af0186163194402ab48ba49556b3dd5e

Why Rage Posts Get Traction

Thu, 05 Jun 2025 06:00:00 GMT

Spoiler: It’s not the rage

We’ve all seen them – those posts full of rage, with comments also full of indignance and irritation, regardless of whether they agree with the original post or not. One thing that is certain, is that these posts always get a lot of engagement. But why?

There are a couple of reasons why this is the case.

Hitting your target audience

The first is about knowing the audience, whether consciously or not, and expressing something that many people have experience with or thoughts about.

Even knee-jerk rage posts have an audience in mind.

For example, if you have just cracked an alloy in a massive pothole, your post is unlikely to be aimed at the council. Instead, it is aimed at people who share your pain: other motorists who have experienced the same thing who will validate your annoyance.

Hitting the right level of justified rage, will mean your comment section will blow up with similar stories and similar irritation from your audience.

Writing with passion

The second reason these posts are great for engagement is because often they are written as a knee-jerk reaction when the author is in the middle of the emotion. In other words, there is feeling and passion behind the words.

There is no carefully choosing the right words and right placement of emojis or spacing. Instead, it is emotion, passion and authentic feeling. Sometimes in CAPITAL LETTERS.

Which is great!

However, such raw passion shouldn’t be reserved purely for rage posts, as let’s face it, in the current climate we don’t really need more anger.

Instead, channel that passion into something positive, and you will still get engagement because what you’re feeling will be embedded into the content.

Enjoying the process

Think of your favourite topic; the one you could talk about for hours if someone asked you. We all have one of these. Feel the excitement?

Now think of something that doesn’t excite you. Like KPIs or Self-Assessment Tax, or how bunions develop (yes, I know some people love this stuff).

How much easier would it be to write something about your favourite topic? Which do you think would be more engaging for the audience?

This is one of the keys to writing engaging copy – whether a blog, a social media post or a book – being passionate about your subject.

The other key is to enjoy the process of writing.

Professional Copywriters

This is where professional copywriters are weird beasts.

We may not be passionate about the intricacies of everything we are writing about, but we are so passionate about writing as an activity that it almost replaces a lack of passion for bunions, KPIs and Self-Assessment Tax. Additionally for copywriters, researching the subject in order to get the right words, the right feeling and the right message is part of the fun.

For some, having “write blog about tax reform” on the to-do list can cause twitching and extreme procrastination.

For a copywriter this is the total opposite with the excitement building at the prospect of sitting down and writing and crafting a piece of text from nothing.

Your ‘oh no, I have to do this’ is a copywriter’s ‘Yay! I get to write this’.

And that could be the difference between a piece of content which is dull, and as much a chore to read as it was to write, or an engaging piece of writing which gets to the ‘feels’ of your audience.

I know what I would prefer. And what your audience would prefer.

So, if you dread that task on your to-do list why not consider hiring a professional passionate writer . After they have done a little happy dance, they will settle down to write and you will have one less thing to do and content that shines.

I am now curious to learn about bunions, so any podiatrists out there in need of a bunion blog please let me know. I also write a great rage post!!

Copy of The Similarity Between Generative AI and Mediaeval Lions

Fri, 09 May 2025 05:15:33 GMT

The Similarity Between Generative AI and Mediaeval Lions

There is nothing more amusing than checking out mediaeval artistic renditions of lions and other heraldic creatures. These beasts, grimacing and gurning are a strange juxtaposition of human, animal and demon and as far from the cute image of Alex from the Madagascar franchise or in fact a real lion as you could possibly get.

There are three main reasons mediaeval lions are so ‘bad’ and un-representational;

The artists were following a very tight brief.
Some of the artists may never have seen a lion, and were following the descriptions they were given.
These lions were representing heraldic principals of bravery, nobility and authority; all very human characteristics.

When viewed through this lens it becomes more understandable why they look the way they do, but they are still ‘not right’ and not a great tool for learning about lions.

Generative AI is very similar to an uninformed but talented mediaeval artist. There is a element of intelligence but at the end of the day it is following a brief, with no actual ‘knowledge’ of the thing it is producing.

As an example, if you prompt your generative AI (ChatGPT and the like) to produce a blog for your new product or service, aimed at your ideal customer avatar you will in all likelihood get a mediaeval lion out the other end. Sort of recognisable, and sort of not.

This is because AI doesn’t know what a customer is (ideal or otherwise), has no idea what your product or service is and does, and has no true understanding of how this service or product will serve your ideal customer and their needs.

Of course, AI is pulling all the information available from the internet to help with its answer but there is no understanding there. There is no determining fact from falsehoods or even which websites are trustworthy and which are not. So, it skims the internet and puts together content which suits the brief as it understands it.

This is then when the actual work should start as this content shouldn’t be used in the raw. It should be edited and tweaked by a human who DOES understand the brief, has been a customer (ideal or otherwise) and can imagine what your ideal customer will feel when using your product or services.

We are in a world now, where we have generative AI promoting products and services to humans, when it has no concept of what a human is and how it thinks, meaning the marketing department are in fact more important than ever for ensuring content and copy is aimed at humans and human emotions.

You could argue that the world would be a more entertaining place if there were more mediaeval lions in it, but it wouldn’t be a great environment for learning, or for basing purchasing decisions on.

If you want to maintain the human element in your content, then I would love to help . Explain the brief, your CTA and your ideal client and I will know what I need to ask to get a clear idea before writing. Then you can rest assured your content was written by a human for a human and we can leave the mediaeval lions to the museums.

Content Explained

Thu, 24 Apr 2025 10:19:24 GMT

Knowing what content is right for you

Recently when speaking with a client, he told me categorically he needed me to write his monthly blog, which is great. I love writing blogs as I enjoy getting deep into a topic. However, with further discussion it was discovered he didn't mean a blog post at all. What he actually wanted was a monthly newsletter.

It made me realise that I may have been suffering the curse of knowledge. Just because I know what a blog post is, doesn't mean that everyone else does.

Hence this blog post to explain the difference between varying types of content.

Blog Post

A blog post or blog as it is often referred to is basically a piece of writing, normally on one topic which is posted to a website (personal or business), or static page. Essentially, you lead people to your blog, where there may be a feature allowing them to comment and interact.

The important thing about a blog is that it is a focused piece of writing on a single topic or answering a particular question. Like this one. It is often 400-800 words long, and provides easy to digest information.

Article

An article is generally a lot longer than a blog post and will cover a single topic in more detail. These are also published on static platforms like a blog or website, but also in magazines, other printed material or online publications.

An article can be anything from 800 words to 4,000 words, and they are not used to sell but to provide information.

Newsletter

A newsletter is as the name would suggest a 'letter' or email, which gathers all the news of your business and is disseminated to the audience. Whilst some are kept in online archives their objective is to 'approach' the audience.

Whilst many newsletters are themed, they don't have to be on a single topic or a continuous piece of writing, but can be a hodge podge of bits and bobs separated with headings and can cover new products or services, new staff, charity events, updates from the CEO or company wins.

They are generally quite short to ensure people read them, and many are used for marketing with links to websites, products or events.

Getting it Right

There is no superior form of content, as blog posts, articles and newsletters all have different purposes and audiences. The main difference is blogs/articles are in a location where the audience has to visit, and newsletters are sent directly to them.

So, if you want to use content within your business, knowing what you want to achieve will help you choose the right format. This is where I can help, as I love writing all forms of content. I would love to have a chat with you about how content could help your business, so please drop me a line .

Proofread vs. Editing

Fri, 31 May 2024 14:57:00 GMT

The Difference Between Editing and Proofreading

Here at Popple HQ, we offer a lot of word-related services including editing and proofreading.

I'm often surprised when speaking to potential clients that they are sometimes hazy on the difference, and expect an edit for the price of a proofread. Or vice versa.

So, what's the difference?

There is a big difference, actually, even though they can both be done at the same time.

Let's start with editing.

When I receive writing to be edited this is a major piece of work. As not only am I looking for spelling errors, erroneous punctuation and dubious grammar I am also looking for consistency, how well the text reads as well as rudimentary fact checking, asking questions raised by the content and checking general readability of the text.

Depending on the text, editing can be a very long-winded, in-depth piece of work and can involve restructuring, asking for explanations, and expansions on ideas as well as calling out bits that don't make sense or appear to have no point. As well as picking up on spelling and grammar.

Proofreading on the other hand, assumes the editing has been done by this stage, and is a final check for spelling, grammar, punctuation and any glaring inconsistency errors (Suzie or Susie for example). A proofread isn't going to tell you that chapter two doesn't make much sense.

As an example, I used to do proofreading for a vanity press, who charged authors extortionate amounts to print their books for them, whilst paying me peanuts to proofread it. One book was originally written in Korean, and had been translated into English. This would have been fine if the translator had not been using Google Translate. The book made no sense with talk of such things as "flexing arm molluscs" which I'm still not sure what was meant.

I contacted the publisher and explained the problem with numerous examples, suggesting this would require a MAJOR edit, and maybe a re-translation. Her response - "you're paid to proofread so just correct the grammar". Technically she was right, as a proofreader I was there to check the final draft. But, this is impossible in a text where the words make no sense in the order they are in. This book 100% needed editing, not proofreading at this stage.

So, when do you choose an editor and when do you choose a proofreader?

When you have just finished writing your book or text, completed your own checks but need another pair of eyes to go over it, this is when an editor will be great, as they can then pick out all the bits that are weak and guide you into making them better.

When you have received the edit back and made the corrections, then you need a proofread.

A proofread should be the final thing before you publish something or send it out to publishers or clients. No further writing should be done after a proofread, otherwise it will need to be done again.

I hope this has made the difference between proofreading and editing a little clearer. If you have a book manuscript, thesis or essay/blog you would like to be proofread or edited then get in touch . I am always happy to help (as long as Google Translate has not been a major part of the writing process).

You Can Burn Out Doing What You Love

Wed, 22 May 2024 08:30:38 GMT

Even a passion can cause burnout

It's been nearly a year since my last blog, which goes against all marketing 'rules' which insist on consistency. But like any true rebel, I believe all rules are meant to be broken, if there is a good enough reason. Last year and the start of 2024 have been very busy for me, meaning I had to take a break from something. That something was marketing.

By the end of 2024 I will have three books published: Tourism in Egypt Through the Ages (May 2024), T he True Crime Lover’s Guide to London (July 2024), and The Crime Movie and TV Lover’s Guide to London (October 2024). I have never had three books published in one year before, so I am extremely proud of this achievement which brings my books published up to 21 (I think).

But it came at a price.

2023 was a tough year, I’m not going to lie. At the start of the year I had to finish off the draft for Tourism to send to the publisher. Then Brian and I signed two contracts with White Owl for the London guides – with deadlines six months apart.

To research these guide books required multiple trips into London to visit locations and to photograph them for the book or take note if they had disappeared or were unrecognisable. In one day we could cover between 20 and 30 sites, and we would walk miles. Each book covers hundreds of these sites.

Additionally for the book on crime movies, we had to watch more than 100 movies and TV shows to locate where scenes were filmed and check if they were changed with CGI, still existed, or had been redeveloped. A 90-minute film could take three to four hours to watch and work through.

Then once the research was done, both books had to be written, edited and proofread before sending to the publishers.

After a couple of month’s respite the publishers got back in touch. Each of the three books had been edited and typeset in-house, so required queries to be answered and a further proofread. Then they were all returned to me another two times or so before final sign off.

I also had to create three indices. If you’ve never created an index you have no idea of the tedious level of hell this is. Each item in the index needs to have the correct page numbers written alongside it (within the right context of course) and can take hours to produce. I had three of them to do. (I do offer this as a service to save you from the pain).

Needless to say before the three books were all finally signed off, and Okayed for print I was pretty frazzled. I had been doing it all alongside running my business and full-time paid employment.

Even writing with a partner doesn’t reduce the workload. It just means Brian was also researching, proofreading, fact checking and photo editing to make sure he was happy with the final books – although he dodged the index creation. I think he was conveniently busy that week.

I’m not writing a book in 2024. Instead I am just enjoying life, looking forward to all the publications and concentrating on helping other writers get their first book written.

I’m sure I will be writing another book in 2025 – the ideas are already forming but I need a break from the madness.

I should say this isn’t a normal year, and it is not the normal experience of a first-time writer. Being a writer can be frenetic, but it can also be a joy and at the end of it, I can walk into a Waterstones, Foyles or independent bookshop and see my books on the shelves. That is something you can’t put a value on.

If you have an idea for a non-fiction book, but don’t really know how to get started then drop me an email and we can have a chat. I understand how life can get in the way of writing, but I also know the value of a book well written.

Maybe start with one book at a time though!

It's The Real Thing

Wed, 02 Aug 2023 13:30:00 GMT

Why choose the original over a print?

This week I was listening to a fascinating podcast about one of Van Gogh's paintings, the portrait of Dr Gachet, and what happened to it after it was sold for $82.5m.

What was so fascinating was that since the sale in the 1990s the painting has not been seen, and it is thought to be housed in a warehouse, for want of a better word, along with many other famous and important art works. And there it is likely to remain.

Personally, I find this outcome thoroughly tragic. Although it could have been worse as the private buyer is rumoured to have threatened to take it to the crematorium with him when he died - luckily he was joking.

It got me thinking about what I would do if I owned an original Van Gogh. My only response would be to enjoy it, put it on the wall and look at it. Appreciate it as it was meant to be appreciated.

But then I thought about insurance, and not having it near windows where people could potentially see it from the street, or preventing it from fading in the sun.

Obviously, all these considerations are irrelevant as I don't have $82.5m (plus thirty years inflation) to buy one, but I was fascinated at why I would like to own an original. More than anything actually.

It's not for the value (as that brings its own issues), but for having a connection to the past, and a direct connection with Van Gogh, knowing he had painted every single stroke with his own hand. Of course I can get a print of every painting he ever made, but it really isn't the same.

This idea of connection with a creator, having a direct link with them and their creativity is an important one, and one that we are potentially losing with our online world.

AI and AI generated copy and artwork is moving us away from the creativity of humans and that connection to their experiences, emotions and way of thinking.

In the same way that a print of a Van Gogh painting is nice, it pales to insignificance in the face of a real one. I feel the same about AI generated copy.

Would I read a book written by AI? Probably not. Would I rather read a book which has experiences, pain, emotion and creativity behind it? Absolutely.

An AI generated text may be technically perfect, follow all the writing and grammar rules to the letter but it lacks soul, it lacks the humanity a life lived presents when a writer creates. An AI generated novel (or art work) to me, almost negates the point of a novel or artwork. These are creative outputs for people who have these skills - they are not things that need to be churned out for the sake of it.

In business AI does have a value, but it should never replace the experience of a human creative. Of course an AI bot may be able to perfectly produce a manual for putting together some furniture without fault BUT can it do it in a way a 'user' will understand?

Will the average user know the difference between a GN56 and GN76 screw? Probably not, but a human writer will question these terms and ensure the text answers the questions every user of the manual has. If the content is for humans to ingest, then it makes sense for a human to be involved in its creation.

AI is currently rocking the business world, saving money and time but at what cost? By removing the human element in your content creation how do you hope to actually connect with your human buyers?

If you want to connect with algorithms and bots use AI but if you want to connect with real humans then contact me for your content.

The Silent to-Do List

Wed, 14 Jun 2023 13:30:00 GMT

This is a subtitle for your new post

Anyone who knows me knows I love a to-do list as it’s a way of keeping my life organised and ensuring everything gets done. However, I’ve recently also been battling with the ‘silent to-do list’ which isn’t quite as satisfying.

Let me explain.

For the last year I’ve been working on a minimalist lifestyle and have been decluttering my house like a demon. Every month for the last six months I have sold 60+ books and donated two bin-bags of ‘stuff’ to charity. And yet the house is still full.

It’s an interesting journey. It stems from my time working abroad when I found it freeing to only have the stuff I could fit into a 23KG suitcase and a carry-on bag. Ten changes of clothes, basic cosmetics, a laptop and a kindle. I didn’t really need much else and if I did buy something I had to ensure it was worth the effort to take home again. Despite this experience, I still own so much more than I need.

Whilst some items like my hot tub bring so much joy it’s worth it, there are other things that have become overwhelming. Minimalist Fumio Sasaki introduced me to the idea of the ‘silent to-do list’ and it is something that really rings true for me.

The concept is that the more stuff you have around, the more you have to do with it to maintain, organise and utilise it. It’s almost like the items owned come with a to-do list of their own that you can’t ignore.

For me the hundreds, if not thousands of books I have are no longer comforting as they are constantly and silently screaming ‘read me’ and judging me for buying but not reading more. It may seem a first world problem but a real one nonetheless and it is a feeling we have all had in one way or another;

The washing up that needs doing and plays on your mind.
The laundry that has piled up which you need to deal with.
The running kit that reminds you that you haven’t used it in a while.
The DIY material you have but not yet put to use.
The blog post that needs writing, but you haven’t had time.
The web updates that need doing when you get around to it.

According to Fumio Sasaki, the only way to shut up the ‘silent to-do list’ is to get rid of the stuff leading it. For me it’s to get rid of books I will never read or have already read. For others it could be reducing the number of clothes they have so that there will never be piles of washing, or actually completing the DIY task and using the material and tools bought.

In business, it could mean outsourcing the tasks that play on your mind but never get done. A means of decluttering the to-do list.

Getting someone else to write your blogs and do your monthly web updates will not only be a load off your mind as the tasks are no longer yelling at you that they need to get done but also they will be done, on time month after month. And the best thing? It’s not you that has to do them!

Helping with this ‘silent to-do list’ is one of the reasons I have introduced a new set of wonderful and time-saving monthly packages . Every month all of those content writing tasks and web updates are done for you as well as offering peace of mind with proofreading anything you write in-house ensuring your brand integrity is maintained.

What is on your silent to-do list ? What would you love to get rid off so you no longer have to deal with it? Why not have a chat with me and see what I could take off your silent to-do list leaving you to get on with the other to-do list.

Creative Marketing Isn't Scary

Wed, 31 May 2023 14:00:00 GMT

This is a subtitle for your new post

May was a very exciting month for marking with three (count them) bank holidays, a royal coronation, Eurovision as well as it being Better Speech and Language month. I'm sure you loved all the imaginative and fantastic marketing content you read with these themes in mind.

