new book writing workshop!

How would you like to finally start that book?

Here’s your chance.

Writing a book is one of the best ways for consultants and entrepreneurs to build credibility and share their expertise. For many of us, it’s also a life-long dream that ranks high on our life list of things to accomplish someday.

Well, someday may be sooner than you thought. This dream is well within your reach.

Here’s your chance to get started on the book you’ve always wanted to write — even if you’re not sure where to start and not quite ready to dive in and commit to getting the whole thing done at once.

Try just a taste first. A low-cost, low-pressure way to tiptoe into the water at the shallow end and see how it feels to start writing and make progress.

Join Peggy Jordan’s NEW Book Writers Quick-Start Workshop:

• One month
• Five sessions
• A price even starving artists can afford
• A roomful of supportive peers
• Your table of contents? Done.
• Your book’s introduction? Done.
• Your action plan for getting that book written? Ready to roll.

It’s that simple.

Email Peggy now to sign up or learn more.

Peggy Jordan’s intuitive, interactive Quick-Start Workshop will give you the direction, support, and tools you need to jump start your book.

• Learn how to make the space and time in your over-scheduled life to write.
• Discover your target audience to write the book your readers really want and need.
• Get more writing done in less time by understanding and leveraging your own energy levels and working style.
• Clearly define your subject and your own unique approach to it.
• Build the support network and line up the resources you’ll need to see the project through.
• Get crystal clear about your purpose — the great big “why” that powers everything else.
• Create an action plan and system to keep your book moving forward — at a pace you can sustain — no matter how crazy life gets.

Space is limited and will go fast — sign up now to guarantee your spot!

Book-writing coach and mentor Peggy Jordan specializes in helping busy professionals turn their book ideas into actual manuscripts.

With decades of experience as a marketing writer, technical writer, editor, trainer, mediator, songwriter, and jazz musician, Peggy knows the secrets of crafting language that sings — words that ring true and clear for both reader and writer.

She excels at helping authors find and maintain that delicate balance between creativity and discipline that gets results.

Join Peggy Jordan’s NEW Book Writers Quick-Start Workshop:

• October 22 – November 19
• Wednesdays, 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
• $197

It’s that simple.

Remember the Woody Allen Quote about how 80% of success is showing up? Here’s your chance to show up for something that will make a real difference in your work and your life.

Email Peggy — right now — to sign up or learn more, and you will have taken the first big step.

Other workshop participants and clients have been thrilled with their results:

This is the best thing I’ve ever done for myself, and I couldn’t have done it without everyone’s support. Thank you, Peggy, for helping us achieve our dreams.

– Donna Geisler, partner at FusionSet, Inc. and author of I’ve Tried Marketing and It Works!

Peggy Jordan’s book writing workshop has been a powerful tool for me. I went from wanting to be a writer to actually becoming one. She is a wealth of knowledge and is kindly supportive and understanding about what the process of writing a book is all about.

– Sandra Wood, Inner Path Coaching, author of A Guide To Self-Empowerment

This is a famously supportive and well-structured workshop. Along the way, Peggy encourages, cajoles, and — in an ever supportive way — asks writers to keep up the pace, never give up, and keep their dream alive.

– Rochelle Lierz DeLong, CEO at Consilio and author of Paper Stories

Sign up today for Peggy Jordan’s NEW Book Writers Quick-Start Workshop:

• One month
• Five sessions
• A roomful of supportive peers
• Structure, direction, and support
• Only $197

You want to do this.

You can do this.

Isn’t it about time to take the first step?

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Is it just me, or have the rest of you been noticing the proliferation of commas newly being added between the “Hi” and “[recipient's name here]” in email salutations?

One of the most intriguing and confusing things about email etiquette is its flexibility. The old conventions of letter writing don’t apply, and informality has become the norm. As a writer and professional geek, I worry about details like this. And I realize that the following is technically correct if you consider the salutation a complete sentence:

Hi, Peggy.

It’s time we did something about this. Call me.

But to me, it comes across as, “Uh-oh. I’m in trouble. What follows must be bad news.” Something about that period at the end is so sobering. I’ll admit, the first time I saw it was the beginning of an email in which a potential client was responding to my enthusiastic pitch to say, never mind. So I interpreted it as, “Hmm. Don’t get too excited, here.”

I also realize that one accepted, professional, and concise way to address an email recipient is this:

Peggy,

It’s time we did something about this. Call me.

This comes across — to me — as totally neutral. No blame, no promises, but all business. It works. But for my own communications, I’d rather be more friendly than that, especially since I work with the same clients so often and we feel comfortable and familiar with each other. This can, of course, lead to the other end of the spectrum, even going so far as emoticons. Hate to admit it, but I kinda like them. I realize that the following is not necessarily considered professional, but I always smile myself when I get one like it:

Hi Peggy!

It’s time we did something about this. Call me.

In my immediate reaction, I take this as 1) the sender is really glad to “see” me and 2) what follows must be good news, as in an invitation to something fun. Whether or not the sender puts a comma after the “Hi” doesn’t mitigate the enthusiasm.

