are other people’s content. No, we don’t mean copying them outright. However, there are plenty of ways to spin off other people’s work, such as offering an alternate point of view, narrating examples that can help clarify some finer points and discussing related issues.
• Curate content. Ever seen one of those blog posts that round up a collection of related materials? They’re a great way to point your readers towards content that aren’t yours, but they might find particularly useful and interesting. The narrower the subjects of round-up posts are, the better the collection post usually turns out.
• Check your comments. What issues are people discussing in your comments section? Chances are, most of those will be interesting to cover for the rest of your audience, so be watchful for things in the comments section that you can research, discuss and expand on. This is a very organic way of coming up with new topics to discuss, as you’re picking up from actual discussions among people genuinely interested in the subject matter.
• Check forums. If your comment section isn’t quite as busy as you would like yet, you can check out the discussions in forums and blogs with a bigger audience than yours, taking the issues brought up there and building new content around them. Twitter and Yahoo Answers have proven very effective for this purpose as well, provided you know what keywords to search for.
• Product reviews. No matter what subject you’re writing about, there will be products targeted towards that audience. And reviewing them can make for interesting content that your readers will find helpful. The value of review content, especially for niche products that don’t get much attention from mainstream media, is huge — don’t ever underestimate it. Regardless of whether you’re giving positive or negative feedback, your audience should find it interesting to read.
• Movies. Everyone, regardless of what their interests are, watches movies. As such, it’s an excellent general theme to discuss issues under, especially if you can relate it with the subject matter of your blog. For a blog about gadgets, for instance, posts like “Top 10 James Bond Gadgets Of All Time,” “Gadgets To Bring When Fighting Predators In The Jungle” and “What Kind Of Smartphones Will Each Member Of The Avengers Buy?” could prove fun and interesting topics.
• Other popular culture elements. Just like movies, things like music, TV shows and books can make for interesting discussion because most everybody dips into them every once in a while. Just find an angle that allows you to tie it in with your topic and you’re golden. For a blog about architecture, you could make posts like “If Lady Gaga Designed Houses, They’ll Look Like These,” “Funniest Architecture Jokes In TV In The Last Five Years” and “Awesome Architecture In Music Videos.”
• Case studies. Producing case studies isn’t just for businesses. You can, pretty much, write a case study for any organization, product or website that your audience could have an interest in. Don’t forget that case studies can go both ways: you can highlight the things a subject is doing right or you can zoom in on the things they’re doing wrong. Both are equally valid discussions for the subject matter.
• Success stories. Talk about some of your success with regards to the topic of the blog. If you’re maintaining a blog about vintage cars, for instance, you can discuss how you managed to find, purchase and restore a rare 60s-era vehicle, allowing your audience to both live vicariously through the experience and learn information at the same time. Make a point of sharing lessons you’ve learned throughout the process.
• Failure stories. Just as stories of triumph make for good reading, so will stories about failure (e.g. “Why I Will Never Hunt Without My Favorite Rifle Again”), particularly if the audience can learn something from them. Share the biggest challenges you faced and what you learned from them, if any.
• Do something for the first time. Trying something out for the first time always makes for a good story. The freshness of the experience and the emotions it conjures up usually gives you plenty to talk about. Do try to find an angle for relevancy, though, discussing how the experience changed some of your views regarding the blog’s subject matter.
• Interview personalities. Movie stars, athletes and other celebrities aren’t the only ones worth interviewing. In fact, interviews with people involved in your subject matter (for gadget blogs, you can interview people who develop software for gadgets or interesting startup companies trying to break into the market) can actually make for fun reading among your readers. You can even expand them into profiles if you have access to the person you’re interviewing.

Writing Short Is Easy

Most of us have no problem writing short stuff — email updates, status reports and the like. However, long business documents often present a daunting challenge and it’s one that makes a lot of people uneasy. Not only does it require a sustained mental effort, but it makes the whole editing and proofreading a more difficult task, too.