Ah wait? With everyone doing the same posts about May the Fourth and the Coronation how did business owners expect to stand out?

We all have 'opinions' on how marketers use such 'national days' and public events in social media posts, blogs and promotions. We either love this use or we roll our eyes and lament the lack of creativity and accuse them (secretly or openly) of jumping on the band wagon.

We shouldn't judge though as it takes a brave person to be truly creative and original in their marketing, as there is always a chance it could backfire BUT we all love it when businesses do something truly unique. The Twitter account of Innocent Smoothies, for example have often been praised for their creative messaging and sense of humour. They stand out simply because they are different.

I'm all for creative marketing, and I love nothing better than a client that wants something 'different'. One of my clients for example, wanted a post about Santa automating the South Pole workshops, naturally using all their automation and robotic products to do so and I am currently working on a technical website with a dance theme. I've noticed recently that more clients are beginning to approach me wanting more creativity and something unique. I love those conversations .

In my own marketing I have embraced the Undead (not literally due to Health and Safety). For example I have used undead characteristics to explain the basics of your ideal client avatar - essential marketing 101 with zombies, mummies and vampires.

Click here for Undead Marketing

Everyone in business has to produce marketing material in the form of blogs, web content and social media posts. But with the increased noise we are all having to think outside the box in order to stand out and be heard.

So why not use more creative marketing? Is your Director into sky diving, is Bob from accounts obsessed with Marvel, or is your company name a creative gift with unicorn, badger or super in the name? Anything can be used to create a unique marketing message - either as a one off or as a longer campaign and branding feature.

Not sure how you can be creative or what angle to use? Not a problem, book a call with me to throw some ideas around to make you stand out from the crowd or drop me an email .

Getting the best out of ChatGPT

Mon, 13 Mar 2023 14:26:51 GMT

Getting the most out of Chat GPT

Everyone has been talking about Chat GPT recently. For those who don't know, it is an Artificial Intelligence App which can write social media posts, blog posts and anything else you need to write.

As a copywriter, obviously I don't want the robots taking over, but it is part of the toolkit that people have at their disposal so I thought I would help to ensure what is produced isn't complete gibberish. At the end of the day I want to read good content, whether I wrote it or not!

With ChatGPT the key to getting good results is to ensure what you search for is clear, and to the point. Vagueness will produce fluffy content.

Be specific - Provide clear and specific details when asking questions or making requests. This will help ChatGPT to better understand your needs and provide more accurate and relevant responses.
Use natural language - Although you are talking to a machine, don't put on a Mrs Bucket (if you know you know) voice. Use natural language as if you were making the request to a human.
Provide context - Provide context for your questions or requests. If you are asking for help with a specific task, provide background information on what you are trying to accomplish and any relevant details that may be helpful.
Be patient - Remember you are dealing with a machine. If you don't get back exactly what you need tighten up your request, add more detail and resubmit it.
Be prepared to edit - Whilst the initial post may read OK, don't forget it is written by a robot, and I presume your audience is very much human. Therefore you should be prepared to edit in order to add personality, to fact check and to make the text sound more human. As well as removing all occurrences of 'kill all humans' from the text.

ChatGPT is a great tool, but it has to be kept in mind that it is just a tool. It doesn't replace human interaction, and human personality. And of course it doesn't replace human copywriters like me. I may not get your blog written in 60 seconds or less, but you can guarantee I have thought about your particular audience, your message and your brand voice in a way a machine can't. If you still like the human touch with your content drop me an email or arrange a chat .

Information Overload

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 07:45:00 GMT

Dealing with infobesity

Some new words, make my ears bleed. Like fempreneur for example. *shudders*

Others like ‘infobesity’ are literally music to my ears.

At no point in history have humans had to deal with this much information in a constant stream. We are bombarded with information via our phones, the TV, the radio, marketing emails, print media, and death by PowerPoint meetings 24/7.

Although the stream of information in such quantities is a new phenomenon, the concept and indeed the phrase ‘information overload’ isn’t a new one. The phrase was in fact coined in 1964 by Bertram Gross, the Professor of Political Science at Hunter College. He describes three types of information overload:

Too much information
Not enough time to process it
Mediocre quality information

I think that all of us suffer with all three every single day.

Dangers of Infobesity

Like obesity, infobesity can be detrimental to your health, as it can lead to stress, anxiety, lack of focus and decision fatigue. Too much information can prevent you from making clear decisions, and you can reach a point where you feel your brain literally cannot take in any more information.

Where should we go to lunch?
What book should I read next?
What should I watch on Netflix?
What should I wear today?

All these little decisions can suddenly seem overwhelming.

The brain, however, is a marvellous thing and will try to manage the flow of data and information, and subconsciously you will start taking notice of some information and ignoring others. This sounds like a great solution but if you have no control, how do you know you are ignoring the right stuff?

Losing the infopounds

The only way of ensuring that you take notice of the important things, is to reduce the overwhelm. And to do this is to reduce the information input. There are several ways to do this and it all depends on what your saturation point is. But three key strategies are:

Decide what is important to you

What information do you need to see? What content makes you feel uplifted? What content helps you grow as a person? Would you rather spend time with people IRL or online?

Decide what doesn’t serve you

There will be things you can expel from your life. Things or even people that depress you, wind you up, or leave you feeling inadequate. Bin them.

Decide how you want to live your life

‘How we spend our days, is of course, how we spend our lives’ (Annie Dillard). Do we want to spend our lives doom scrolling, watching glorified adverts, and arguing with strangers on the internet? Or do we want to spend our lives in the real world, arguing with real people, and experiencing everything the world has to offer?

Once you start to limit the information you are bombarded with you can lose the infopounds and the associated stress. It could start by muting those 23 WhatsApp groups, thinning out your followers on social media, and have device-free evenings or weekends.

For me, I stopped watching the news first thing in the morning as it was defining my day. Instead I take my tea back to bed and read a book for 30 minutes. When I am with people in real life I keep my phone in my pocket so I am not tempted to check it, but as I removed most SM from my phone there is little to check anyway. I only answer the phone if it is convenient to me and filter any emails with ‘unsubscribe’ at the bottom into a folder which I check once a week. And I always skip the ads wherever possible.

Will these changes solve all the problems of infobesity? Absolutely not. But they can get you on a path where you control what you see, when you see it and for how long you see it for.

If you would like to discuss outsourcing your content writing to free up time, or you would like to switch out your scrolling time to write your first book then email me and we can have a chat.

The Memoir Everyone Was Talking About ...

Thu, 09 Feb 2023 07:30:00 GMT

Getting the research right

Regardless of your thoughts on Prince Harry and the 'reveal all' book, you can't deny that it has had remarkable publicity, and everyone was talking about it - even if just to say they wouldn't be buying it and would give him the privacy he claims to want.

However, as evidence of amazing marketing it can't be beaten. I have no idea who his ideal audience is, as people were buying it who love him, who hate him and all those in between. The marketing and PR department did a grand job!

When looking at the reviews of the book, however, there was one which stood out and highlighted everything that is difficult when writing a memoir.

"Harry can't come up with any dates, says he can't remember the dates of anything. Said he was at college on a hot summer's day when the phone call came about his Great Great Grandmother passing. He was not at school, he was skiing in Switzerland with his brother (I remember this) and the papers have come back with the proof. Harry says that his mother bought him an Xbox for his 13th birthday in advance of her death, that her sister brought to the school for him, again not true the Xbox didn't come out till 4 years later."

When writing a memoir, in fact when writing anything of which you are claiming to be an authority on, you need to make sure your facts are 100% correct. With our own lives we like to rely on memory but how often have you thought something was a couple of years ago and it turns out to be 20 !? I still can't believe Red Dwarf is 35 years old. I remember watching the first episode like it was yesterday ... but I digress.

In the wake of ChatGPT fact-checking has never been so important, especially if you are putting something out under the umbrella of your business as a means of demonstrating your expertise. Relying on 'it looks about right' isn't going to help your business when someone (like the reviewer above) will know 100% that something is incorrect. It then casts doubt over everything you've written.

Ensuring facts are correct can come from expertise, using the right resources (not Wikipedia) and trying to go to primary sources wherever possible. As a researcher this has been something I have enjoyed doing for years - following a trail to the primary source and finding out that it has been changed in the retelling.

If you would like to talk about outsourcing your business content, or you are thinking about writing a memoir and don't want to get a review like the one above drop me an email or check out my writing mentoring programme .

Nailing Your Web Copy

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 11:15:00 GMT

Four top tips to better copy

Websites are becoming increasingly important for small businesses.

Not only does it act as your shop window, but it is also your business card and a way for clients to find you if they are not on the social platforms that you use.

However, simply having a website isn't enough. It needs to have clear and concise copy which appeals to your ideal client and encourages them to buy from you.

There are many things which make great web copy but here are four tips to get you started.

Audience

Knowing your audience is key. This allows you to speak to them directly with the content you create.

However, some businesses may have more than one client. For example: landlords and tenants if the business is an estate agent.

The biggest mistake is to try to write generic text to suit both on the website. All that will happen is it will appeal to neither.

Instead, have two separate home pages – one for landlords and one for tenants – and address them directly.

Keep it Short

Think about your own website usage. Do you read everything on the page, or do you scan around looking for something in particular? If you do that then you can pretty much guarantee your potential clients do too.

So when writing content for a website keep it short.

The less text you have the better.

If you can bullet it or have short sentences it is easier to scan for relevant information.

This allows visitors to your website to see what you do, and how they can buy from you without reading blocks of text.

Intuitive

We've all been on websites which are impossible to navigate, right? We either persevere because there are no other options, or we jump to a competitor's website.

Don't force your potential clients to leave your site because it is impossible to navigate.

Make sure the journey is intuitive.
Make it clear how visitors can contact you.
Make it clear how they can buy from you.
Make it clear what they need to do next.

How do I pay?

When writing content for your website make sure it is easy to buy from you.

I recently wanted to buy a service from a website. There were two purchase options: a live event, or a recording. I wanted the recording.

I clicked the 'buy now' button, which led me to PayPal payments for the live event. For the recording, I had to contact the organiser, BACS a payment over, email them again to let them know I had done it, and then they would send me the recording.

Guess what? I didn't purchase. It was too much of a faff.

How many clients have you lost because they don't know how to buy from you?

Make sure if you don't have 'buy now' buttons on your website, it is clear and easy for the client to contact or pay you.

For many products not making it easy for your client to buy probably means they won’t.

A website isn't a one-and-done project. It can constantly be tweaked and updated to make it more appealing to your ideal clients, or more relevant if you change your products, services or client base.

But it's important to make sure these four basic elements are in place.

If you would like help with your web content why not drop me an email and we can book a chat .

Five stages to great editing

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Wed, 11 Jan 2023 11:00:00 GMT

The key to great writing is in the edit

Well done on finishing your latest piece of written work - whether that is a blog, a report or a manuscript for your latest book.

Now it's time for the hard work. The editing.

Editing a piece of writing is more than just looking for spelling mistakes, typos and spurious grammar. It is also looking for flow, for sense, for formatting as well as typos. It's a pretty full-on part of the writing process, but one of the most important.

Although there are potentially many more stages to a decent and rigorous edit I have broken it down into five key steps.

Stage 1 - Reading for sense

With this first readthrough of the work, you should be looking for meaning, flow and general sense. Are the ideas between chapters or paragraphs disjointed or do they flow well? Are the ideas and arguments easy to follow? Does the writing match the objective for the piece of work?

Stage 2 - Checking for repetition

It's surprising how much we tend to repeat ourselves when we are writing. This could be repeated ideas, repeated phrases, or even repeated words in the same sentence.

By reading through the whole piece you can identify how much repetition there is and whether it is justified. It is easier to spot if that is what you are specifically reading for.

Stage 3 - Read for consistency

This is a big one, as there are so many things that we can be inconsistent about which should be the same, especially in a long piece of writing.

Writing fiction? Make sure names don't change halfway through the book. I was proofreading a fiction manuscript once where the main character’s name changed halfway through which was confusing enough but add to that she was from three different places too (Hawaii, Australia and Boston), as a reader my mind was blown.

Even with non-fiction consistency in spellings of names (personal and place names) can sometimes be a problem, as can dates. When I was writing about ancient Egypt, the dates vary from report to report with older documents being less accurate. This could result in king's reigns, for example, having discrepancies of as much as 30 years. As a writer I had to decide which official timeline I would reference and stick to it.

Stage 4 - Read for conventions

There is some cross-over here between stage 3 and reading for consistency as there are a number of conventions in writing which you need to be consistent with. For example dates can be written April 2, 1982, 2nd April 1982, or even 2nd of April 1982. Numbers can be written out in words or numerals (one or 1), but also sometimes words are used for one to ten, and numerals for 11+. And what about speech marks ?-Should you be using double and single speech marks and what for?

Once you have chosen a convention then it is important to ensure it is consistent throughout the work.

Stage 5 - Nearly done

Stage 5 is to read the whole text/manuscript one last time and make any final changes. At this stage there shouldn't be many changes left to make.

This stage is best done at least a month after you have finished stages 1-4 so that you are reading with a completely fresh eye or to get a third party editor to do this final stage for you.

In order to get all of these stages in between finishing the writing and the actual deadline you need to plan editing into your schedule. Whether you are publishing something yourself or sending it to a third party the editing is a vital step and one that shouldn't be scrimped on.

If you would like help with editing of your blogs, articles or books please drop me an email and we can arrange a chat.

Regret for wasted time is more wasted time

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Tue, 13 Dec 2022 07:00:00 GMT

Identify wasted time

“Regret for wasted time is more wasted time,” Mason Cooley.

We've all done it. Had loads of plans for a Saturday and then realised it was already 4pm and you hadn't achieved any of them - even if you kept saying to yourself, " I must do ..." . Time is a fickle master and can move at different speeds.

All of us use the excuse, "I don't have time", to explain why we haven't done something or worse why we can't do something that we claim is one of our dreams.

I meet lots of people who say, “I want to write a book, but I don’t have time.” However, they are often the same people who will talk about the great show they binge-watched on Netflix or tell me about the day they spent wandering around the shops buying things they don’t really need.

Now don't get me wrong, I do all these things too - claim I am too busy then watch four episodes of Stranger Things . And sometimes that is exactly what we need to do with our time.

But we shouldn't use time - or lack of it - as an excuse.

Everyone has 168 hours a week.

What you achieve in those hours is down to organisation, prioritisation and desire.

You will always find the time to do the things you absolutely want to do.

Take writing a book for example. Many people think you need to be writing for six hours a day to produce a book. But you don't. You can write a book in 10 minutes a day if that is all the time you have. It will just take you longer, of course, to finish it.

If you do want to write a book and believe you don’t have time, look at your day and see where you could carve an hour out – just one hour. This could be your lunch break, or just after dinner instead of watching TV or even getting up an hour earlier. Maybe your partner loves to watch Strictly or Top Gear and you don't so rather than sitting watching it anyway, use that time to write. Or perhaps you can spare three slots of 20 minutes – it all adds up.

There are creative ways to find time and you will always find time to do things you really want to do. If you genuinely can’t find one hour a day or even in a week then you probably don’t really want to write a book.

If, however, you do want to do it, and don’t want to regret it later in life, perhaps I can help you get started. I offer a three-month mentoring programme to help you kickstart your book. In that time we create an extensive plan, a realistic writing schedule and I guide on writing style, formatting and direction. Why not take the first step towards your dream and contact me right now! It will literally take you a minute to drop me an email . Just one little minute.

You'd be surprised what content is

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Tue, 15 Nov 2022 16:15:00 GMT

Copywriting tips for social media

As part of my marketing strategy I go to networking meetings and mingle with lots of business owners from different industries. It's always fascinating to meet other entrepreneurs and of course if the networking includes a slice of cake or a glass of wine it's even better.

However, I am often surprised that when I speak to some small business owners, they comment they "don’t do much content writing" in their business as they don’t have a blog or a newsletter.

However, when we later connect on LinkedIn or Instagram I notice they are posting everyday – often with long-form posts.

Social media posts count 100% as content for your business.

And bearing this in mind, the same time and thought should be spent on getting the message, tone and spelling right, as you would a blog post or webpage, because every post reflects your brand.

I read an interesting post recently on LinkedIn where the author admitted that most of her social media posts have spelling mistakes and errors in them – she didn’t think it was a problem.

As a copywriter, and someone who works closely with small businesses on their marketing this was quite worrying. Well, more than that it made me twitch! Everything you put out under the umbrella of your company sends subliminal messages about your brand, attention to detail, ethos and practices to your readers. Surely if you know you make a lot of mistakes in your writing you should try to ensure they are minimalised. Not send out the message that quite frankly you couldn't give a crap.

You can minimalise errors either by hiring professional proofreading services like mine, or by simply running a spell checker over it or by reading it aloud to spot mistakes. Perhaps this will take a couple of extra minutes but it’s worth it in the long run.

The great thing about social media for your business is the informal nature of it, the fact that you can be yourself, speak in a very down to earth way and use colloquial rather than grammatically correct English.

In fact, this is what social media is about – being you so people can decide if they want to do business with you.

However, this doesn’t mean good spelling and a suitable message should be overlooked. This is just as important as ensuring your blog or your website is as perfect as you can get it. Especially as most social media posts are there forever.

So, when writing social media posts for your business, remember they are just as important a marketing tool as your website, newsletter and blog and therefore need just as much time spending on them.

If you would like to have a chat about writing social media posts or even proofreading them get in touch – I’m always happy to help.

Batch preparation

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 16:30:00 GMT

It's not just for food

Many of us are familiar with batch cooking at the weekend, where you have a week's worth of food all prepared and boxed up in portion sizes ready to heat. I am a big fan of this, as I can rarely be bothered to cook of an evening, but I get to eat fresh food every day, thanks to my Saturday morning batch preparation.

But batch preparation is not just for food. It's for anything that you need to do every day, which can be prepared in advance.

Like blog posts. Or social media posts. Or newsletters.