Fortunately, most people tend to feel at ease writing longer material when given directions about what they can do to ensure it communicates their ideas clearly and effectively. This short guide is meant to do just that, providing a few insights into how you can whip out better business reports.

Use Appropriate Tone

Reports need not be overly formal. In fact, they usually work best with a casual but professional tone. Imagine the reader as a colleague sitting next to you, engaging you in a discussion about your findings.

Try to stick to neutral word choices — ones that don’t evoke any strong emotions. You want your report digested for the information it contains, not the sensationalism it creates. Additionally, avoid jargon whenever you can. Long reports are likely complicated enough without alien phrases tacked on. And if you must use them, be sure to explain what each one means before proceeding.

Be Concise

If you’re writing a long report, the fewer words you use on it, the better. So be concise. Don’t offer an explanation when one isn’t necessary; don’t butter up bad results; don’t use inexact qualifiers; and avoid all manners of wordiness. The more unnecessary length you pad onto an already long report, the harder it’s going to be to understand. And this day and age, few people that matter in any organization will have all that extra time needed to sort through that mess.

Probably, the most important point for conciseness: don’t repeat points for the sake of repeating them. There’s a right time and place where crucial information needs to be repeated to make the most impact and we’ll discuss it later down the article.

Context

Make sure you set proper context throughout the whole report, letting readers know where you plan to take them. For the most part, that means giving away your most important information early on, with the rest of the material filling in the reasons and processes that produced those results.

Do these “early revelations” all through the report: the introduction, the opening paragraph of individual sections, the start of each paragraph and so on. In the introduction, give readers an overview of the entire report; in the opener for each section, fill readers in quickly on what the section is about; and start each paragraph with a topic sentence that declares the subject of the succeeding sentences.

Placing things in context makes your writing easier to understand, regardless of whether you’re writing about issues in the workplace, product sales numbers or market testing experiments. Context is like a map, serving as a way for readers to find exactly where they are and get a clear idea of where they’re going.

Stay on Point

Always stage on the same message throughout the report. If you must discuss something tangentially related, the do so, but return back to the main theme quickly, doing it in the same paragraph as much as possible. Doing this creates a unified message in the reader’s mind — one that can leave no doubts as to the main points you want to impress on people.

The goal when writing a long report is to give your findings early, then use the rest of the material to answer the who, what, why, where, when and how. It’s actually pretty straightforward when you take in the big picture — there’s a clear path indicating what needs to be written about. And all you need to do is stay on it.

Use Visual Aids

Text is fine, especially for shorter reports and correspondence. For longer reports, though, a picture can literally express a thousand words that you’d otherwise have to fumble through stringing words together.

When writing long reports, rely on visual aids, such as charts, diagrams and tables to convey as much as you can. Depending on the document you’re doing, you can also put quotes, important facts and other notable details in separate boxes to act as visuals. Not only will they cut down the amount of words you need to write to express figures and findings, they’ll also make it easier for the reader to understand your message. Visuals help counterbalance the dense nature of text, making every page easier on the eyes as the reader goes through it.

Summarize

After each main section, offer a summary to ensure that important information stays fresh in the reader’s mind. Make a point of highlighting critical points, directing them to appendix and glossary entries when those are necessary for further clarification. Similarly, make sure you do this at the end of the report, reminding the reader of the important things they should take away from it. Doing so allows you to end each major discussion without risking that the readers will forget it as soon as they do the next thing on their to-do lists.

Please Revise

A lot of the people who write reports in offices never ever revise. At least, from what I’ve seen. We know — you’re tired, hungry and probably can’t wait to go home to watch American Idol, but turning in a half-baked document doesn’t help anybody. It doesn’t serve the people reading whatsoever and it doesn’t help your standing in your superiors’ eyes either.

Never ever turn in a long report that you haven’t reviewed and revised. While some superiors will let you get away with that, there’s a good chance the report will be handed back to you with a request to rewrite it more clearly. Always take the time to review, proofread, fact-check and edit a couple of passes — it will save you from more headaches later down the line.

There are two general types of jargon:

1. Technical terms. This is specialized language that is commonly used within a specific group, industry or profession. Attend an engineering conference, for instance, and you’ll hear tons of terms that might as well be Latin to you, but appear to make perfect sense to those attending it in an official capacity.
2. Unfamiliar uses. This consists of familiar words that are applied in ways that may be unfamiliar to the readers, such as buzzwords used within a company that will make zero sense to any outsider.

Using some technical terms in your documents will be necessary for correctness and precision, so it’s not something you can just drop from your vocabulary entirely. Familiar language used in unfamiliar way, on the other hand, should be put to pasture — it serves no one and helps no one when you use them in your writing.

Since it’s impossible to write technical documents without the occasional aid of jargon, part of your job is to minimize their use and simplify those concepts you do include for your audience. What things can you do to achieve that?

Understand What You’re Writing About

If you’re writing a white paper, make sure you understand both the problem and the solution in perfectly clear terms. Same when writing any other type of technical material. Do it early, too, before you even draw up a plan for the document. All the writing skill s and technical knowledge in the world won’t help you any if you don’t have a good grasp of what you’re writing about. The better you know the primary purpose of what you’re writing about, the easier time you’re going to have simplifying them for the reader.

Picture Your Average Reader

Get a clear image of the kind of reader for this document, defining their level of technical proficiency, among other things. If possible, interview individuals who belong in your target group to get first-hand feedback and gauge how technical you can get in the document without causing problems. From there, make a decision on what kinds of jargon they can understand implicitly, which ones require explanation and which ones you’ll need to drop completely from the document. If you don’t know who your readers are, you’re going to have the hardest time making correct language choices.

Replace Jargon With Plain English Alternatives

Is there a way to say the same meaning as the technical term using plain language? If there is, use that in your writing instead. There are many situations when something that has a technical name can be described in the same short-form using simpler words. Make sure the replacement term doesn’t obscure the original meaning, though — precision is often critically important in technical documents.

If you’re struggling to find alternatives, try Google Search. Plug in the term and see the results. Chances are, there’s a written material somewhere in the list which uses a good replacement for the term. It’s not a 100% foolproof solution, but you’ll be surprised by what more experienced technical writers can turn up.

Define Jargon

If you’re going to use technical jargon that some readers may not understand, include a definition. We suggest putting the text it in-line with your paragraph, right before the first time you use it, rather than pointing the reader towards the glossary. Doing so allows them to understand a term without breaking the flow of their reading. Plus, the definition will feel more natural, instead of forced.

You can also expand beyond definition by giving examples or offering a more thorough explanation, both of which can be especially useful for difficult technical concepts. Try to limit the length when doing these, though — these things can stall the reader for unnecessarily lengthy periods.

Don’t Make Your Own Jargon

Some writers deal with technical terms really badly: they make up new jargons and acronyms that are unique to the document they are producing. While it may feel like you’re simplifying things when doing this, you’re just setting the reader up for even more confusion down the line. Requiring them to learn new vocabulary items that will be useless beyond your document isn’t all that helpful, especially when they spend a good amount of time grasping difficult concepts on top of everything else.

Use Simple Words

Necessary jargon is one thing. Surrounding it with unnecessarily complex words doesn’t help the reader understand it any. While your impressively wide vocabulary is an asset, always opt for simpler words as part of your language choices, resorting to more complex synonyms only when necessary for precision or variety.

Complex words that can be easily simplified include utilization (use), disburse (pay), aggregate (total) and a whole lot more. Anyone who has worked for corporations have probably learned more than their fair share of these useless complications of erstwhile simple concepts. Be assured there is no need to further perpetuate it in your writing.

Group Sections Logically

Similar to avoiding the use of complex words, a disorderly document makes the appearance of jargon in documents the least of your problems. The better your organization is, the more meaningful the context you can paint before the technical terms do show up. So make sure you organize your material well, grouping them into logical sections to ease the burden of comprehension on the reader.