As a copywriter, I found that my own content (blogs, social media posts) could often get missed if I was busy, until I decided to batch prepare things. When I'm quiet or have a spare hour I sit down and prepare content in advance. At the moment, my content is completed for the next 12 weeks.

Whilst this sounds easy, it does take some planning in order to maximise use of time. For social media posts, for example you need to know how often you want to post every week, and then decide on a theme for each day. For example:

Monday - Product post

Tuesday - Top Tips

Wednesday - Testimonials

Thursday - Industry news

Friday - Sales

Then you need to have a list of ideas for 12 weeks of Monday posts (12 posts), and put time by to create these. Repeat for the other days of the week. Depending on how complex your graphics are, this can be done in a couple of hours, with an extra 30 minutes to upload to a scheduler. This means that 12 months of daily posts could take 15 hours to write and upload.

It's a lot of time, but it is then done for the next three months, and you only have to worry about interacting with other's posts and by writing off-the-cuff posts as you feel inspired.

But why not outsource that 15 hours of work to a copywriter like myself? You let me know the themes for each day, and ideas, quotes, products or images you would like to include and I will write them for you and upload them to your scheduler. What could you do with 15 extra hours?

To find out more about how I can help you batch prepare your social media posts or blogs drop me an email or book a zoom chat .

Stick to a writing plan

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 14:45:00 GMT

Create a writing plan to stay on track

I am a planner. In all aspects of my life. Whilst I can be spontaneous for fun, if I want a project to be successful then I have to plan. For some this seems like a lot of work upfront, especially for a writing project. Many would would rather be getting their teeth stuck into the actual fun part of writing.

However, I have found that with a strong plan, any writing project, whether a 100,000-word book or a 600-word blog remains fun, on track and delivered on time.

Although there are many aspects to a successful writing plan, here are the first four steps you should take to ensure a successful finished piece of writing.

Step 1 - Check the deadline

Writing a book, article or a report, is all about planning – well it’s not but it makes it a LOT easier. And this means knowing the time-scale.

Whatever the piece of writing you have been asked to do, you need to know the deadline.

When is the piece of writing due?

If you have not been commissioned to write the content, and are choosing to do it, then identify when you would like to have it completed. Treat this like a real deadline.

Step 2 - Length of the written piece

Before starting a writing project you need a rough idea of how long the piece will be. Is it to be a 600-word blog, a 40,000-word book, a series of 280 character tweets or a 10-page report?

Take this word/page count and the deadline date and work out how much you need to write a week/day to reach the deadline. Also consider you may need to factor in time for research, whether book reading or interviewing people as well as time to proofread and edit the finished piece.

Step 3 - Identify your limitations

The worst thing you can do is leave the writing until the day before the deadline, especially if you have no idea of your writing speed and capabilities.

So, time yourself, and identify how long it takes you to write 500 or 1000 words.

From this you can work out how many hours a week it will take you to reach the minimum word count required to hit the deadline.

Step 4 - Diarise the time

If writing a book, or it is now your role to write weekly blogs for your business, the best way of ensuring it gets done and not pushed to the bottom of the to-do list is to diarise it.

If you have one hour spare a week to write, make sure you put it in the diary and treat it like any other meeting or appointment. That way you can be sure to meet your writing deadline without having to pull an all-nighter the day before.

For more help with embarking on a writing project, especially for long-form (2,000 words or more) contact me and we can have a chat, via email or zoom .

Writing Engaging Blogs

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 13:30:00 GMT

Four tips for writing effective blogs

Despite many articles discussing whether the 'blog is dead' they remain incredibly valuable assets to your business websites. Blog posts can bring new users to your site as they search for the answers to specific questions or painpoints, or simply find the title intriguing.

And who doesn't want new visitors to the website? They could stay a while and decide they would like to work with you further. However, in order for any content to work effectively you have to think carefully about what you are producing and plan the piece in advance.

There are also a few things you need to take into consideration when writing a blog;

1 - Know your audience

When writing blogs for your business website, it is important to know your audience - the people who will be reading your blog. Of course you can't know exactly who will click onto the page, but you can think about who you would like to read it.

Are they technical?
Are they end users?
Are they new to the industry?
Are they male or female?
Are they parents?
Where are they located?

The clearer the image you have of your audience, the easier it is to get the voice right. Therefore the more questions you ask yourself about who they are the easier it will be to write with them in mind.

2 - What do you want them to take away

Before you start writing your blog it's important to know what take-away you want the reader to have. Is it the answer to a single question, or is it a deeper understanding of a particular subject?

Knowing what that one useful nugget of information you hope they will take away will help you to stay on point when writing.

If there are multiple points you want them to take away, consider writing a series of blogs.

3 - Have a clear CTA

At the end of your blog you need to make it clear what you want the reader to do - so it's important to have a clear CTA (call to action).

Do you want the reader to;

Click on a link?
Email you?
Go to the website?

Whatever you want them to do, tell them. You never know they might even do it.

4 - Keep it short

There are different schools of thought on how long a blog should be. Some say a blog should be 1,000-1,200 words long for SEO purposes.

But others, myself included, think we need to remember that ultimately we are writing for our human audience and not an AI algorithm.

And people today are busy and don't like reading long things. Be honest, how often do you read articles where you have to scroll more than two or three times? Do you tend to read a couple of paragraphs and move on?

So will the majority of people coming to the site.

If people don't reach the end, they won't see your CTA and will do their own thing - which will be to skip to another website.

So, keep to the point, don't waffle and keep your objective and audience in mind.

If you would be interested in a workshop about writing effective blogs drop me an email or comment below for details.

Sending a proposal to a publisher

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 10:56:06 GMT

Getting your proposal right first time

When writing your first non-fiction book, the thought of sending it to a traditional publisher for consideration can be a daunting prospect.

But getting your proposal right, is an important part of the process, and can determine whether you are successful or not.

The one thing to remember, however, is that your chosen publisher has 200+ manuscripts and proposals sent to them a week, and perhaps only one or two slots in the publishing schedule. It's a competitive market so your proposal has to shine. Make the publisher want to read more.

Here are five top tips to writing a perfect proposal.

What is the book's USP? - Very few, if any books are unique. They will be similar to others out there. However, knowing what makes your book different to the others on the market is key to selling it. Why is your book better than the competition? Why is it something readers are waiting for? What does it offer that other books don't?
What is your USP? - This is different to the USP (Unique Selling Point) of the book. This is what makes you the right person to write it? What is your experience or qualifications? Have you overcome a challenge addressed in the book? Are you well-known in your field? This is your opportunity to sell yourself.
What is your competition? - As highlighted in point 1 no book is unique. So you need to know your competition well, this means reading other books in the genre, looking at best sellers, looking at what is on sale in the bookshops and available in the library. To know your competition is to be able to identify why your book is better and to include it in the proposal.
Keep it concise? - When introducing your baby to a publisher of course you want to explain in excruciating detail everything about it. But remember the publisher has more than 200 of these to read, so you want it short, snappy, to the point and enticing. Many publishers will give you a word count for your proposal, perhaps as few as 300 words where you have to explain what the book is about, who it is for, why it is better than the competition, why you should write it and where it will sit on a shelf in the bookstore. Concise writing will definitely be your friend here.
Proofread - This proposal is the first example the publisher has seen of your writing style and will be judging its readability. If it is full of typos, weird grammar, half thought out sentences and waffling they're unlikely to finish reading it meaning you get an immediate rejection. Don't fall at this hurdle.

And if you are not successful with your first publisher, don't take it personally. Perhaps they had just published a similar book and yours would be competition for it, perhaps they aren't looking for a book in that genre at this time, perhaps they don't like your writing style. So, pick another publisher and try again.

If you would like help choosing and pitching to publishers then drop me an email or book a power hour . Let's get your book idea in front of the right people.

Davy Jones' Locker?

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Wed, 10 Aug 2022 11:09:18 GMT

Davy Jones' Locker? Nope, Something Much More Useful.

Posting every day, or even three times a week, on social media can be overwhelming. That's a lot of content to produce.

There are however three ways you can ease the burden of content creation:

Plan ahead so you always know what you should be posting which allows you to batch prepare.
Repurpose content, for example, this blog will become social media posts and was a newsletter post.
Create a Content Locker.

As part of your marketing schedule you'll know what themes are being used for the month or the week but knowing what the individual posts will be, can be more fluid. That's where a Content Locker is invaluable.

A Content Locker is essentially a 'stock' of posts which you can draw on when you need to.

Perhaps you have an idea for a post, see an intriguing article or you've been somewhere interesting, but it doesn't quite fit into your immediate schedule. Write the post anyway and file it in your Content Locker.

My Content Locker has a series of sub-folders such as testimonials, retainer posts, funny/personal, top tips, quotes, videos and sales posts. By writing the posts as I think of them and filing them in the Locker, I always have a store for those days when I don't know what to post.

Keeping a Content Locker will also bust a myth about social media – that it may not be entirely truthful and in real time.

For example, recently on my author’s Instagram account I posted about attending an art exhibition at the Tate. I may have written ‘yesterday’ in the post, but in fact it was in my Content Locker, from when I visited earlier in the summer.

Does this matter?

No, not really, as long as the image or post isn’t time sensitive, but it does mean you have a regular stream of posts.

Does it mean you spend less time writing posts? Not necessarily, but you will always have a post to hand if you are feeling blocked.

Maybe, one week you have a lot of inspiration for Top Tips, but don’t want to post 10 in a week; write the posts and post one a week for ten weeks. Sorted.

Maybe, you are on holiday and take a number of images or visit places which you can relate to your business. Why not save them and eke them out on a weekly basis rather than all in one go?

Maybe you could even batch prepare videos – with lots of clothes changes to boot – and then post one a week or every two weeks for the next couple of months.

There are various ways of preparing a Content Locker.

If you love the idea of one but you're not sure how you would go about creating one, this is where I can help. I can batch prepare posts for you, such as top tips, inspirational quotes or product posts or I can create a series of social media posts from your blogs, seminars or web copy.

To find out more about how I can help drop me an email or book a quick chat .

Traditional or Self Publishing?

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Fri, 22 Jul 2022 10:53:31 GMT

Traditional or self-publishing? What's best?

I get asked this question a lot.

What is best? Traditional or self-publishing?

There is no right or wrong answer. It depends what you hope to get from publishing a book.

I have only ever traditionally published my books, and I doubt this is likely to change in the near future, but because it is the right choice for me, doesn't mean it is the right choice for everyone.

Why self-publish?

Self-publishing is a great option if you have a very small audience in mind. If you want to have books to give to clients, or to sell on your website or for distribution at trade shows then self-publish.

It's also great if you are writing a family history or a local history book and you know there is a very limited audience - your family and friends or just the people in your village or town.

Self-publishing is also the best opportunity if you want to get a book published quickly, as in most cases you can simply upload a file to Amazon and you're done. Traditional publishing can take 18 months.

In my personal opinion there are two reasons you absolutely shouldn't turn to self-publishing:

Because a traditional publisher turned you down
You want 90% of the royalties

Let's address the second one first.

Royalties

One of the main arguments for self-publishing is that you can get up to 90% royalties as opposed to 10-15% with traditional publishing. This is true but ...

... this may not be such a great deal.

Self-published books are generally a lot cheaper than traditionally published books – normally 99p-£2.99 whereas a traditionally published book will normally start at £8.99. Self-published books also sell dozens (maybe hundreds) rather than thousands of copies.

Don’t forget the publisher does everything for you;

Editing the manuscript
Proofreading the manuscript
Cover design
Layout/typesetting
Obtaining ISBN
Marketing (pre-launch/post launch)
Giving copies of your books to the official UK national libraries (legal requirement for e-books or paper)
Creating a professional looking book
Printing
Distribution
Translation rights for international sales
Audio book rights
Advance payment

Add to this, if someone rips off your ebook or scans your paper book and puts it on the web as a PDF for free without your permission the traditional publisher’s legal department takes care of that.

Unless you are an expert in all of these aspects of book publication, you will need to outsource this at a substantial cost to yourself. But by not doing all of these steps your book is unlikely to be as polished as a traditionally published book will be. A traditional publisher does all this for you using their team of experts and freelancers as part of the contractual obligations. Sure, you can learn to do all these aspects yourself but nothing beats a professional.

Your traditionally published books will also be available in high street shops and not just Amazon or online giving you a wider reach, not to mention the reach of translated books sold globally. Very few bookshops stock self-published books (other than very local history), so if this is your dream, self-publishing is not for you.

Payment

Writing books takes time, a lot of time and commitment. And if you are good at what you do you should be paid for this.

This is where, for me, traditional publishing will always have an edge.

They have confidence that my work will sell, and so they give me an advance payment; before the book is even written.

For me personally, if a publisher is asking for payment from me, this is a service I am paying for, and therefore no guarantee that my book will sell, and no endorsement from an industry expert that the product is marketable. If I am paying them, they have no skin in the game and don't care if the book is any good or not.

I will never pay to have my work published. That is one of my non-negotiables, and it hasn't failed me yet - 17 books in, one due to be published in the next few months, and another under contract.

I don't make a lot of money on my books, but I make money - I have never had to pay a publisher. And that is the difference between a published writer and a professional writer.

Rejection

One argument I hear for self-publishing baffles me.

I've heard people say that they don't have the confidence to submit to publishers 'in case they hate it'.

Surely, it's better for an industry expert to tell you the book won't sell, or it needs work than your readers writing that in your reviews? If you don't have the confidence to send to publishers (or agents) for free then how do you have the confidence to expect readers to pay you money for it?

As I say I find this baffling.

Lack of self-confidence and fear of rejection is another reason many turn to self-publishing.

No one likes being rejected, but when you are competing for the attention of the publisher who has 500 manuscripts in their inbox, you are going to get rejections. But you only need one acceptance to become a professional author.

Control

Another bizarre argument for self-publishing, which is often made by those who have only ever self-published is the lack of control with traditional publishing.

This is nonsense.

At least in the non-fiction world.

Of course an independent editor and fact checker will go through the book and highlight things that they think could be clarified - this is not a lack of control. It's better an editor picks up anomalies rather than your readers.

An independent graphic designer will design the cover for your book, and the publisher will send it to you as the author to give the final say. If you hate it, you tell them and they will change it. The final control always stays with you as the author. In my experience however, the cover designers are always going to be able to design a better cover than I can, and only once have I put my foot down and said 'no' to a cover.

At every stage of the way you, as the author, are consulted - from cover design, to layout to final proofs. If you have a reason for wanting to change something then the majority of the time the publisher will go with it.

Of course you are under contract, and as long as you have read the contract carefully before signing there won't be any surprises and you can always question anything you are not happy with.

I'm not sure what other control authors need (we've already discussed royalty and advance payments).

Marketing

For me the main reason self-publishing does not appeal to me, is that once I have finished writing a book I am ready to move on to the next book.

I send my manuscript off to the publisher, and then I am free to work on another project.

Not so with self-publishing. You have to start your marketing campaign, sign up to BookBub and NetGalley, organise promotions and book tours, print flyers and anything else that you need to do to promote your book. And all of this costs money.

For me and traditional publishing, I put a couple of posts on social media, and then look at the promotional things that the publisher organises like writing articles for national press, speaking on international podcasts or on national/regional radio. All the important marketing is done by the publishers including submitting your books for national/international writing prizes and providing you with printed marketing material.

But, publishing options are as individual as the books that are written, traditional publishing is right for me, but that doesn't mean it is right for everyone. But I do think that traditional publishing shouldn't be dismissed as old fashioned and too difficult.

If you would like to talk about the publishing process, or would like to discuss a book idea please drop me an email or book a chat as I am always keen to talk books.

Excuses or Reasons?

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 06:17:45 GMT

How to let go of excuses and find solutions that work.

When I used to teach I found the excuses for not completing homework hilarious. These were excuses not only from children, but also business clients, CEOs, and managers.

I always thought that if as much effort went into actually doing the tasks I set them, as they put into coming up with excuses then they would have gone far.

I never had 'the dog ate my homework' scenario, but I did have 'the dog got sick on my homework' once. I also had a corker with 'I'm too busy to write my essay. How much will you charge to do it for me?'

As bizarre as his solution to the problem was, the excuse 'I'm too busy' is one of the most common ones.

Even now as a writing mentor, I get very elaborate excuses why work has not been completed between sessions. But now I am more pragmatic. I'm not particularly interested in the excuses other than for entertainment value, but I am interested in the solutions.

If you have signed up to a programme, and are making excuses not to do the work, we have to look at why. The real reason, not the excuse. Time is rarely a factor, as we can all find time to do the things we really want to.

I'm not going to lie, I'm as bad as the next person when it comes to excuses. Last week I came up with a load of great excuses why I couldn't go running.

1) My car is at the garage so I can't drive to my favourite running route.

2) It's raining/windy/too hot/too humid.

3) I have a race on Sunday and don't want to risk injury.

4) I don't have time, as with the run, and the shower and the faffing about afterwards that cuts into my morning.

I knew these were excuses so I put my trainers on at 6:30am before they could take root and thought about them on my run. And that's the thing with excuses.

You have to recognise them, and decide whether there is a practical solution to the problem. For me, the solution is to just drag my butt out of the house - in waterproofs if necessary - or I will be making excuses all day.

Other solutions may be more difficult or they could be as simple as passing the job to someone else.

Many of my copywriting clients come to me as the solution. They don't have time to do their content. They don't have inspiration to do their content. Or more honestly, they don't want to write their own content, they would rather be doing something else.

So, rather than find excuses why it doesn't get done, they outsource it as a solution. I suppose the guy who tried to outsource his essay was embracing this mindset - but sadly it was against college policy due to the qualification he was working towards.

What excuses do you use not to write your blogs, post regularly on social media, write that email campaign, or to update your website? Are they elaborate excuses, or is it simply something you can't face doing, hate the idea and wish it would go away?

If you are ready to make some of this stuff go away drop me an email today or book a meeting to see how I can help.

Or comment below with an excuse as to why you can't. More than happy to score you out of 10 for creativity.

Not everything is successful first time

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Wed, 08 Jun 2022 12:50:08 GMT

Reframe it and try again

Even for a professional writer like myself, not every writing project, book proposal, or blog is a success. Sometimes, I have to make the decision to ditch the piece of writing (for the time being) and write something else instead.