Irrelevant Content

Content that may be pertinent to some of the things you discuss, but is irrelevant to the purpose of the paper, should be kept out of the main document. They can serve as a big distraction otherwise. If you think readers may be interested, include the content as an appendix, giving readers the opportunity to check it out on their own accord.

1. Narrow the topic.

Too often, people end up cluttering their paragraphs with more than one major idea. While it could work, it’s a strategy that’s more prone to causing confusion and misunderstanding. To avoid this, cut the topic of each paragraph to one aspect, hammering at one main point. That way, you’re able to control the scope. You can discuss other things that come to mind at a separate paragraph, using cohesion techniques to tie them together.

2. Lead with the main idea.

That is, start every paragraph with a topic sentence, so the reader knows exactly what the paragraph is about. Suspense is good when you’re writing fiction and intentionally leading the reader on. Otherwise, it’s an unnecessary distraction that keeps readers from understanding your paragraph better.

If you want readers to have an easier time reading and understanding a paragraph, don’t keep them guessing — instead, lay it all out from the onset. Aside from introducing the main idea, the topic sentence also encapsulates the content of the paragraph, giving you a clear goalpost when writing the rest of it.

3. Use a complete structure.

Aside from leading with a topic sentence, it helps to structure the paragraph in the most logical sequence possible. That is, your first main point will seek to explain the topic sentence; the second will offer up a reason for the first; and so on. For longer paragraphs, you may also want to add a concluding sentence to finalize everything neatly. Doing so makes it easier for readers to follow your train of thought, as it’s likely to be the natural pattern they’ll gravitate to as well.

There are also a lot more possible patterns to use for paragraph development, such as illustration, enumeration, comparison, contrast, and cause-and-effect. Each one can serve a different purpose, depending on what you’re trying to do in the paragraph.

4. Vary your sentences.

Mix it up with different sentence lengths, structures and types. Use short sentences to give ideas extra emphasis; use long ones to explain, define and illustrate ideas. Use simple sentences to express simple concepts, but rely on compound and complex structures to discuss more sophisticated ideas. Use questions and commands, along with standard declarative sentences, too.

Additionally, vary the way you start your sentences. A lot of the time, novice writers will rely on a single opening style. While those constructions should pass your grammar software without any problems, it leads to boring and repetitive writing.

5. Use strong verbs.

You can start by using active, rather than passive verbs, in your sentences. Once you get the hang of that, you can move on to choosing stronger verbs. What makes a verb strong? As a rule, strong verbs are specific and descriptive. That is, they convey the exact action with no room for misinterpretation.

Strong verbs make paragraphs better by being more vivid, allowing the reader to create a clear mental image of the action you’re conveying. Contrast this to more general verbs that can be interpreted in a variety of ways.

6. Use specific nouns and modifiers.

Avoid using non-concrete nouns and modifiers when a more specific alternative is available. This includes general nouns (e.g. “animal” when you can use “tiger” or “lion”) and quantitative adjectives (e.g. many, very, somehow), neither of which clarify the exact meaning you want to convey. The more specific your word choices are, the better the reader can understand your point.

For instance, saying a person “was shaken up when she saw the large dog” isn’t nearly as descriptive as saying she “was shaken up when she saw the angry Doberman.” Both contain the same amount of words, yet one is able to communicate what happened more clearly — good paragraphs aim for the latter.

7. Use key words.

What key words and phrases apply strongly to the subject of the paragraph? Use those (along with their synonyms) throughout the entire paragraph, so the reader is constantly reminded of the topic you’re discussing. Doing so will help immensely, especially when it comes to fostering a cohesive and unified message.

8. Weed out unnecessary words.

When you draft, it’s not uncommon to write more words than what’s actually necessary to convey your point. That’s fine, as long as you take the time to edit the text for unnecessary clutter. Words that repeat an already conveyed idea, words that do nothing but increase sentence length and excessive use of modifiers all fall under this criteria. Cut them out and leave yourself with a leaner paragraph — they not only read better, they make it easier for readers to understand your ideas, too.