And this is OK.

However, I know how frustrating it can be when you have put your heart and soul into a piece, and it doesn't quite work. The tone is wrong, the message doesn't sound right, or you find yourself going off on a tangent which isn't relevant to the intended message.

There's a lot that can go wrong in a piece of writing.

But there are also ways of pulling it back from the brink and breathing new life into it.

Get over the block - When you have been struggling with a piece of writing, the thought of having to go back into it, and edit and rewrite can be off-putting, pretty much guaranteeing its place in the well of abandonment. But after stepping back for a while go back in with fresh eyes and a positive attitude.
Plan - Even if you have nearly finished the piece of writing, if it isn't working then you need to go back to the beginning. Who is the audience? What is the point of the piece? What are your sub-headings? How long should it be? What is the take away for the reader? Sometimes replanning from scratch can help you find what's missing.
Change the angle - Perhaps the angle of the message is wrong and that's why it isn't working. Could a how-to guide be changed into a case study? Could a company anniversary be changed into a celebration of the staff? Coming at it from another angle could make all the difference to the finished piece.
Give it to someone else - Sometimes you are simply too close to the work to be able to write objectively about it. Giving your piece to an editor/copywriter like Popple Services can provide the fresh pair of eyes you need. I have worked on a few of these unfinished, 'unworkable' projects and often I can see what is wrong straight away. One blog I was given was written in such a cynical, negative way that it wasn't having the intended impact, another was using so many clichés and business jargon as to make the post unreadable.

Sometimes there is nothing wrong with the content you have written, other than the timing is wrong - perhaps it doesn't align with public feeling, or would be inappropriate in light of a recent news story. In cases like this the item can be put on a back burner and reworked at a later date.

Whilst it is frustrating not to be able to work with something you have written the material may not be wasted. Perhaps the blog could be used instead as social media posts, or as background work for a later project. But always remember, that it's OK to bin something that isn't working. Every writer out there has dozens of unfinished articles, stories, blogs and even books (I have three unfinished books not including the one I am currently under contract for).

Just chalk it up to experience.

If you do have a blog or project that you can't seem to get right and you're not quite ready to spike just yet, drop me an email and we can see how it can be resuscitated.

The Curse of Knowledge

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Tue, 10 May 2022 12:40:11 GMT

Can too much knowledge be a curse?

Most of us pride ourselves in the knowledge we have about our business, industry or a specific subject. Our knowledge can be the result of years of studying, hours of practical experience and a desire to increase the knowledge we have. It is this knowledge that makes us experts in our field.

Knowledge is a wonderful thing - except when you are writing for non-experts.

Have you ever read an article that sounded fascinating in theory and then you've been so bamboozled by the jargon, over-complicated descriptions and industry specific vocabulary that you stopped reading? It makes you feel inadequate, right? Like you're not bright enough to understand such a complex subject?

The problem in these cases can often be attributed to the author, if they are not writing for the specific audience they are aiming their article at.

When writing for a non-expert audience (and in business marketing, this is most of the time) you need to consider a few key points.

What does the audience already know?
What do they need to know about the topic in question?
What can you leave out?

The more knowledgeable you are the harder these questions are to answer. But, as an example, there is little point peppering your text with jargon (DPLs, NIBs, Splash) if the audience has no idea what they mean, so you need to carefully evaluate to what extent you need to expand, explain or simplify.

Essentially the curse of knowledge is not being able to remember or even imagine not knowing the information you have. For example, imagine not knowing the song Happy Birthday . But, there was a time when you were taught this song by somebody.

Not being able to remember not knowing, can be a massive problem when writing for your business.

If you 'forget' that your audience may not understand industry jargon you may instantly isolate them.

In the first scene of Channel 4's IT Crowd we have a wonderful example of this.

Roy answers the phone with, "Have you tried turning it off and on again?" - nice and simple for the audience he is speaking to. Whereas Moss asks, "Have you tried forcing an unexpected reboot?" - it's not surprising the hapless user hangs up on Moss. They have no idea what he means.

So, what is the answer to this curse? The main answer is to consider your audience carefully, and then evaluate the language you are using and whether it is industry specific or not. If you're not sure ask someone - your husband, wife, or best friend; "would you know what SSL is?" If they don't know and they are in your target audience then consider an explanation or removing the jargon.

Alternatively, you could send any finished blogs/articles to me with an idea of who it's aimed at and I can highlight those bits which don't make sense for that audience or could do with clarifying and rewrite them in an easy to understand way.

This curse is not terminal it just needs a bit of careful management.

Grammar isn't a dirty word

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 16:13:52 GMT

Five tips for better copy

Grammar is something that often feels people with dread. Not me. Not anymore.

Others feel that in the modern world, grammar is not important and that it's old fashioned. In some ways they're right, but in other ways grammar is just as important now as it ever was.

Some believe that grammatical knowledge is declining. However, this isn't accurate. Grammar is changing. As our spoken language changes constantly so does the acceptable grammatical structures. It's important to keep up.

For example, there is more fluidity between spoken and written English, and American and British English is interchangable in many circumstances.

Despite this fluidity grammar is still important, as it can improve your business copy and make your content seem more credible.

However, the language you use very much depends on your audience. If you are writing for a young demographic then contractions, abbreviations and text speak may be appropriate but if you are aiming at corporate CEOs then you will need something more formal.

Grammar doesn't have to be complicated. Just a quick scour through social media and business websites shows me some of the most common mistakes. Here are five which bug me the most. Overcome these and your copy is instantly improved as is my mood.

Would of - This is a mistake which is aural in nature. When we speak we say "I would've been on time" which is a contraction of 'would have' not 'would of.'
It's - This is a common mistake which is easy to make. 'It's' means 'it is' but 'its' without the apostrophe means something belongs to it.
You're/Your - You're means 'you are' and your is a possessive, as in 'your email'. How many emails have you seen with 'I hope your well' instead of 'I hope you're well'?
Ellipses - We all love ellipses but few seem to use them correctly. Ellipses are those dots ... which add suspense to your copy. To use them correctly, only use three dots with a space in front of the first and after the last, and only use them if the sentence is unfinished.
Yourself - Like me you've probably seen, or perhaps even written, "I'd like a meeting with yourself". Reflexives (myself, yourself) cannot involve other people. "Spend time by yourself", "I like to read by myself", "They talked among themselves". If you want to arrange a meeting with someone, you can't use a reflexive. Instead you'd say "I'd like a meeting with you." Ensure the pronouns match ( I can do things with my self, and they can do do things with them selves), and if they don't match, rewrite.

By taking these five grammatical errors onboard you can instantly improve your copy, social media posts and emails. If it seems like way too much of a faff, ask me to do your copy for you. I will avoid all of these and hundreds more grammatical errors.

Repurposing Posts

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Wed, 16 Mar 2022 15:48:54 GMT

One Blog Post can Last a Month

French writer Andre Gide said; "Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again."

This is valuable advice, especially when our online presence is key to our businesses. We are now posting more and more content than ever before on multiple platforms.

However, we may be posting more, but we don't need to actually create new content all the time.

Think about that amazing blog or social media post which got a lot of engagement. You want to write more content which gets the same reaction, right? So why not repurpose it?

You are reading an example of what I mean. This blog started life as a #toptip LinkedIn post. But it proved popular so I thought I would expand it to a blog post. I could even extend it further to be an online workshop or ebook.

Repurposing is essentially taking one piece of content - like a blog or a social media post - and turning it into a series of smaller posts, or spin-off content.

For example, with my original LinkedIn post I can:

1. Create a Blog post

2. Create a short #toptip video

3. Write a series of tweets based on the blog (each of these 9 points could be a post)

4. Rewrite it from a different angle

5. Create a meme

6. Create a quote picture

7. Write an ebook

8. Write a follow-up or updated article

9. Wait six months and post it again

Obviously, there are no limits other than your imagination and your IT skills to what you can do to repurpose a post but it will inevitably save you time, and ensure you have a continuing, valuable online presence.

The only thing to be aware of is being careful not to be repetitive - so if you decide to repost (no. 9) wait a suitable length of time, and if you are going to create shorter posts from the longer content leave some time between posts - a couple of days or a week. Then it will seem fresh to the people seeing it and you won't get them thinking "is she still banging on about repurposing posts - change the record!" Leave a gap and it acts as a reminder not an irritant.

If you would like some help with writing content and repurposing it, drop me a message . I'm happy to discuss ideas and put the repurposing in motion.

Why Every Writer Should be a Reader Too

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Fri, 18 Feb 2022 08:54:42 GMT

If you don’t have time to read you don’t have time to write.

It is a commonly expressed notion that a good writer is also an avid reader.

However, many writers, especially if they are writing in their spare time claim they “don’t have time to read” or worse they “don’t really enjoy reading.”

If you want to be a successful writer you have to be an avid reader. Particularly in your genre.

Find time, it will improve your writing.

Linguistic Skills

Some of the best things you get from reading are an increased vocabulary, improved grammar and wider knowledge of the world and people. Whether reading fiction or non-fiction you are likely in every single book you read, to find a word you like, a word you have never heard before, a phrase that you think is beautiful or amusing, or even learn about a subject or place you knew nothing about.

Through reading you can expand your vocabulary which will make your own writing richer and more impactful on the page.

It is estimated that in the English dictionary there are in the region of 170,000 active words, and yet the number the average person uses is only 20,000.

What better way to increase your vocabulary than seeing new words in use?

Through reading you can also see how grammar can be used creatively. Most books we read are in the past tense, but read a book in the present tense – like the Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins - and you will see how urgent it can feel.

Or even a book with complete disregard for grammar – The Milkman by Anna Burns for example where we are thrown into the chaotic head of the narrator and their constant stream of thoughts.

One of the things that can let down a novel is unrealistic speech patterns but through reading and seeing how other authors do this and how they create dozens of different voices can do wonders for your own writing. Have a look at Sarong Party Girls by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan and see how she handles writing the whole book in a Singapore/English patois and how this draws you into the protagonist's world.

The English language is a fabulous writing tool and reading how thousands of other authors use it is only going to provide you with new ideas.

Storytelling

Every writer tells a story (whether fiction or non-fiction) in different ways. Some use multi-narrators with a different voice for each chapter, others use diary entries or letters, some use flashbacks and some simply tell a chronological tale.

All story-telling methods can be successful, but equally there have been complete failures within each technique.

The more you read, the more you can analyse different storytelling methods and decide which one works for you.

If you are well-read you will even discover means of telling stories that you had never considered, which could work perfectly for you and the way your brain works and the story you have to tell.

Reading different authors – and frequently – can improve your own writing style by adopting techniques which you enjoy in other works. I don’t mean copy their stories, but you can be influenced by their style.

If you don’t read you are limited by your knowledge and ideas alone. They may in themselves be remarkable and creative but one creative mind vs. thousands of creative minds surely is a no-brainer.

Understanding your Genre

No matter what genre you write in, whether it is fiction or non-fiction, reading will help you to understand that genre.

By this, I mean to understand what books are being published and how many, what are the current trends and what is the writing style for that particular genre. It is also useful to know which publishers are prolific in publishing or your genre in particular. It makes it easier for you to approach them confidently.

One question you will be asked by any publisher you approach to get your work considered is “Who are the competition?” If you don’t read, how will you answer this?

It is a rare book indeed that has no competition and although you may believe your work is unique, unless you have a firm grip on your genre and the authors writing in it you really have no idea if it truly is unique or if you simply haven’t done your research.

It really is important to find the time to read if you want to be a good writer.

If you can’t find the time then your writing is unlikely to improve and it is an unusual person who writes perfectly first time.

Try to view reading as training for your job as a writer. You put time aside for writing so why not for reading? And with the popularity of Kindles (and yes I prefer real books too) you have a book with you at all times on your phone so when you are killing time waiting for a train why not open a book and read instead of scrolling through social media.

Even five minutes is better than none.

If you would like more advice on how to improve your chances of getting your non-fiction published by a traditional publisher drop me an email .

Why don't we get 'TV Block'?

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Fri, 04 Feb 2022 12:12:03 GMT

Overcoming 'Writer's Block'.

Writer's Block is something that is often spoken about in hushed tones by writers and creatives. That moment when you stare at a blank screen (or paper if you're old school) and have no idea what to write.

As a writer, of course this has happened to me. But it's not Writer's Block because Writer's Block as a mythical condition does not exist.

'Writer’s Block' is that moment you decide to write, but have no idea what words to put on the page. Your creative brain is a desert just before the tumbleweed trips across the horizon.

However, most people suffer from this in some form throughout their lives. Whether they are writers or not.

That moment at school when your teacher tells you to write a story about something good that happened to you. Or that time you can’t concentrate on reading a book or watching a film. That moment you scan through Netflix or the TV channels and can't find anything you want to watch.

You wouldn't claim this to be Reader’s Block or TV Block. Why do writers have their own syndrome name, for something that is lack of inspiration, motivation and ideas?

And that is essentially all it is.

If you approach a writing project with no idea where you are going to start or even the ideas you want to include, of course you will get stuck.

Some days, perhaps you are not in the mood to write that essay, report, magazine article or book chapter. You are simply not in the mood for the task you have set yourself. No biggy!

How do you overcome this block then? There are different ways to approach it, depending on what the cause of the block is.

Lack of inspiration - If you are not in the mood to write what you have set yourself for today, then don't try to force it. Go for a walk (I know, it's apparently the answer for everything), or write or do something else.
Lack of ideas - When you sit at the screen and have no idea what to write, then this can be solved by planning ahead. All the authors who go through my From Brain to Book programme write a ridiculously detailed content page for their book, meaning they will always know what to write when they sit in front of the screen. Research can help. If at school, you were told "Write a story about something good that happened to you", it would have helped if you had some time to think of an incident, write down details, feelings, what the weather was like but instead you were probably given 30 minutes to complete it. So if you have an idea for something, brainstorm angles, outcomes, emotions, people to interview, research needed - essentially any ideas for what can be included.
Fear - Sometimes a block can come with a fear of the blank screen, a fear that what you write will be rubbish, and general doubts that no one will want to read it. You may be right but no one has to see a first draft as they are often rubbish. But, you can improve a first draft of rubbish text. You can't improve on a blank page. If fear is holding you back, don't think of the finished project, use the first writing session as a way of getting ideas down. They don't have to be sentences, they don't have to be in order, they just need to be written.

The idea of 'Writer's Block' has grown into a massive mythical beast, and once it gets in your head then that's it. Your career as a writer is over. It's not.

Inspiration, ideas and the need to get your thoughts down will return. I have had periods where I don't have an idea for a book, and I worry that I will never write another book again, but then something will spark interest and I can see a book develop, and I can get writing again.

It's not permanent, and sometimes talking ideas through with someone can help kick the block to the curb. If you would like to talk about writing your first non-fiction book or need an inspiration kickstart then drop me an email .

A Tough Lesson

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 07:11:38 GMT

A Lesson Learned the Hard Way

“What a malingering git,” says my inner Blackadder on one shoulder.

“You need to rest so you can recover,” says my inner Nurse Mary Fletcher-Brown on the other shoulder.

“Why do you have to be so bloody independent?” says my other half.

"I can do it!" I stubbornly cry.

So many conflicting thoughts at one go.

Needless to say, the last few weeks haven’t been easy.

I was forced to spend the end of 2021 and beginning of 2022 on the sofa with my foot up following surgery on my ankle. For Two weeks I was on crutches and couldn't put any weight on it, and for the last three weeks I've been slowly walking around and gaining strength reducing to one crutch to crutchless.

And I have hated every minute of it.

I was raised by quite a grumpy feminist who insisted I should be independent and NEVER rely on a man for anything. It’s been ingrained in me since I was a kid, so having to rely on my other half for the simplest things like food and drinks has been difficult. In fact it has gone against everything I was raised to be. An independent woman.

But it's upset all aspects of my personality.

My inner control freak has been frustrated that I haven’t been able to be as productive as I would like to be over the last few weeks.

My restless spirit is frustrated because I'm rubbish on crutches and even carrying a glass of water was out of the question.

This has meant that I've had to swallow my pride and ask for help. And to accept it.

As a rule, I never ask for help.

Like my mum, I always struggle through anything I’m faced with alone. Determinedly alone. And I've managed OK, up to now.

Therefore, this experience has been a massive learning curve for me.

From having to rely on someone to get me food and water, to helping me up and down the stairs to having to drive me everywhere as I was unable to walk the half a mile from the car park to the bank.

I've learned that knowing when to ask for help is important. And it's powerful.

I would like to say that I will try to ask for and accept help more over the coming year. It'll be hard but I can do it.

In my personal life and my business life it's time to recognise my strengths and my limitations.

I'm hoping this is something you could embrace as well. Asking for help when you need it, whether that's help with the content on your website, or to have regular blogs or social media posts, ideas for content, or even help with writing your first book. I would love to help so drop me an email .

Beating Imposter Syndrome

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 10:46:05 GMT

Don't let it restrict you

Most writers suffer with imposter syndrome at some point in their life and wonder when 'they'll be found out'. However, this is something which effects many people - not just writers.

The term was originally coined in 1978 by psychologists Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes, who believed it only affected high-achieving women, but it is clear that in fact, most people can suffer from it at some point.

In general it is the little voice inside your head that tells you it won't be long before everyone finds out that you're winging it, that everything you write (if you are a writer) is rubbish, and that you generally don't know what you are doing.

Even best-selling author Neil Gaiman suffers from it:

“The first problem of any kind of even limited success is the unshakable conviction that you are getting away with something, and that any moment now they will discover you. It’s Imposter Syndrome, something my wife Amanda christened the Fraud Police.”

Imposter Syndrome has always existed in my life, and I remember on the day I went to my PhD graduation I genuinely expected someone to take me aside and tell me there had been a mistake and I hadn't passed. Only this week Imposter Syndrome is plaguing me. I've been invited to join a prestigious writing society and I'm hesitating as I keep thinking, "I'm not a real writer like the other members", even though I have more books published than many of them.

So, what can we do to stop Imposter Syndrome? I'm sure there are lots of mindfulness techniques you could employ, but I like the reverse psychology approach.

It is thought that Imposter Syndrome is often an affliction of very talented people because they are perfectionists and they have low self-confidence. People who are confident in everything they do, often cannot take criticism of their work, because they don't think it can be improved upon. They rarely are afflicted with Imposter Syndrome.

We have all met people where their confidence outstrips their talents and abilities. But they won't listen to advice.

With this in mind, I embrace my Imposter Syndrome as my own doubts about my writing and my work make me strive for excellence. It makes me a perfectionist who cares about the quality of what I write. These doubts will make me check one more reference, or proofread it one more time and in doing so can improve my work. I don't however, allow my Imposter Syndrome from preventing me from doing anything that I want to do (other than perhaps joining prestigious writing societies).

As a very practical person I tend to prepare well for most things. I know that if I've done the background work and know what I'm doing then I can ignore the 'Fraud Police' and the doubts before they take over. But that takes discipline and a lot of practice.

I believe therefore that there is a fine line between using your Imposter Syndrome to improve your work as I try to do, and letting it hinder you from taking advantage of opportunities.

Now, I'm off to send my acceptance email. Maybe.

How do you allow your Imposter Syndrome to help you?

Out of one book another is born

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Mon, 03 Jan 2022 08:41:13 GMT

A Case Study - From Brain to Book Programme

When clients come to me they sometimes have a very clear idea of what they want to write, and then it's my job to work out how that can be made into a sellable book.

When Ros joined the From Brain to Book Programme she wanted to write a memoir which included a number of letters from her mother. She had a rough idea of what she wanted it to look like and how she wanted to express her memories.

However, when going through the planning stage of the programme, the idea didn’t sit quite right, and we couldn’t get it to work into a coherent product which would please publishers, readers and Ros as the author.

It's difficult with memoirs as they are so very personal, and can be upsetting, traumatic or simply difficult to recall in a chronological manner. And, like all books, a memoir is ultimately a product, and the audience are consumers who want to gain something from the book.

We continued working through the programme, gathered material and created a content page that worked with Ros’s original idea.

But there were further issues to address in the form of potential libel, as anything that presents someone in a negative light can be problematic if that person is recognisable. Without written permission from those individuals this could open a whole can of worms.

Throughout the programme, Ros, then decided her better option would be to change the memoir into a novel, meaning all people, places and actions were fictionalised removing potential libel issues, allowing for embellishments and creating a more coherent journey for the reader.

This was totally the right thing to do for Ros and her book, and as we speak the finished manuscript is currently on the desk of a publisher who has agreed to publish it.

A massive congratulations right there!

Ros also has the germ of a second novel and will be sitting down to plan the Ridiculously Detailed Content Page soon, before she starts writing.

Ros said:

“Working with Charlotte helped me focus on what my novel was really about. Charlotte helped me plan out my book until I knew exactly what I was going to write. Her knowledge and experience were SUPER helpful, and she was very encouraging.

That help at the beginning of the process of writing my novel made everything so much easier and I completed the book within nine months.”

Working with Ros was challenging as the book she wanted to write turned out not to be the book that needed to be written. But going through the process made that clear for her and for me.

In the end Ros was able to tell her story in a way that worked for her, and she has a publisher as well – and all within a year.

If you would like to find out more about the From Brain to Book programme email me or give me a call .

Six Great December Traditions

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 13:04:04 GMT

Six International Traditions

December in the western world is generally about consumerism, shopping for gifts and indulging in too much food and drink.

As much as I adore fairy lights, poinsettias and kitsch decorations I also love learning about other cultures and their traditions. So, I thought I would share six international festivals with you, which you can adopt or not …

1. December 5 – Krampusnacht

In the Alpine regions of Europe on the night of December 5, a beast known as Krampus – scares naughty children. In Austria, on this night there is a Krampus festival where revellers dress up as Krampus and dance through the streets.

2. December 6 - St Nicholas Day

Following on from Krampusnacht is St Nicholas Day. St Nicholas is the opposite of Krampus and rewards good children. This is a day celebrated across Europe with each country having different traditions.

In Germany and Poland, young boys dress as bishops (St Nick) and collect money for charity.
Also in Poland, St Nicholas puts a small present under the pillows of good children. Naughty children however, get a twig or lump of coal.
In the Netherlands, children fill a clog with hay and food for St Nick’s horse. In return St Nick leaves a small gift for them .

3. December 23 – Noche de los Rabanos (pictured above)

This three day festival in Oaxaca, Mexico is known as The Festival of the Radishes. Part of the tradition includes carving large radishes into nativity figures and those from Mexican folklore. There is also a competitive edge to it, and it attracts a lot of tourists to the area.

4. 24 December - Jolabokaflod

In Iceland on Christmas Eve, it is traditional to give a book as a gift, and the family then get cosy together and spend the evening reading their new books.

5. December 25 – Shoe Slinging

In Czech Republic unmarried women traditionally throw a shoe at their home on Christmas Day. If the shoe lands with the heal facing the house they will not be getting married in the upcoming year. If it lands another way, wedding bells are imminent.

6. December 31 – Bear Festival

Romanian Christmas carollers dress in scary bear costumes, and dance the night away on New Year’s Eve. This will scare away any evil spirits but also help the soil remain fertile for the following year.

I love the idea of Krampusnakht, as it shows the consequences of behaviour choices (Bah! Humbug!) and Jolabokaflod, as I love to read. However, my radish carving skills could however could do with some work.

There are obviously a number of other traditions from every country on earth, and I would love to hear any you are aware of or any which your family celebrate. Drop me an email or comment below.

Tom and Jerry Lied

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 08:22:55 GMT

Life of a country-based writer

I have been a bit delayed in getting my latest blog post written, and I can only shift the responsibility fully onto my new lodger.

The mouse.

Whilst quietly reading, or watching TV, out of the corner of my eye I see a brisk movement and spy the small, cute, sleek body of the mouse disappear behind the TV or under the sofa.

As this isn’t the 1950s I don’t jump onto a chair waving a broom. Instead, I grab a Tupperware box and start dismantling the front room.

This has been done four times now, pulling out the sofa, pulling out the TV stand and dislodging some of the most terrifying spiders I have ever seen. I am sure one of them had a flick knife. If that is what is hiding behind the TV, and the mouse is happy to hang out there, I am wondering if me and my Tupperware box are going to be enough.

As you can imagine this approach hasn’t been very effective, so I brought out the humane trap baited with hula hoops and rich tea biscuits. My other half started with cheese, “like the cartoons”, and I had to burst a major childhood bubble by telling him that Tom and Jerry is not a documentary.

Every morning we check the trap and nothing. But to be honest I am secretly relieved. I have this thought that I’ll come down one morning and the mouse will be in the trap, and in my dressing gown and slippers I will end up traipsing up the road through my village to set it free far away from the house. However, as I am walking back to the house, the mouse will run past at speed, nip in the front door and kick it shut squeaking “squatter’s rights” as I am left on the doorstep.

To avoid this, I hit Google to find out how to get rid of mice humanely. So now the house smells of peppermint oil (apparently they hate it) and we have blocked any likely holes, which are a lot in an 18th century flint cottage.

The most laughable advice is ‘get a cat’ as a mere whiff of the cat will see the mouse running for cover, which makes me wonder if Tom and Jerry was actually a documentary.

Meet Mesha (pictured above), my 16 year old Bengal cat, who in her younger years was constantly bringing me mouse and bird carcasses as gifts, or worse live birds and frogs. She had an attempt at a squirrel once, but soon scooted into the house and the safety of the bed.

But apparently, she has now retired, and whilst she will happily hunt leaves and scary flick knife wielding spiders she is very relaxed as she watches the mouse run past her. Then she looks at me like I am insane as I rearrange the front room trying to catch it, once again.

Maybe this lack of inaction is a protest. She has rigorously maintained her 4:30am alarm clock regime so she hasn’t completely retired all frustrating cat behaviour. Perhaps the quality of the food isn’t up to her standards, the blankets aren’t fluffy enough or the beds not soft enough.

Either way, I feel I am being mocked by the furry mammals in my house. The cat in her silent retirement protest and by the mouse who shrugs like “what are you going to do?” I wonder if Mesha is giving the mouse back handers when I’m not looking, saying “Keep it up” until her unspecified demands are met.

So, what do we do about Squeaky McSqueakmas? I figured as he lives here now I may as well name him.

I don’t want to go down the route of traditional traps and getting the exterminator in with poison could upset the quite frankly pointless cat.

I thought I would quickly write this, between the appointments with dismantling the front room furniture armed with peppermint oil and a Tupperware box to explain the tardiness in writing blogs. Hopefully normal service will be resumed soon.

It will never be right

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Wed, 03 Nov 2021 14:49:46 GMT

Everything you need you already have

I had a conversation last week with an author who has 20,000 words of a book written, but it has ground to a halt. He hasn't worked on it for about a year. When I asked what was stopping him from writing he said:

"It's not worth writing for just an hour or so a week. I'm waiting for when I have a week or so free so I can really focus on it."

I have heard this from many would-be authors, and perhaps you believe this sounds like sensible thinking, but I will tell you what I told him.

You will never have a week when you will do nothing but write every day. An hour a week is better than nothing, and is a million times better than waiting for that magical time when you have a week free where you have literally nothing else to do.

If you cannot commit to an hour writing a week, what makes you think you will work well for eight hours a day for a week?

It's an excuse.

Other excuses include:

I need to create a writing space which is calming and inspiring with great views.
I'll write when I have a new laptop/desktop as my old one is too clunky.
I'm too old to write a book.
I'm too young to write a book.
I will never write as well as [ insert favourite author] so what's the point?
I don't have time.
I'll start in the winter/summer.

If you have an idea for a book but haven't started working on it yet I bet you can add some excuses to the list. Every single one of these is an excuse.

If you have an idea for a book, and you are preventing yourself from starting because of excuses it's time to have a word with yourself.

Everyone can find one hour a week or even a day to do something they really want to do. Instead of binge watching a series on Netflix for three hours a night, why not spend at least one hour writing? But if you genuinely can't find an hour, what's wrong with 20 minutes here and there as you have time? Any time spent writing is better than none.

If you don't think you have the right writing environment and would rather have an inspiring office with great views and a vintage desk, think again. If you are writing properly you are not looking at the room, or gazing at the view out of the window. You will be looking at your computer screen, or a notebook if you write longhand. So you can write anywhere, on trains, in your car whilst waiting for your kids, in coffee shops, in the garden, in the library - literally anywhere.

You don't need fancy equipment to write a book. Of course it's nice to have the latest laptop with all the bells and whistles, but Shakespeare wrote with a stack of paper and a quill pen! He managed. And the majority of the work written in the 20th century was written on a manual typewriter so even a slow, crappy laptop is an improvement.

All you need to write a book, is an idea, a workable plan and a realistic outlook on how long you can dedicate to writing. If you want to write a book in six months you need to be able to write for about an hour, five days a week. But if you only have one hour a week it may take you a year to write the book. If you write longhand and need someone to type it up then you need to add another month, but it is all doable.

If you want to see your book published, and on sale in the High Street you need to know what you can realistically achieve and more importantly you need to kick those excuses to the curb!

For down to earth advice on writing your first non-fiction book you can book a power hour here , or email me to find out about the 12-week mentoring programme .

It's time to get writing.

Life of a Writer

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 08:50:22 GMT

The glitz, the glamour and the spell checker

Writers have a element of mysteriousness around them, as if their life is glamourous and 'arty'.

It's not.

I wish it was, but it's not. Writers do their best work alone, in their pyjamas as they gradually lose track of time.

But that's not to say it's not a good life. It's something I feel very privileged to be able to do.

I've been a writer for at least 20 years, and I feel like my life is missing something if I am not writing a book or researching an article.

It's in my blood.

However, to get to this stage has taken years of hard work, dedication and practice. And more importantly showing up when I can't be bothered.

Often as a writer, you have to write a piece before you know where it will be published - which leads to a lot of writers self-publishing. For me, I always have a home in mind for my work even if I haven't approached them about it. Sometimes they even agree and pay me money.

Therefore, when writing without knowing where it will be placed, it's essential to find a routine to follow, to prevent drift, or worse abandoning the book altogether.

There are four stages to writing a book, and each is as important as the next, even if they are not equally inspiring.

Planning - You need to know what you are going to write before you start writing. When I am exploring the idea for a book, the first thing I do is write a very detailed content page of everything that I would like to include in the book. The more detail I include the easier the book is to write.
Research - Before you start writing you need to know what to write about and this means research. For online blogs internet research is adequate, but if you are writing a book this means peer reviewed articles, scientific studies, books, magazines and even archive material. Yes it's time consuming, and often you read things which are irrelevant but if you scrimp on research the writing will be weak.
Writing - This is the fun bit as it's when you get to put all your ideas onto paper into a coherent story (even non-fiction has to have a story). It's an opportunity to be creative and to show what you know, as well as to geek out on fascinating stuff you have found out which you know your audience won't know.
Editing - I have a love/hate relationship with editing. On the plus side, editing your work means you have finished it and have 90,000 words to play with. It is an amazing feeling when you edit and you know you are creating a beautiful piece of work out of a rough draft. On the downside it can take ages, and no writer is ever 100% happy with their work. If you're not careful editing can take much longer than writing the book.

The only part that you need to do in order is the planning. If you get that right the writing is easy. However, in a single writing day, I can be working on any combination of the other three, depending on where I am in the book, and my mood. So I could spend a week researching something that my knowledge is sketchy on, and then the following week writing it up, or I do the two simultaneously, writing and reading at the same time.

I tend not to edit the work until it is finished, although sometimes I feel the need to check flow if I feel I have lost direction a little. This normally happens when I am three quarters of the way through a book. It is a mini edit, just to get a feel of the flow and the story thread running through it, but of course it's great for identifying gaps, weak points and spelling mistakes.

I think editing the previous day's work before you start working today is a waste of time. However, one of the beautiful things about being a professional writer is that there is no right or wrong way to do it. You do what feels right to you.

Through my 12-week From Brain to Book programme I am fascinated at the different way each author chooses to work. As long as the result is the same (a finished book) it really doesn't matter what tools you use to get there. If you are embarking on the journey of writing a book and don't really know where to start, drop me an email and we can chat through the options available to help you find your writing routines and style - whatever it takes to get your book finished.

One Author, One Year, One Contract

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Tue, 21 Sep 2021 11:28:04 GMT

One Author, One Year, One Contract

Back in November 2021 Helen made the decision to commit to writing her first book. She had a fabulous idea for a book examining true crime with controversial legal outcomes. In particular she wanted to explore how these cases were received by the public and why people dedicated their free time to discussing and researching them.

Challenge

It was an ambitious subject, and Helen was feeling daunted. She didn’t know how to start. She had all these legal cases going around her head and knew which she wanted to include but wasn’t sure how to fit it all together.

“Before the sessions I had an idea for a non-fiction book,

but it seemed like a huge mountain to climb to actually write

it and I had no idea where to start.”

So, she enrolled on my 12-week From Brain to Book programme.

The Process

The 12-week programme is all about sorting those ideas into a Ridiculously Detailed Content Page, where all the details, arguments, sources and conclusions are laid out, rearranged and expanded on before starting to write the book.

“Charlotte's no-nonsense approach to mentoring takes away all

of the mystery about writing a book.”

Within four weeks of starting the programme Helen had a content page she was happy with and she was able to see how the book would come together.

As she started writing, we discussed in our meetings every two weeks anything that came up which was relevant such as primary sources, copyright, writing schedules, and creating an angle to give the ‘story’ pizazz.

And pizzazz the book certainly had.

“Just a couple of months on I'd written around 50,000 words due

to Charlotte's methodical and practical approach and advice.”

Within eight weeks Helen had started sending proposals to traditional publishers and was beginning to think like a writer.

Outcome

The traditional publishing process is a slow one but it’s worth it to see your book in the bookshops on the high street.

In September 2021, Helen had received exciting news from a publisher. They loved the idea for her book but wanted to commission a slightly different one. They wanted her to expand one of her chapters into a book within its own right.

Helen was faced with a dilemma. Concentrate on finishing the book she was working on, or take up the publishing offer for the amended book and then finish the other one at a later date.

We had a chat about it, and I was amused to see how much she was now thinking like an author. She was now considering expanding other chapters from the original book into a series, so instead of one book she is now potentially writing two and thinks she could write another four.

This is a huge mental shift from when we started working together less than a year ago. I am so excited at the progress she has made, and that she is seeing the hard work pay off.

If, like Helen, you have an idea for a non-fiction book and don’t know how to approach writing it, why not enrol on the From Brain to Book mentoring programme. This time next year you could be looking at a book contract, and planning book two, three… and four and five.

The key to 'authenticity'.

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 14:40:43 GMT

The importance of being you

‘Authenticity’ is a word which is used a lot when talking about business marketing. We all know it’s important to be ‘authentic’ as people buy from people.

But what does this actually mean?

According to the dictionary authenticity is, "the quality of being authentic," with authentic meaning, "of undisputed origin and not a copy: genuine".

When used to describe a person, it can have a more complicated meaning. Many of us act a little differently at work to how we act with our parents or how we act with our friends. Some people don't swear in front of their parents for example, but swear like a sailor everywhere else. Does this mean these people are inauthentic when at work, or with their parents?

No, not at all.

Everyone has a different side to them in different scenarios. And all of these are authentic. And all of them are undeniably you.

However, the problem arises when some of these 'sides' are emulating someone else, rather than being a genuine, or authentic part of you.

For example, when writing your website, your blogs, or your company brochures how easily do you slip into ‘business speak’ and industry jargon and general fluff-waffle because it makes you sound knowledgeable?

Probably a lot easier than you think.

But how can you be authentic when using cliched similes, phrases and idioms devised by an industry. Phrases you would never use when with your mates down the pub or even with your work colleagues.

It’s a safety blanket. To make it seem like you know what you’re talking about and to make you sound professional. But it doesn’t sound like you.

One of my first clients was so caught up in jargon, industry speak and sounding a certain way, it took me an hour to actually find out what she did for a living. The language she used to sound professional completely obscured who she was and what she did.