9. Use the tools at your disposal.

Put your grammar correction software, style checker, thesaurus and whatever other tools you have to work. While the 5 minutes or so you spend working with a software won’t turn mediocre words into great prose, they will help tighten up your sentences and paragraphs in ways you could have missed. It could, literally, make the difference between “serviceable text” and “pretty darn good writing.”

10. Be vigilant about revision.

We all hate having to go back over the draft to make revisions to the text (which is why publications hire editors to fix up writer submissions), but that’s really the “job” part of writing. You can only write a draft so well. It’s the thoroughness of your revision that actually defines the quality of material you end up putting out.

The reality is, you’re too close to the text while drafting that it’s easy to overlook errors. Faulty grammar, poor sentence constructions and incomplete ideas are all things you can easily let slide without the benefit of revising while in an objective frame of mind. Put in the work to edit your own work and your writing will end up so much better.

Formats Change, The Core Remains

While I doubt any of us receive as many sales letters in the mail as people did 30 to 40 years ago, the sales letter format remains ever-present. Sure, they rarely show up printed on an A4 sheet that’s neatly folded inside an envelope anymore, but that doesn’t mean we don’t get them.

Check your email, for instance. I’m sure you’ll find a few (or a lot, if your email address has been sold to one of those marketing firms). Those Google ads you click on or those links on that marketing email you received? Many of them end up leading you to an online landing page (one of the many types of material web copywriters produce) where a sales letter, appropriated for display on a web page, is the central text. Same with some pages you end up on when clicking on regular search results.

The reality is, sales letters work. And that’s why people continue to embrace them, despite so many changes in how we communicate through the written word.

Starting The Sales Letter

A sales letter can be started the traditional way (with a salutation) or with a headline at the top. In most cases, the latter is now more acceptable, especially when using sales letters on websites and landing pages, where the headline can help gain additional attention.

The first paragraph, though, will be just as important to your opening salvo, as it will set the tone for the actual letter. A lot of the times, it’s also the only part of the letter the reader will willingly read — bore them with your opener and they’ll leave; hook them and they’ll finish the whole thing.

Here are a few ways to start sales letters effectively:

1. State the offer outright. Basically, this involves dangling the carrot right at the onset, letting the reader know the details of your offer immediately. This technique works well for particularly attractive offers, such as free deals, huge markdowns and bonus giveaways. Example: “Get 70% off on laptop purchases if you buy this weekend.”
2. Announce an event. Openings, debuts, closings and similar events make for good announcement introductions, especially if they tie into your sales pitch for the product or service. Example: “We’re opening our newest store, our 20th, in Pencil Avenue. In celebration of that, all…”
3. Solve a problem that your prospects face. Tell the reader that you have the solution to problem they are likely facing. If it’s an issue that affects them enough, it’s almost certain that they will want to read on. Example: “Everyone is looking for ways to save more money out of their paycheck and we have just the solution — 5 of them, in fact.”
4. Highlight a benefit. Pick your most compelling benefit and use it to hook the reader in. If it’s valuable enough, they’re likely to read through the entirety of the letter. Make sure to talk about a real benefit (how the product will improve their lives), rather than a feature. Example: “Everyone deserves to be financially secure by the time they’re 35. And if you’re 25 and under, we know exactly what you need to do to have steady streams of income that will let you enjoy life fully before you’re too old.”
5. Cite an interesting fact. Facts and statistics that create a strong reaction — whether due to controversy, curiosity, fascination, surprise, or some other emotional response — make for good opening statements on sales letters. They build-up enough interest to make the reader commit to reading the rest of your pitch. Example: “A total 5% of homeowners are expected to lose their homes in the next twelve months. Are your finances secure enough that you won’t be one of them?”
6. Throw flattery the reader’s way. State something that paints your prospect in a positive light. Make it something that’s actually believable, rather than arbitrary, based on your target demographic. Example: “If you’re reading this, then you’re already better off than the 99% of people who aren’t interested in living a healthier lifestyle. It shows you’re smart enough to care about what you’re putting into your body.”
7. Put yourself in their shoes. Make the letter sound like you understand how it is to be in the same boat, regardless of what the situation is. That way, the reader is assured you’re operating from the same starting point — allowing them to feel comfortable around your pitch. Example: “Getting approved for a business loan is far from the easiest thing. I went through the same ordeal when I started my first business twenty years ago.”
8. Ask a question. A question is a natural hook simply because it quickly involves the reader into the discussion. When we’re asked a question, our natural inclination is to answer. If we don’t have an answer, then we try to find one. And what better place to start than the rest of the sales letter in front of you? Example: “Do you hear noises at night, creaking sounds from the attic or an eerily chill air when midnight rolls around?”
9. Establish commonality. Here, you start the letter by addressing the reader as a peer — using a common interest or characteristic to present yourselves on equal footing. Example: “If you’re like me, you just can’t find enough time in the day to do everything you want. You have money and you have health, but you don’t seem to have the time.”
10. Write from the point of view of an authority figure. Know those sales letters labeled with “From the desk of the president” or “A message from the CEO.” Usually, they’re not really from those people. But writing from that position creates an air of authority and prestige that a good chunk of readers will likely find attractive.
11. Make an invitation. Here, you frame the beginning of a letter like an invitation, welcoming the reader. Example: “We invite you to join the growing number of inventors, makers and designers investing in a low-cost desktop 3D printer.”