The key to being authentic, whilst at the same time being professional is to say what you want to say, the way you would say it to your mates at the pub. Clear, concise, to the point – and you know what? If swearing is your thing then that is sometimes OK too (even in front of your mum) if it reflects you and works with the clients you are trying to attract.

If you want to discuss your website, blogs or company brochures either with a mind to outsource, or even for an edit and proofread drop me an email .

Marketing to the Undead

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 16:35:07 GMT

Marketing to the Undead

Business content doesn't have to be traditional. Thinking outside the box and being creative is not only fun but can produce eye-catching copy.

My latest book, History of the Undead , is a case in point. When it was published I wondered how the hell I could use it to promote Popple Services.

Then it hit me. Marketing avatars and the undead. A match made in ... well, the graveyard.

Let me explain. We all know client avatars help us to market our services to the right people with the right message. In my brain I saw three types of undead clients who each approached the world differently.

Mummies

Mummies are generally quite passive creatures who are controlled by a genius but evil high priest and have no agency of their own.

In the working day they do what they are told without question and then when they have completed the task in hand, they climb back into their sarcophagus, arms crossed over their chest and go back to sleep until the high priest has another task for him to do.

So, who do we know who is like this?

In jobs I have hated I have been like this. I have done the tasks the evil (but rarely genius) boss asked me to do, and then I went home at 5pm and returned the next day for the next list of tasks.

Not an inspiring life, but it gets the job done.

Vampires

Next we have the capitalist business leaders – the vampires.

Vampires have two main things going for them; they are eternal and they don't age. This makes them exceptional business leaders and therefore very rich. A wealth they have built up over centuries.

However, most vampires are not very nice – personality wise.

They look down on mere mortals, who they view as weak and finite. They are therefore patronising, rude and do not treat humans with respect. Often they have also made much of their business acquisitions through killing people.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. You could be a successful but nice business leader.

Imagine having hundreds if not thousands of years to perfect your business skills. As mortals, if staying in a career for life this is limited to about 40 years.

Vampires also have the ability to dazzle mortals and convince them of anything at all. We have all met sales people like this - that silver tongued demon who sold us something completely pointless. A few years ago me and a friend met one of these demons, who sold both of us a Himalayan salt ball. When we got home and the dazzle had worn off we wondered what the hell we had been thinking, and what we were going to do with the ball.

Zombies

Despite the decaying flesh, and cannibalism a zombie business leader wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.

Zombies are very single-minded and they don’t give up. They relentlessly follow their desire (which is mostly brains) and if they come up against a brick wall – metaphorical or real – they push against it for a while before wandering off and chasing their dreams another way.

Obviously being so single minded can have negative aspects, especially if little thought goes into a strategy of achieving this single goal.

But being focused and not allowing setbacks to derail us is a great characteristic in business or in life.

I have an element of zombie in my approach to most things – and I have been told I am an ‘all or nothing’ person – throwing everything I have into a project. Luckily I do try to put in some strategic thought behind it. And I am not particularly fond of eating brains.

So, how do you market to these different undead client avatars? To find out download the free Undead Guide to Blogs (normally £4.99).

23 1/2 ways to improve your writing

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 08:46:56 GMT

How to write better content for your business

With more and more content available online, it is becoming increasingly difficult to be heard over the noise. Should you add videos, or images, have regular polls or write controversial opinions to boost engagement?

You can do all of these, but it's better just to improve what you write and engage people that way,

So, here we have 23 1/2 ways to improve your writing.

Planning

1 - Write what you would like to read.

2 - Answer the questions your clients have.

3 - Treat every piece of writing like a story, a journey the reader can follow.

4 - Research your subject. Write what you know and if you don't know it, look it up.

5 - Be an authority. Ensure your resources are sound (not Wikipedia).

6 - Know your audience, and write to their level.

7 - Read. A lot. The more you read in your area of writing, the more you will learn.

8 - Plan plan plan. Know exactly what you want to write, and how you want to get your views across.

9 - Make sure you have put the time aside to write, and focus.

Writing

10 - Avoid clickbait titles.

11- Start with a powerful, and gripping first line.

12 - Write active sentences - John hit Michael.

13 - Avoid passive sentences - Michael was hit by John.

14 - Look up correct apostrophe use. Incorrect use niggles more people than you'd think.

15 - Keep the title/point in mind as you write. Stay on track.

16 - Get to the point without waffling.

17 - Cut the crap. Why use six words when one will do?

18 - Don't use words you don't understand to try to sound clever.

19 - Be you. Write in your own voice not as someone you wish you were.

Checking

20 - Reference any quotes or ideas suggested by someone else.

21 - Proofread. Make sure you read everything at least twice before you hit publish.

22 - Read out loud. By doing this you will catch a couple more typos.

23 - The spellchecker is your friend.

The final point, the twenty-third and a half one is to enjoy your writing. If you see it as a chore it will read that way. Write with passion and interest and this will shine through your words and into your readers.

For more guidance on writing for your business you can book a power hour here or enrol on one of my workshops or online courses here .

Why I would not use Grammarly

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 06:56:49 GMT

Data security and Grammarly

I am regularly asked whether Grammarly is a good tool to use for ensuring that content written for your business is grammatically correct.

This is a difficult one to answer as even a sophisticated AI tool like Grammarly isn’t going to replace a professional proofreader when it comes to picking up the nuances of the language. How likely is a tool going to point out an error with “I have little time,” or “I have a little time”? Indeed, which one of these is wrong? Grammatically neither, but within the context of the text one of them is. There is however, little doubt that Grammarly can help to ensure your writing is grammatically correct and reads well.

But I still wouldn't use it.

Data Security

The problem with Grammarly (and other similar tools) is not about missing nuances of the English language - it concerns data security.

Grammarly works by installing a plugin to your Chrome browser, and it then reads and can change whatever you write to something more grammatically correct. Through the use of AI it scans common language use and therefore whether certain phrases are acceptable, checking your work in 'real time'.

As a Chrome plugin in order to work and develop it requires full access to your keyboard. This means everything you type gets sent to their servers and stored. Let that sink in.

Although the data is encrypted, before installing the plugin you have to agree that the extension will: “read and change all your data on the websites you visit,” which should raise some alarm bells. It is possible to go into the settings to make sure that the application only works when ‘activated’ but still, if you forget to do that everything you type (e.g. bank details, passwords) and everything you delete is sent to the Grammarly servers in the USA and stored.

What Are You Agreeing To?

Before making the decision to use Grammarly it really is advisable to read through the privacy policy. It makes sobering reading.

“When you interact with our Site, Software, and/or Services, we collect information that could be used to identify you (“Personal Data”). Some of the information we collect is stored in a manner that cannot be linked back to you (“Non-Personal Data”).”

So, whilst they tell you some data is stored in a way which can't be linked to you, it implies that some is stored in a way that can be.

The Grammarly keyboard may also require, “access to your contacts' names on your device. For instance, Grammarly will not try to autocorrect names that are in your contacts.” These names, are not however, sent to the servers, but access to them has been given to a third-party which could raise GDPR concerns if your contacts contain client details. Even emails are protected under the GDPR guidelines and giving access to a third-party could breach them. Grammarly states:

“Grammarly complies with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Where required, we will provide international data transfer mechanisms, such as standard contractual clauses, for our business customers .”

But what about the majority of users who are free subscribers, not paid for business customers? Just by sharing data which Grammarly could access could be a breach, so using Grammarly on a work-related device really isn’t advisable.

Questions also have to be raised as to how safe your data is once it is on the Grammarly servers, and although the data is encrypted, again the privacy policy raises concerns:

“As a rule, Grammarly employees do not monitor or view your User Content stored in or transferred through our Site, Software, and/or Services, but it may be viewed if we believe the Terms of Service have been violated and confirmation is required, if we need to do so to respond to your requests for support, if we otherwise determine that we have an obligation to review it as described in the Terms of Service, or to improve our algorithms as described in the User Content section of our Terms of Service. "

This shows your data is not fully encrypted and is accessible to the Grammarly team if they feel they need to look at it. Now you may be thinking this is fine, that your writing isn’t that much of a secret. But think about the device you are using to write. Is it only used for blogs? Or do you use it for client work (as I do), to contact your children’s school, banking, online tax assessment, online shopping, social media? All of this data is being sent to the Grammarly servers, which can potentially be read by Grammarly staff if they feel they should.

As we are all aware, when we do anything online, data is being gathered about us regarding our browsing and shopping habits in order to target us more precisely with advertisements. But why are Grammarly gathering information? In their Terms and Conditions, they state:

“We may collect information about you from third parties, such as marketing partners and researchers, where they are legally allowed to share your Information with us. We may combine the Information we receive from other sources with Information we collect from you (or your device).”

Why they would need to do this is not clear, other than building up a clearer picture of who you are and what your online activity is.

This is a lot of information for an organisation to have about you - especially one that is essentially a dictionary. The Grammarly servers are hosted by Amazon Web Servers in the USA, and even these are not 100% protected from vulnerabilities or hacking.

For example, Travis Ormandy, from Google’s Project Zero identified a major flaw in the system when in 2018 Grammarly, “exposed the user’s private documents and data to virtually any website.” This meant, “any website can login to grammarly.com as you and access all your documents and other data.”

However, Grammarly were adamant that no website had actually taken advantage of this flaw and the bug was quickly fixed, but it raises major issues on data security.

Deleting your Data

The only way to delete the data from the Grammarly servers is to delete your account but even then:

“we may keep some of your Personal Data for as long as reasonably necessary for our legitimate business interests, including fraud detection and prevention and to comply with our legal obligations including tax, legal reporting, and auditing obligations.”

As the majority of people do not read Terms and Conditions before signing up to applications, many users may not be aware of this data security issue. What is also concerning, is that if any of these policies are changed Grammarly don’t email users to tell them. Instead they post changes on the website so you would actively have to look for it to know.

To Use or Not to Use

Needless to say, I don’t use Grammarly, even though I think it could be really useful, but data security is too important for me. Even the biggest organisations are hacked or get attacked with ransomware, and I don’t want to make it easier for them to steal my data.

Whether you should use it or not it is entirely your choice. But go in with your eyes open and take time to read through the terms and conditions and if you are happy with their assurances then install away.

Read to Write Better

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Wed, 02 Jun 2021 06:56:27 GMT

If you don’t have time to read you don’t have time to write.

It is a commonly expressed notion that a good writer is also an avid reader.

However, many writers, especially if they are writing in their spare time often state they “don’t have time to read,” or worse, they “don’t really enjoy reading.”

If you want to be a successful writer you have to be an avid reader.

Find time, it will improve your writing.

Linguistic Skills

Some of the best things you get from reading are an improved vocabulary, improved grammar and wider knowledge of the world and people. Whether reading fiction or non-fiction you are likely, in every single book you read, to find a word you like, a word you have never heard before, a phrase that you think is beautiful or amusing, or even learn about a subject or place you knew nothing about.

It is estimated that in the English dictionary there are in the region of 170,000 active words, and yet the number the average person uses is only 20,000. Through reading you can expand your vocabulary which will make your writing richer and more impactful on the page.

Reading can demonstrate how grammar can be used creatively. Most books we read are in the past tense, but read a book in the present tense – like the Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins - and you will see how urgent it can feel.

Or even a book with complete disregard for grammar – The Milkman by Anna Burns for example where we are thrown into the chaotic head of the narrator and their constant stream of thoughts.

The English language is a fabulous writing tool and reading how thousands of other authors use it is only going to provide you with new ideas and increase your writing skills.

Storytelling

Everyone tells a story (whether fiction or non-fiction) in different ways. Some use multi-narrators with a different voice for each chapter, others use diary entries or letters, some use flashbacks and some simply tell a chronological story.

All story-telling methods can be successful, but equally there have been complete failures within each technique.

The more you read, the more you can analyse different story-telling methods and decide which one works for you.

If you are well-read you will even discover means of telling stories that you had never considered, which could work perfectly for you and the way your brain works.

If you don’t read you are limited by your knowledge and ideas alone. They may in themselves be remarkable and creative but one creative mind vs. thousands of creative minds surely is a no-brainer.

Understanding your Genre

No matter what genre you write in, whether it is fiction or non-fiction, reading will help you to understand it.

By this, I mean to understand what books or articles are being published and how many, what are the current trends and what is the writing style for that particular genre. It is also useful to know which publishers are prolific in publishing for your genre in particular.

One question you will be asked by any publisher you approach to get your work considered is, “Who are the competition?” If you don’t read, how will you answer this?

It really is important to find the time to read if you want to be a good writer.

If you can’t find the time then your writing is unlikely to improve and it is an unusual person who writes perfectly first time.

Even 5 minutes is better than none.

If you would like some help with your writing why not book a power hour with me, and unblock your creative mind.

Don't get in your own way

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Wed, 26 May 2021 08:22:27 GMT

Break down the barriers to outsourcing

Trust me, as a solopreneur I know how hard it is to outsource.

Your business is your baby. You run it in a very particular way with your own processes, and that's what makes it fundamentally yours.

But, by not outsourcing you could be harming your business and preventing growth in the areas you actually want them.

Let me explain.

When you started your business it was because you enjoyed doing one particular thing - for me it was writing. I love writing and wanted to get paid for writing all day.

When you started your business you did not do it because you wanted to learn to do accounts, sales, marketing, web design, content writing, invoicing, credit control recruitment and staff assessments. But most small businesses have to embrace all of these jobs until they are financially or mentally able to hand some of them over to someone better qualified.

For me, the first thing I handed over was my accounts. An accountant will know how to ensure I get all the tax allowances I am entitled to. I wouldn't even know where to start. Then I outsourced setting up my CRM. I realised for the time it would take me to learn how to do it, do it wrong then spend double the time fixing it, I may as well get it done properly first time around.

For some (well, most of my clients) content writing is the bane of their lives. They can write blog posts and social media posts but they may not have the time to prioritise this as a task, they may not be creative or may be uncertain of the accuracy of their English. So they outsource to me, meaning they no longer have to stress about it as they know that they will get it emailed to them on a specific date ready to upload.

Not all my clients have found it so easy to hand over the copywriting task - and that's OK. Some will analyse every word and ponder whether they would have written it that way, and one client insisted on running through every post on a call word by word. But that's fine.

The first step in letting go of the reigns, is to outsource, and if you are nervous at first hopefully I could alleviate your concerns and show you that I only have your business in mind. But once you do let go, you have freed up time to actually do something for your business that you enjoy doing without the cloud of 'blog posts' looming over you.

If you are ready to take the first step and have a chat book here , no obligation, just a chat to find out how I can help you. Or if you prefer to email then that's cool too!

Origins of English Idioms

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Tue, 18 May 2021 15:38:11 GMT

Origins of English Idioms

I’ve always been fascinated by idioms or phrases which we commonly use in the English language and where they come from. Often their origins are mundane but sometimes they are bizarre or even macabre.

Over the past year, we have perhaps started using a particular sub-set of lockdown idioms which describe how some of us may have felt – I know I have felt all of them.

Being stuck inside the house for more than a year, no matter how nice your house is, may have been driving you stir crazy , you may have been climbing the walls and no doubt at some point you suffered from cabin fever .

Stir Crazy

Going stir crazy is a very apt phrase for being in lockdown as it originates from nineteenth century London slang for prison.

‘Stir’ as slang for prison is thought to have come from the nickname given to Start Newgate Prison in the 18th century, which was particularly notorious in London. This name ‘Start’ morphed into ‘Stir’ and was used to refer to all prisons.

So to be Stir Crazy is to be driven mad by incarceration.

Climb the walls

Whilst the feeling of climbing the walls indicates a need to escape it is thought that this phrase originally meant the opposite.

It is believed to be a medieval phrase connected with attempting to breach forts by ‘climbing the walls’ which was a difficult and time-consuming (not to mention dangerous) task – which some may have viewed as madness.

Cabin Fever

This phrase which refers to the feeling of being stuck inside for a period of time – normally that weird time between Christmas and New Year or between March 2020 and June 2021- is actually American in origin.

This nineteenth century phrase refers to being stranded in a remote cabin – of which they have a lot – perhaps being snowed in. Such a situation could lead to the fights, divorce, or murder. The Shining anyone?

During this lockdown period you may also have had mini-meltdowns making you think you are going bananas or losing your marbles .

I know I have.

Going bananas

When you are becoming over-emotional and acting in an irrational way you could feel that you are going bananas. My lockdown highpoints were putting margarine in the microwave, panic buying a pineapple and a complete meltdown because I couldn’t get an Easter egg.

This idiom is a late addition to the English language, originating from 1960s US college campuses. It is thought to have evolved from ‘going ape’ which means the same thing – over-emotional and irrational or overflowing with enthusiasm.

Losing your Marbles

This phrase suggests that you are confused and behaving irrationally. But where does it come from? I’ve not had marbles since I was a kid. (You can take that however you want).

In the nineteenth century the word marbles was used to mean belongings and general ‘stuff’ so to lose one’s marbles was to be lacking something.

The first record of this phrase was in 1886 in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat: “He has roamed the block all morning like a boy who had lost his marbles,” referring to the feeling of losing something important.

However, it wasn’t thought to have come into common parlance in regard to insanity until the 1950s. In the movie The Caine Mutiny (1954) Humphrey Bogart provides a link between insanity and marbles, when his character jiggles marbles when under pressure.

Hopefully lockdown is going to end soon, and we can all pick up our marbles and bananas, come down from those walls blinking into the sunlight, to sit in a pub garden in 90mph winds and sideways rain as is befitting a British summer.

If you can think of any other ‘lockdown’ phrases that you may have used I would love to hear them so why not drop me an email or catch up with me on social media (the links are at the bottom of the page).

Why social media is important

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Wed, 12 May 2021 13:34:41 GMT

Why social media is important for all businesses

In my line of work I speak with a lot of small business owners, and I am surprised when they tell me that they don't need a content writer as they don't write much copy, they never send newsletters, and their businesses are too boring for blogs.

Despite this, I will then notice they are posting every day on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Perhaps they don't realise that social media posts count as content for your business. These posts reflect your business, your brand and your ethos.

Therefore, time should be spent on getting the message, tone and spelling right as every post acts as an advertisement.

Who cares about errors?

I read an interesting post recently on LinkedIn where the author admitted that most of her social media posts have mistakes and errors in them – she didn’t think it was a problem. She wrote social media posts as part of her marketing business.

As a copywriter, and someone who works closely with small businesses on their marketing this was quite worrying.

Everything you put out under the umbrella of your company sends subliminal messages about your brand, attention to detail, ethos and practices to your readers. Surely if you know you make a lot of mistakes in your writing you should try to ensure this is minimalised. Either by hiring professional proofreading services like mine, or by simply running a spell checker over it or reading it aloud to spot mistakes. Yes, this will take a couple of extra minutes but it’s worth it in the long run.

Social media is a winner

The great thing about social media for your business is in fact the informal nature of it, and the fact that you can be yourself, speak in a very down to earth way and use colloquial rather than grammatically correct English. You can even swear if that is who you are.

This is what social media is about – the very essence of social media - being you so people can decide if they want to do business with you.

So, when writing social media posts for your business, remember they are just as important a marketing tool as your website, newsletter and blog and therefore need just as much time spending on them.

If you would like to have a chat about writing social media posts get in touch or email – I’m always happy to help.

How to plan a writing project

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Tue, 04 May 2021 15:37:22 GMT

So, you want to write a book?

How to plan a project

We all have our skills. Mine is being ridiculously organized and planning to within an inch of my life.

I like to plan everything and write down all the steps required to achieve a specific goal.

I learned professional goal- or objective-setting when I was training to teach in Adult Education. Every lesson had to have three objectives and then each minute of the class (no exaggeration) had to be planned in relation to that objective.

A five-hour teaching day could take a week to plan to this level, but it taught me a valuable skill which can be used to plan any project.

SMART Goals

I always hated the acronym SMART in relation to goals, but it does work and is the backbone of every well-laid plan. So, what do the letters stand for?

S - Specific. You need to know exactly what you want to achieve.

M – Measurable. You need to know whether you have achieved the goal.

A – Achievable. You need to be aiming for something that is achievable.

R – Relevant. Why do you want to achieve this goal?

T – Timely. By setting a time goal you are able to provide parameters for achieving them.

So, think about when you set New Year’s resolutions. These rarely work as they are not SMART. The most common New Years’ resolutions are to lose weight or to cut down on alcohol. But these are so vague as to be meaningless – if you lose ½ kg in a year you have achieved your goal of losing weight, and you could cut your alcohol consumption down by one shot a year – neither of which is a great achievement.

But if you set the goal of losing 12 kg in a year, at a rate of 1 kg a month you have a measurable, specific and attainable goal – one that you can easily work towards.

One small step

The key to a successful project therefore is to break the goal down into smaller steps. And this is what I do when planning a writing project.

To achieve the major goal - write a 70,000-word book for example – I break it down into workable chunks – e.g. write 10,000 words a month.

Then within those 10,000 words it is broken down further into smaller sections for example, 5,000 words on “common writing mistakes,” then broken down further into five sections of 1,000 words on each writing mistake.

It then becomes much easier to work towards the main goal, one step at a time.

Lists Lists Lists

Many coaches scream: “No lists – they mess with your head,” but personally I love a good list.

There is little more beautiful than a project list with the main objective at the top, followed by smaller sub-projects which will help reach that goal, followed by individual tasks to achieve the sub-projects. Every ticked item is a visible marker that you are on the path to your main goal.

S chedule

Having a date for when you want to achieve the main goal is useful and is essential to SMART goal setting.

So, if the 70,000-word book will be written at 10,000 words a month that is a first draft completion target of 7.5 months. Put that in the diary.

This is then broken down into a weekly target of 2500 words, or 500 words a day five days a week. This should be added to your daily to-do lists.

Diarizing these dates helps to keep you on track whilst not feeling overwhelmed at the thought of “I have to write a book by …”

No project is so big that it can’t be broken down into bite-size chunks.

Next steps

Planning is my favourite thing, so if you have a plan for your writing project and you are not sure how SMART it is or you don’t have a plan at all, why not book a £99 ‘ writing power hour ’ with me. Let me guide you through the planning process, so by the end of the hour you will have the tools to create a personalised writing plan that you can stick to.

No Time for Regrets

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Tue, 27 Apr 2021 07:02:07 GMT

No time for regrets

“Regret for wasted time is more wasted time,” Mason Cooley

Time is something that we all use as an excuse for not doing something that we claim is one of our dreams. Think of all those things you don't have time for - there's a lot right?

I meet lots of people who say: “I want to write a book, but I don’t have time.” However, they have time to watch Netflix, wander around the shops buying things they don’t need, and any number of other activities used to procrastinate.

If you do want to write a book and believe you don’t have time, look at your day and see where you could carve an hour out – just one hour. This could be your lunch break, or just after dinner instead of watching TV or even getting up an hour earlier. Or perhaps you can spare three slots of 20 minutes – it all adds up.

You will always find time to do things you really want to do. If you genuinely can’t find the time for one hour a day then you probably don’t want to write a book that much.

If, however, you do want to do it, and don’t want to regret it later in life, perhaps I can help you get started.

I offer a three-month mentoring programme to help you kickstart your book. We will create an extensive plan, a realistic writing schedule and I can guide on writing style, formatting and direction. Why not take the first step towards your dream and email or call me right now!

Know your objective

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 15:13:05 GMT

The importance of the reader's experience

In a recent attempt to motivate myself back into running following a slump I decided to read two books about running: Y our Pace or Mine by Lisa Jackson and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami.

On the surface both books were the 'same'. Both authors are marathon/ultramarathon runners, both are passionate about running and both books were a story of their lives in running.

However, one left me annoyed as it represented everything I hate about running and the running community and the other made me lace up my trainers and register for a couple of races (fingers crossed they go ahead). I may even buy a novelty hat to get into the spirit.

Jackson's book was about the joy of running, and the wonderful positive experiences she has had. As an ultramarathon runner (more than 26.6 miles in one go), and someone who runs at least one marathon a month her approach to running was refreshing. She didn't care about time - other than she never wanted to be picked up by the sweeper bus - and judged the success of a race by how many people she had chatted to on the course.

Murakami's book on the other hand was about pushing yourself to the extreme. He runs every day for at least 6 miles, and runs one marathon a year. After running the same routes for years he is on nodding terms with other runners. He considers a sub-four hour marathon to be a disaster, and is fixated on time and pushing past the pain barrier.

Jackson's book was about motivating people to run and showing that the running world can be an inclusive place, whereas Murakami's book was a personal account, which left me as a slow runner feeling utterly dejected at my marathon times. Jackson's book made me actually look at my times for Bournemouth 2017 and London 2018 and be proud that I earned those medals, blisters and manky runner's feet. She made me feel two marathons in six months (and one of the hottest on record) was an achievement. Murakami's book made me want to hide the times and never discuss them again.

These two books demonstrated perfectly to me the importance when writing a book to actually think about your reader and what you want them to feel when they've finished.

Lisa Jackson obviously wanted to make the reader feel motivated to get out running. For me, I feel Murakami wanted the reader to understand more about what made him tick as a runner and was not intended to motivate them.

When I work with authors on their books this is one of the first questions we work on - what is the reader going to get out of finishing your book? How do you want them to feel? As a writer you have this power.

If these questions are answered carefully then it can help guide the writing so that this goal is actually achieved.

If you have an idea for a book pootling around in your brain and you would like to start the journey to getting it written contact me about my mentoring programme today or book a cal l with me.

The Curse of Knowledge

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Tue, 23 Feb 2021 13:49:56 GMT

Can too much knowledge be a curse?

Most of us pride ourselves in the knowledge we have about our business, industry or a specific subject. Our knowledge can be the result of many years of studying, hours and hours of practical experience as well as the motivation to increase the knowledge we have.

Knowledge is a wonderful thing - except when you are writing for non-experts.

Have you ever read an article which from the title sounds fascinating but then whilst reading you've been so bamboozled by the jargon, over-complicated descriptions and industry specific vocabulary that you stopped reading? This can makes the reader feel inadequate, right? Like they're not bright enough to understand such a complex subject.

The problem in these cases can often be attributed to the author, because they are not writing for the specific audience they are aiming their article at.

When writing for a non-expert audience (and in business marketing, this is most of the time) you need to consider a few key points.

• What does the audience already know?

• What do they need to know about the topic in question?

• What can you leave out?

The more knowledgeable you are the harder these questions are to answer. But, for example, there is little point peppering your text with jargon (DPLs, NIBs, Splash) if the audience has no idea what they mean, so you need to carefully evaluate to what extent you need to expand and explain.

Essentially the curse of knowledge is not being able to remember or even imagine not knowing the information you have (imagine not knowing the song Happy Birthday). This can be a massive problem when writing for your business.

If you 'forget' that your audience may not understand industry jargon you may instantly isolate them.

In the first scene of the IT Crowd we have a wonderful example of this.

Roy answers the phone with "Have you tried turning it off and on again?" whereas Moss asks "Have you tried forcing an unexpected reboot?" - it's not surprising the hapless user eventually hangs up on Moss.

So, what is the answer to this curse?

The main answer is to consider your audience carefully, and then consider the language you are using and whether it is industry specific or not and more importantly aimed at the person you are trying to reach. If you're not sure ask someone - your husband, wife, best friend, "would you know what SSL is?" If they don't know and they are in your target market group then consider an explanation.

Alternatively, you could send any finished blogs/articles to me providing me with an idea of who it's aimed at and I can highlight those bits which don't make sense or could do with clarifying. This curse is not terminal it just needs a bit of careful management.

Follow the Formula or Perish

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Wed, 17 Feb 2021 09:51:18 GMT

How to get the most of self-help and business books

I am a big fan of self-help, business books, and coaching sessions to try to take my business and my personal development to the next level. I am a perpetual student.

However, I am many coaches’ and teachers' worst nightmare as I question and adapt and remodel all the advice I get – cherry picking what I think works for my business and more importantly for my personality.

Follow the Formula

The majority of self-help books seem to follow the idea that if you stick to their formula to the letter you will succeed but if you deviate from the method in any way, you are doomed to failure and therefore don’t care about your self-development enough or believe in your business enough.

I don’t buy into this at all.

We are all unique

Many of these programmes, whilst telling you to embrace your uniqueness are in fact trying to mould you into replicas of them. "This worked for me so it will work for you too. "

Humans are wonderfully diverse, with interesting histories and experiences which have led to a unique collection of contradictions.

Therefore, it is very very difficult to insist following a formula exactly will work the same for anyone. We are all starting at different points on the journey and therefore it has to be adapted to work with individuals.

We are not broken

Another common feature of many development programmes seems to be looking for the problems (in you and your business) and 'fixing them' rather than helping the reader to identify their strengths and amplify them.

One of the worst books for this, in my opinion, was The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod. He actually states that before you can grow you must start by admitting you are mediocre! Then through his programme you can become a 'Level 10' person. These people are pretty much defined by their success in business, money and lifestyle.

I can’t work out how admitting you're mediocre is good for you. No one is mediocre, we all have strengths and we all have things we could improve on. I am not mediocre because I have no idea how to change the oil in my car or because I don't speak Japanese in the same way someone else is not mediocre because they work for minimum wage, don't find writing easy and could get lost walking in a straight line (that’s me too actually).

Wanting to learn new skills or improve skills does not mean you are starting from a place of failure or mediocrity. We all need to identify our strengths and then use those to help improve the things we are less successful at.

Self-development has little room for contentment

I have also noticed that although many self-help books are advocating leading a contented life, there is little room in their formulae for actually reaching this.

For example, advocates of the Law of Attraction leave little room for people to be content and not actually want £1million or a new car. It seems to me that if you don’t actually want anything other than maintained contentment their whole ethos collapses. This seems to be followed by statements like if you don’t want anything you must be scared of change and that means you need to work on fixing that .

But this directly contradicts the Law of Attraction love of affirmations like "You are enough" - you can't both be enough as you are and constantly strive for something other.

As Caroline Pattendon says, "You are enough, you always have been. It's time to start a revolution and say no to change for the sake of it, no to pressure to look a certain way and no to competing for job positions because it feels like it's something you ought to do." ( Breathe Magazine , Issue 331, July 2020).

Change and growth are wonderful things, but no one should be made to feel a failure if they don't reach someone else's idea of success or contentment.

A tricky conundrum

Despite these quite baffling contradictions I quite like self-help books and business books as they can be a source of great ideas. But it can be hard to ignore all the negative messaging designed to make you feel bad and then fail because the steps to follow are not feasible for your lifestyle.

The cynic in me sees that these formulae are designed to end in failure (or at best semi-success) so you can buy the second book, enrol on the course, or one to one training. As Stephanie Lam states, "Welcome to a board game called You Could Do Better! It's designed so that however many sixes you roll, you'll always be last. In fact, it's a game you'll never win." ( Breathe Magazine , Issue 331, July 2020).

I approach these books with an an open mind and I approach these books as an expert.

An expert in me, my ethos, my abilities and more importantly my boundaries.

I am happy to try new things and want to do this – but they have to be right for me.

I have rarely followed a formula 100% which if I believed the negative messaging is why I am not a captain of industry and ruling my own part of a capitalist empire.

Just because a formula worked for the author doesn’t mean it will work the same for every person who reads the book (or attends the workshop) because we are all coming from different places and are all going to different places.

I try to take something away from every book I read or course I attend, but only follow the steps which fits with me and my ethos and sparks interest.

This doesn’t mean I don’t care about myself or my business. In fact, it means the opposite.

I care so much about my business and my own development that I’m not prepared to compromise my principles because a business book author, coach or online guru states it’s the only way to success.

The only way for me is my way. This means my clients know they will always get the authentic me, even when I am trying out new things which are out of my comfort zone. They will still be quintessentially Charlotte.

A day in the life of a writer

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Tue, 26 Jan 2021 15:22:33 GMT

A day in the life of a writer

When we think of the life of a writer a very romanticised image is conjured. That of someone sitting at a desk with a typewriter in front of a window with spectacular views.

Even I have this image in my head and I have been a writer for years and know it to be nonsense.

Let's be honest, who remembers the last time they used an old-fashioned typewriter with daisy wheels and ribbons? Well, exactly.

My life as a copywriter is sadly far removed from this ideal. My desk faces a wall and has two large screens, a series of scented candles and my Bob Ross talking bobblehead for inspiration. Oh yes, and post-it notes. Lots of them.

My desk has to face the wall. If it faced the window I would never get anything done as I would be watching squirrels, birds and the neighbours' cats strolling through my garden.

As I write for a living I do have a work routine, but there are some days where I am not in the 'mood' to write so my schedule goes out of the window. Although I always deliver everything on time.

In the morning I generally proofread any manuscripts, web pages or books. I'm not sure why I do this in the morning - I just prefer it that way.

Then after lunch it's blog, website and case study writing time. I have two ways of doing this. Some items I will write, proofread and send within a couple of hours but there are others that I write and then save until the next day when I will edit, proofread and send. There's no real logic to this, it depends on my feelings at the time and whether I need to think a little bit more about a subject.

There are some days when I can't write but that doesn't mean I am not working. I will set the page up with headings, keywords and rough ideas and save it. Then I let my mind ruminate on the topic until I am ready to write. I think of this as 'baking' - I've put the cake into the oven, and it will slowly bake until I am ready to put the icing on. Oh yes, writers eat a lot of cake.

One thing that people can find surprising is that writing for a living is a lot more tiring than you'd think. When writing I am 100% focused, and if I am distracted by my email or social media it takes a while to get back to it, so I try to limit distractions. Hence no window. With such focused work it can also be hard to focus for more than four or five hours a day.

When the world was open for business I would take some work outside. I would proofread in coffee shops, and research blogs whilst in the library and ruminate on things whilst walking around the shops or a museum. I always had a notebook with me to jot down ideas as they come to me (I have never got on with notes on my phone. I always forget I have written them). I look forward to being able to work in different places again.

Being a writer is not a glamourous job and we do spend a lot of time in our heads - whether writing for pleasure or business. But it is a wonderful job and I feel privileged that I am able to do this every day and get paid.

What is SEO?

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 16:34:41 GMT

What is SEO and why do we need it?

Most people have heard of SEO and know that they need to incorporate it into their marketing materials. However, not everyone really understands what it is and why they need it.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and is a means of ensuring your website and web content rank higher on search engines.

There are various elements to SEO which include:

• Keywords – the words clients search for on Google.

• Content – this includes written copy, videos, podcasts, infographics and social media posts.

• Off-page SEO – This is all the stuff that goes on in the background, like links from other websites to yours.

• Local SEO - as well as keywords linking to a particular area, this also includes location specific pages, MyBusiness, Google Maps and Google+.

• Search Engine Marketing – which means choosing the right paid adverts.

Why do we need SEO?

When you create a website, you are creating a store front for your business. However, if no one can find your website then it won’t bring clients your way.

When you use Google, for example, how often do you look at the results on page 2 or page 10? Probably rarely.

Most businesses, therefore, are trying to get onto page 1 of Google without having to pay to do so (although the top few hits on page 1 are always paid for ads).

To get onto page 1 is aided by SEO.

How to utilize SEO?

Essentially to improve your SEO rating you need to include keywords in your web content and blogs. Keywords are the search terms people use when searching Google. For me, they may search ‘Copywriter, Swindon’ or ‘Ghostwriter’ or ‘Copywriter, Wiltshire’. By including these in my content I am more likely to come up in the search near the top of the listings

SEO Writing

Obviously for me the content writing is the most important aspect, but I want to make it clear I do content writing with SEO in mind and not SEO writing.

So, what is the difference?

• SEO Writing is essentially taking a list of keywords and writing the content around this list and trying to include them all.

• Writing with SEO in mind is when I take a topic and write the content before looking at the list of keywords and then when finished see which I can add organically by rephrasing something or replacing words.

For me, content writing is not about the number of keywords I can include, it is more about including them in an appropriate place, so the content is easy to read, reflects the brand of the client I am writing for and doesn’t read like SEO-generated copy.

Difference between a content writer and SEO

When you hire an SEO company to work on the SEO for your business you are getting the full package as above. They will have a hands-on approach to your website and how it performs.

A copywriter will produce content for the website – just one aspect of the SEO package. However, if an SEO specialist writes your content you may get some odd phrases included.