Two Types of Ads

There are two general types of advertising material copywriters do. These are:

Brand awareness. The purpose of these types of material is to create buzz and awareness for the brand. The goal is to gain mindshare among the target demographic, rather than create measurable sales numbers. Often, this is run by bigger ad agencies and design firms who work on a fairly large budget.

Direct-response. This works very differently from brand awareness, as the goal is to generate a response of some kind. The better the response, the more effective the copy. These are the kinds of ads you see where you’re encouraged to send in a coupon, call an agent for your “free estimate” or click on a website link to subscribe.

General Types of Copywriting Jobs

Like every other field in the world, there is no one-size-fits-all type of copywriter. Yes, there are a whole bunch of ways you could go when delving into this line of work.

In-house copywriter. These are copywriters employed by companies who aren’t in the advertising game, but are large enough to have their own marketing department. Rarely will copywriters in this position do direct-response ads, with most of their output focused on helping shape a brand’s image and tone, producing material for the company’s brochures, newsletters and e-commerce websites. This, plus the fact that you only ever work for one client, will severely limit your experience. On the flipside, it allows you to get intimate with a brand, having a real effect on its development going forward.

Agency copywriter. These people work in-house for companies in the advertising business, including PR agencies, marketing firms, design studios, and more. The job, generally, entails producing material for the outfit’s clients, regardless of what their needs might be. Since you work under a company’s umbrella, your sole concern will be to produce quality work, with none of the day-to-day doldrums freelance copywriters have to deal with.

Advertising copywriter. When people think “copywriter,” this is the work they immediately imagine, since advertisements are what we naturally associate with sales and marketing. Writing advertisements can be divided into two general groups:

• Short-copy. This includes such writing as slogans, print ads, billboard one-liners and other small pieces of text used in advertisements. While it sounds simple, it’s also one of the most elaborate — ad copywriters can spend hours upon hours refining and testing a 6-word slogan. When the space is limited, after all, you only get a limited chance to make a real impression. Short-copy work usually involves a copywriter working in conjunction with a designer or an art director. For the most part, a copywriter who works in short-copy needs to be more of a creative wordsmith than a crafty writer.
• Long-copy. This is, simply, advertising that involves a hefty amount of text. Ever seen those “sponsored news” or “sponsored section” on newspapers and magazines? That’s an example of those. Sales letters and long-form landing pages are also good examples of this type. Compared to short-copy advertising, where high-level creative types usually rule, copywriters who write long-form are more traditional writers well-versed in the craft.