For example, recently a client wanted the heading, "What can third party providers do?" in their content as this was an SEO keyword search and they had been told to include it. However, the meaning of this question is ambiguous. Does it mean, ability, legal possibilities or services offered?

What they actually wanted me to answer was "What services do third party providers offer?" which is grammatically correct and a better reflection of the brand than the keyword title asked for.

SEO definitely has it s place, but when you want engaging, valuable content you also need to ensure the language used (whether keywords or not) is of the type that reflects your brand and the image you are trying to project. If you want to promote clarity, ambiguous search-engine generated headings are not the way to provide it.

If you would like to talk to me about writing blogs for your business you can email me on information@poppleservices.com or call me .

New Year, New You

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Mon, 28 Dec 2020 20:44:28 GMT

What has 2021 got in store.

Like many people I can't say I am sad to see the back of 2020. It's been a pretty grim year for most people - myself included. Unfortunately I am realistic enough to know that once the champagne corks pop and Big Ben starts the bongs on 31st December very little will actually change. We will still be in a cycle of lockdowns, restrictions and general peddling of fear and doom and gloom by the media and the government.

What will change, however, is me.

2020 has been a tough year for me, mentally speaking. It has been a roller coaster of depression, despair, anger and a general feeling of "what is the point?" With a lot of expletives and mini-meltdowns thrown in for good measure. I am so lucky my other half has kept a supply of emergency chocolate for such incidents.

I have however, been very lucky that Popple Services has been growing for the past year and I am truly thankful to all my clients, old and new who have helped me on this journey. I am so grateful that my business has survived when so many have failed.

In 2021 I want to continue to grow, both as a business and as a person and I intend to start the year with a positive mind-set. Obviously, that is a lot easier said than done and especially considering that we have no idea what 2021 has in store.

But if it's the zombie apocalypse I am so ready for it!

As for Popple Services, in 2020 I introduced an author mentoring programme and I have found it truly inspiring. I want to work with a lot more authors in 2021 as it is wonderful seeing the books as they emerge from someone's mind into a manuscript, as well as watching confidence grow as proposals are sent to publishers!

I also look forward to continuing to work with my current clients on their blog posts and websites and am really excited to see what new clients are going to introduce themselves to me this year.

And you never know, maybe I will get time to work on my own articles and books - a writer is, after all, only as good as their last book.

Ding Dong, the Christmas Witch

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Mon, 28 Dec 2020 20:22:15 GMT

The European Christmas Witch

I am a big fan of local legends and folklore and around Christmas time our friends in Europe excel themselves. I have already written about Krampus, the anti-Santa who punishes those children who find themselves on the naughty list.

So, when I lived in Italy, I was thoroughly confused by plastic Christmas witches for sale everywhere. This delightful elderly lady was Befana, who delivers gifts to children on the night before Epiphany (January 5th). The name Befana is thought to have originated from the Italian mispronunciation of the Greek word Epifania (Epiphany).

If they are good the children will have their socks filled with yummy sweets, but if they are naughty she will give them a lump of coal or a stick in Sicily. As a particular houseproud visitor it is thought that Befana also sweeps the floor before she leaves – shame she doesn’t visit the UK, as we’ve had builders in for a while and I can’t keep on top of the mud and dust! In reality most children receive a lump of coal (candy coloured black with caramel) to acknowledge that no child is perfect and has their off days.

Befana travels around Italy on a broomstick, carrying a sack or hamper full of sweets for the children. She enters the home via the chimney where at the bottom of which the family leave her a glass of wine and some snacks.

Origins of Befana

So where does the idea of a Christmas witch come from?

According to one legend Befana was approached by the three wise men a few days before the birth of Christ, and they asked her for directions. Although she didn’t know the way to the main event, as the best housekeeper in the village she asked them to stay over for the night. In gratitude they then asked her to join them on their journey to the baby Jesus. She declined as she had too much to do in her home, but later changed her mind.

She packed a bag of baked goods, and a broom for the virgin mother to sweep the stable. She tried to catch up with the wise men but couldn’t find them so 2000 years later she is still flying around looking for baby Jesus. She leaves a gift for all good children as she believes Christ is in all children.

Annual Festivities

Urbania, just east of Florence is thought to be the ‘home’ of Befana, even though she is part of Christmas festivities all over Italy. Every year in Urbania there is a Befana festival between the 2nd and 6th January where as many as 50,000 people attend, many dressed as the loveable Christmas witch.

Another Christmas Witch

In Bavaria and Austria, Perchta or Bertha, is a lot less benign than Befana, and is more in line with Krampus. Perchta the Christmas witch enters homes throughout the twelve days of Christmas, especially on the twelfth night. She was able to identify which children had been good and leaves them a little silver coin in a shoe or a pail.

However, she was a bit more hardcore with the naughty kids and was particularly judgemental about whether the young girls had spun all their allotted flax by the twelfth night. With the naughty children, and lazy spinners Perchta gutted them, removed their internal organs and replaced them with pebbles and straw.

She roams about Bavaria with a group of Perchten – an army of servants who resemble Krampus as well as souls of unbaptised children to carry out the Wild Hunt. On the twelfth night if you hear any noises it could be Perchta and her merry Perchten and it is best to stay inside and hide under the bed.

In order to placate Perchta families leave food and drink for her but if you haven'y spun all your flax and have a messy house it may not cut much slack.

I would love it if the UK had some more sinister Christmas traditions, or at least brought some back, like the Tudor Mummers for example. With Santa rewarding all good and naughty children, there is no punishment or threat for bad behaviour. Kids know they'll get gifts regardless. If you knew Krampus or Perchta was on their way if you were bad you may check your behaviour through the year.

Krampus

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Mon, 28 Dec 2020 20:22:13 GMT

The True Meaning of Christmas

I’m quite intrigued by Christmas traditions.

But I feel these are being lost as every year Christmas becomes a Supermarket Sweep challenge to see how much you can buy in as short a space of time as possible.

Clearly this commercialisation of Christmas has increased drip by drip over the years. People get into hundreds of pounds of debt for what is essentially one day. The celebration itself is of the birth of Jesus – an aspect that is forgotten under the pressures of Christmas lists, must-have buys, £30 stocking fillers, drunkenness and extreme gluttony. In the modern world what does Christmas celebrate? Abundance?

Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas as much as anyone – who can’t love all the glitter, sparkle and a tub of Quality Street?

But I think it might be good idea to take a step back and perhaps hit the “reset to factory settings” button. This commercialisation of the holiday is unsustainable.

I recently watched the Netflix Christmas movie, Klaus, which is great BTW, but the bit that stuck with me was the scene where one horrible little boy did not get a present from Nick because of his behaviour.

We all know about Santa’s naughty and nice list but how many children these days are not given presents because of their behaviour. Today it’s irrelevant … it’s Christmas.

This got me thinking of older traditions – and today is the tradition of Krampus.

Krampusnacht

December 5 is Krampusnacht – the night before the day of Saint Nicholas – both days celebrated in central Europe including Bavaria, Austria, Hungary, Northern Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Krampus is an ugly critter; half-goat, half-demon with fangs and a long tongue.

His sole role is to punish children who have misbehaved whereas good children will get pressies on December 6 as a reward from Saint Nicholas.

Krampus carries birch wood (ruten) to whip naughty children and chains to drag them away, he even has a basket to put them in – he really doesn’t mess about.

The birch branches are often associated with pagan Wiccan rituals and the chains are thought to be associated with early Christian traditions of binding the devil.

Although he is a terrifying creature, since the 19th century krampuskarten (Krampus cards) are exchanged with images of Krampus looming over naughty kiddies or chasing buxom ladies. The images of Krampus himself have become cuter in style as time as progressed.

What does he do?

On Krampusnacht Krampus will appear on the streets visiting homes and businesses. Where he finds evidence of naughty children he leaves coal and bundles of ruten or birch branches as a warning.

On this night there are often Krampusnacht parades across central Europe and even some places in the USA, where people dress as Krampus and chase children – all in a nice controlled environment.

It’s also traditional to offer Krampus a schnapps as a means of placating him – for me this lessens the evil a bit if an Archers and Lemonade would chill him out.

What is the significance?

Like Saint Nicholas, Krampus comes from a pre-Christian pagan tradition but only seems to have been paired with Saint Nick in the 17th century creating the perfect balance of good vs evil, positive and negative, ying vs yang.

The idea that you are rewarded for good behaviour is a wonderful one, but if there is no alternative for bad behaviour surely it dilutes this reward.

I don’t think for one minute we should try to terrify kids with tales of Krampus but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to teach them about responsibility for their own actions and that every action carries consequences.

Good actions are rewarded whereas bad actions are not. This has always been part of the Christmas message but it is lost with Christmas being solely about ‘stuff’ and not about behaviour. Santa never leaves a child out – regardless of his naughty list.

So why not do something extraordinary this Christmas and feel that you earned those gifts under the tree, or at least earned that chilled Archers and Lemonade.

What should a cover letter cover?

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 16:51:05 GMT

It's an introduction not a biography.

Once you have crafted a beautiful master CV, and then honed it specifically for the job you are applying for attention can be turned to the cover letter.

You need to spend as long on this as you can as the cover letter is likely to be looked at before the CV and therefore needs to be an enticing introduction to you and your skills. This does not mean you write a mini (or a full-length) biography here, nor will two lines do. It's important to hit the right tone, and give them enough information.

First things first - have a copy of your CV in front of you, and a copy of the job spec and person spec.

What to include

Your cover letter should be as unique as you are, but there are some key points to remember.

1. Customise - Always write a new letter for every job application. Although it is acceptable to use a template if you need to, the letter itself should be customised.

2. Personalise - A letter needs to be addressed to someone personally (e.g. Mr Brown, Ms. Green). Sometimes there is a name on the bottom of the job advert, but if there isn't then search the company website for the name of the HR manager or the head of the department you are applying for. If you genuinely can't find a name then use "Head of HR" or "Recruitment Manager".

3. Tantalise - Your first paragraph should never start with "My name is ...", they can see this from the CV, the letter sign off or the email address it was sent from and will just get them rolling their eyes. You can start with "I'm applying for the role of ...". But using something more exciting is better to tanatalise them into reading more (e.g. As an experienced Project Manager, I was excited to see this role come up at [company name] a forerunner in the industry). Praise the company, highlight the relevant experience or your passion for the industry.

4. It's all there - Using the job and person specification you can summarise how your experience makes you the best candidate for the role. These documents tell you exactly what the company is looking for - so use it to guide what you write in the cover letter. If they want an experienced Project Manager - summarise your experience briefly (e.g. Having spent 15 years at Amazon as a Project Manager I have the experience to take on the challenge of working for you). If in doubt, or you find the letter is reading like a dispassionate list, think about how you would tell your gran about what you do.

5. It's about them not you - Avoid writing about how the company would be great for your career, and how working for them would benefit you. What's more important to the hiring manager is how you can help them, and how your experience will benefit the team.

6. Positivity - Keep your language positive and never highlight gaps in your CV or aspects of the job description you don't have (e.g. Whilst I have not held the position of Project Manager, I have lots of experience). Write about what you can do, and highlight your strengths and where you DO match the job description.

7. Brevity - A cover letter should be no longer than one A4 side. That doesn't mean 9 point font, single spaced with extended margins. If it is too long, cut the words not the formatting.

Writing a cover letter is not easy but it is worth spending time on it. If you would like some help writing your CV or cover letter why not contact me today and let's get you on the path to your dream job.

One size doesn't fit all

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 16:51:04 GMT

Why your CV has to be 'rewritten' for every job

In my previous post on CVs I explained the need for various versions of your CV to suit the specific role you are applying for and explained that I personally have a master CV, a journalism CV, archaeology and Egyptology CV and an admin and management CV.

However, in addition to having different CVs per job role, it is important that your CV is tweaked for each specific job application and job specification.

As insane as that sounds, this is just a sign of the modern technological world. Gone are the days of CVs being hard copy on a recruitment manager's desk (although that's not to say they are not still printed off by some). Instead, CVs are received electronically and then processed from there.

And that is precisely where the problem starts.

Some businesses have implemented a wonderful time saving device known as applicant tracking system (ATS) software.

By entering set parameters the recruitment process is automated by ATS, so only CVs matching certain keywords, particular skills, specific employers, roles or even schools will be selected. Although latest innovations in AI mean that the CV can be more carefully aligned with job specifications and requirements I find such means of matching people and roles a sad sign of modern depersonalisation.

ATS systems can misread PDF CVs, can reject great people because they don't have the right words in their CVs as well as automatic removal of every CV that the system can't read or interpret. This is bad news in general for both recruiters and jobseekers. According to InterviewSuccessFomula.com on average 50 percent of applications are rejected by these systems.

But what this means specifically to the job seeker is, that if their CV does not have a number of specific key words, or the right ex-employers an actual human may never actually see your CV and may not identify that you have all the required skills to excel at the job.

To ensure that your CV at least gets looked at if one of these applicant tracking systems is used, it is important to match your CV closely with the job specification and requirements for the job you are applying for.

For example, if you are applying for a Project Management role and have the experience, but not necessarily a matching job title you need to ensure 'project management' or 'project manager' is mentioned somewhere on your CV either in role descriptions or the personal statement.

They say job hunting is a full-time job, and such ATS systems ensures this is the case for the job seeker who has to essentially rewrite their CV for every job application.

For every job, the average number of applicants is 118 and of them only 20 percent (23.6 people) will get an interview. So it is hard enough finding work without failing at the first automated hurdle.

If you are job hunting and would like a master CV or a role-specific CV drafted then why not contact me today. It could be the first step to your dream job.

Writing a smashing CV

183:854881542 (Charlotte Booth) — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 16:51:03 GMT

Getting your foot in the door.

Looking for a job is stressful at the best of times, but at the moment the job market is brutal with thousands of people coming onto the job market all applying for the same jobs - some over-qualified for what they are applying for.

So how do you stand out?

The answer to getting over the first hurdle is having a functional and impressive CV.

Dos and Don'ts with CVs

It is difficult to summarise a life-time of working and experience onto two sides of A4 paper. One of the most common mistakes is that people will put too much information on their CVs. So here are ten dos and don'ts when writing a CV to get noticed.

1 - Do not write long blocks of text - recruiters with hundreds of applications won't have the time or inclination to read it, no matter how impressive it is.

2 - Bullet point the important points - If you worked in a pub, there is no need to write a job spec (everyone knows what bar staff do), but bullet point anything over and above the ordinary (cashing up at the end of the night, stock ordering, talking fighting drunks down).

3 - Don't waste space with hobbies - If you are struggling for space weigh up the value of using a third of the page for hobbies. If you are applying for a job as a personal trainer talking about a fundraiser where you ran 27 marathons in a month is valid, but not so much if you are applying for an accountancy job. How valuable is reading, going to the cinema, and going to the gym really in getting that dream job?

4 - Multiple CVs - Many people think they can have a multi-purpose CV but for many this may not be appropriate. For example I have four CVs - journalism and writing, Egyptology and archaeology, management and administration, and teaching - all of which can be taken and formed from my 'master CV'. If I am applying for an archaeology position my management and administration experience may not be relevant. So depending on the job, I am able to put together a CV with all the relevant experience outlined.

5 - You don't have to have everything in chronological order - Having a CV in reverse chronological order is the traditional means of putting a CV together and this works perfectly for someone who has followed a linear career path. For others it may end up pushing the most irrelevant experience to the top (for example, if between marketing jobs, you have taken a job with Amazon delivering parcels to tide you over, you don't want this to be the first thing the recruiter sees). You can present your CV in any way you like with sub-sections such as relevant experience, current role, supporting experience. As each CV should be catered for a specific role, you can play with this to ensure what is at the top is your selling point.

6 - You don't have to fit everything to two pages - It is a common adage that your CV must fit onto two sides of A4. Whilst this is ideal it is not set in stone - this is more for convenience for the recruiter when printing out. I have seen many CVs where people have adhered to this arbitrary rule by reducing the margins on the page so the text goes right to the edge. This looks awful. If you desperately want to stick to two pages, cut the text not the margins. But having three pages of valuable experience is not the end of the world.

7 - Format is king - Imagine this scenario. You apply for a job and 2,000 other, similarly qualified and experienced people have also applied (this is based on a job I applied for in Egyptology). Now imagine the recruiter, with 2,000 CVs on their desk. Which page are they going to look at to decide whether the person is a viable candidate or not? All of them? Not a chance. The first paragraph or two on page one, if you are lucky. So don't fill page one with personal details (address, education, skills and hobbies) - they go at the end. The first page should have your most relevant experience and perhaps a short personal statement saying why you are great for the job. If they have asked for an MA in flower arranging, they will assume you have this or you wouldn't have applied so there is no need to have that on the front page.

8 - List your transferable skills - if you have skills which have been used in numerous roles, rather than repeating them under each role, have them in a single section. This is for useful skills like public speaking, cold calling, fluent Spanish etc. Most people are proficient on the Microsoft or Apple packages so this doesn't need to be listed unless they have asked for skills in a particular piece of software, but if you are an expert in SAGE or can programme in Java or Python they should go in.

9 - Keep the specific job in mind - unless you are creating your 'master CV' which will include everything you have done in chronological order, when compiling your CV you should keep the specific job role in mind that you are actually applying for. Everything you write down should demonstrate how awesome you would be at that specific job. Being able to draw a Guinness shamrock in the head of a pint isn't going to get you a job as a marketing executive so it doesn't need to go in.

10 - Your CV is as unique as you are - Whilst there is best practice with CV writing, there are no hard and fast rules. By keeping point 7 and 9 in mind, you can create the most appropriate and eye-catching CV for the role you are applying for.

11 - Bonus tip! Don't use mad fonts - Trying to stand out doesn't mean using loads of fonts or coloured text. This does little but irritate the recruiter and show a lack of confidence. Let your words speak for themselves.

CV writing is not a quick task - especially in a competitive industry. But it is an essential task. Having a CV which is well-crafted and presents you as the best you can be can be the first step in getting that dream job. If you would like help with your CV or work with organisations offering outplacement support I am happy to discuss your requirements. Drop me an email and let's get the ball rolling.