Freelance copywriter. Basically, take whatever other copywriters do, then add the hassles of running a one-man business into the job description and this is what you get. Aside from crafting text for clients, you’ll also take care of everything business-related, from finding new clients to closing deals to collecting on invoices.

Web copywriter. This is a general term that has been assigned to most people who write material for websites. The writing work involved is similar — they do both brand awareness material (e.g. blogs for a product, shilling for a brand with an opinion piece) and direct-sales copy (e.g. landing pages for Adwords ads, long-form sales letters). The big difference is the medium, so web copywriters will usually need some basic knowledge of web design and usability principles, apart from some amount of technical know-how.

SEO copywriter. The web is one massive pile of content. As such, knowing how to make content that stands out from the heap is a much-valued skill and that’s where SEO copywriters set themselves apart. Whether producing landing pages, home page copy or deep content, they specialize in materials that play to the whims of search engine algorithms. SEO copywriters need a broad range of skills — not only do they need to “sell” and “market” like regular copywriters, they need to have a strong grasp of the ever-changing relevancy algorithms search engines use to rank content, too.

Still Want To Be A Copywriter?

Of course, you do. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be this far down into the feature. Above, we listed the kinds of work you can get into as a copywriter. Here, we look at what you should be doing right now to get into the field.

Depending on your background, you may or may not be ready for copywriting work. Our best suggestion is to try out the field now, applying as an entry-level copywriter for an ad agency, a design studio or a marketing firm. If you’re interested in SEO copywriting, try to get a gig with an SEO outfit or an internet marketing company.

If this is your first time applying for a copywriting job, you’re going to need a proper portfolio. Since you don’t have previous work to show off, your best recourse is to write SPEC ads, that is, non-commissioned advertisements that show off your creative chops. The idea is to show potential employers how you would do a specific copywriting task if you were put in the project.

Writing your SPEC ads is also a good opportunity to learn the ropes of copywriting. Pick up a good book on the subject and write at least one SPEC ad for each type of copy you find. That way, you’ll have a sample (or more) each for press releases, sales letters, landing pages, short-copy advertisements and so on.

When people ask me for quick advice they can implement in writing, I always default to the bare basics. That is: vary your sentences, use transitions and avoid multiple repetitions of the same word in close proximity. If they have time to take in more, I recommend working on word choice and arrangement, as those two things can really take your writing from bland to good within a short time.

Want to do the same?  Here are the basic guidelines:

• Choose specific words, rather than general ones. Example: say “British pincher” instead of “dog”; “neon red” instead of “bright color.”
• Choose concrete words, rather than abstract nouns. Example: say “furious storm with heavy rains” instead of “bad weather.”
• Choose familiar words, instead of more obscure ones, if they will suffice. Example: say “begin” instead of “commence”; say “finished” instead of “adjourned.”
• Choose positive words over negative ones. And, no, it has nothing to do with positive thinking or any of that self-help mumbo-jumbo. Instead, stating things in the positive is always easier to understand than negative equivalents. The latter will lead to more confusion than you bargained for. Example: say “he is a law-abiding citizen” instead of “he’s not a criminal.”
• Choose words that express the exact meaning, avoiding ones that can exaggerate your message. Example:  don’t say “he leaped to his death” if he really just “fell to his death.”  One says he did so with conviction; the other shows a bit more hesitation.
• Avoid using dramatic words to exaggerate. They work when used sparsely. Too much and your reader catches on to the excessive forced emotiveness.
• Watch out for clustered transitional phrases. These non-working words have a place in writing — they help complete your thoughts. Cluster them, though, and they end up being a drag to your main idea. Example: “if not for the fact that.”
• Don’t qualify absolutes. A thing is either “essential” or “non-essential.”  It can’t be “quite essential,” “very essential” or “hardly essential.”  Absolutes are absolutes for a reason.
• Avoid qualifiers of unknown quantities. Words like “quite,” “very” and “many” are valid elements of the language, but they don’t clear up your message in any way, shape or form.
• Treat words like facts. That is, double-check them for both spelling (your writing software should be able to do that) and meaning every time.