My conundrum is: As a professional writer and grammar geek, do I go with the friendly version that’s not technically correct? The grammatically correct version that’s not really me? The business-as-usual version? I believe it’s important to pick one and stick with it. I’m seriously considering going back to:

Dear Peggy,

It’s time we did something about this. Just make up your mind, already.

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Just read a colleague’s post — http://www.webinknow.com/2007/08/the-gobbledygoo.html — that makes my day. David Meerman Scott’s updated manifesto makes me feel so, well, validated. Having written more than my share of jargon-ridden pieces — always under tactful protest, having tried to point out the futility of using worn cliches instead of language that actually means anything — I welcome David’s call to action.

He’s no mere ranter. His book, “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” has been a huge hit and a favorite of mine, and his ideas have been put into practice by many of us who’ve been evangelizing about relevant content, transparency, and saying something uniquely real instead of eye-rolling phrases like “…exceeding customer expectations with turnkey business solutions to optimize shareholder value…”

You know how in personal ads, almost every single guy claims to be “caring, easygoing, and honest to a fault?” And people of all genders “can go from jeans around the cabin to a tux for a night on the town” or the like? I mean, they all say that, so most are probably stretching things and besides, what’s so special about that? Depending on your life experience, you may also have heard that the first rule of being a girl is: Never trust a guy who says “Trust me.”

It’s like that with corporations, too, and even with small businesses and entrepreneurs. If you use the same messaging everyone else is using, no one will believe you. And even more importantly, no one will have any idea who you are and what you do. That’s why it makes sense to take some time to think about who YOU are, what YOU offer, uniquely and specifically, and how that benefits YOUR CUSTOMERS in a way that matters to them and that your competitors can’t match. It also really pays to keep abreast of what your competitors — and marketers in general — are saturating the market with so you know what not to say. A tough assignment, I realize, but that’s why they invented copywriters. I and any number of my competent colleagues are standing by to come to the rescue.

Popularity: 31% [?]

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One of my favorite clients is writing his first e-book and has been sending me drafts, asking for my professional opinion about whether the book is “there” yet. It’s a tough question to answer since “there” means such different things to different people. But it did get me thinking about what makes the difference between a book or e-book I’m excited about and one that makes me think, “I can’t believe somebody is actually charging $19.95 for this.”

What does “there” look like? It’s easy to judge from the bleachers as a reader, but harder to keep perspective in mid-game when you’re the writer. We all know that it’s better to be useful than clever. The basic principles they teach in technical communication class are the basic characteristics successful business books have in common.

Continue reading “What makes a business book good?”

Popularity: 20% [?]

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In public speaking as in writing, it’s all too easy to go on and on and on. As a Toastmaster, I know that the biggest challenge in giving a speech is to keep from running over your alloted time, so I’ve worked hard to edit down my speeches to their core messages and to keep from going off on tangents during the live performance. It’s not easy. There’s always that irresistible urge to throw in more ideas, more advice. but last week I learned a trick surprisingly useful for both speaking and writing.

At last week’s Capitol Club Toastmasters meeting, my assignment was to deliver a 5-to-7-minute speech with a clear purpose that got right to its point. And pretty much stayed there. So, instead of using my usual speech-writing method of free-writing for several pages pages, gradually winnowing all of that down to the best parts, then timing it, realizing I still had way to much material and winnowing again — I tried a new approach. This time, the written draft of my speech was only four sentences long.

Continue reading “Sticking to the Point”

Popularity: 29% [?]

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The process of writing my own website content — or rather, the process of failing to get anything written or posted for way, way too long — taught me some lessons about how it feels to be a client. It’s difficult to know exactly what you want to say until you try a few things and see what works and what doesn’t. Changing your mind or changing the scope of the project, feeling out the best way to present the message, and struggling to get clear on exactly who the audience is are all normal parts of the process. It very much helps to have some experienced guidance. Because, just as it’s hard to be your own hairstylist or your own marriage counselor, it’s hard to be your own writer.

Continue reading “Writer’s block”

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My all-time favorite piece of copywriting is the tagline, “Got milk?” It is beautiful in its brevity. It is immediately understood, perfect for its time, and has become one of those sayings so well known that many of us borrow it shamelessly in hopes that it will do for our product — or subject — what it did so well for milk. It is the ultimate example of clean, clear, concise, persuasive rhetoric; copywriting at its best.

Continue reading “Got words?”

Popularity: 23% [?]

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If there’s anything I love more than getting my point across, it’s helping someone else get their point across. Most people find it easy to give expert advice or discuss what matters to them, but ask them to put it in writing — or even to repeat what they just said so that you can write it down — and they freeze.

For consultants, coaches, and other entrepreneurs whose product is their expertise, writing a book is one of the best ways to establish credibility and market themselves. They know their material cold. The challenge lies in translating what’s between their ears to the printed page.

So, in response to requests from plenty of colleagues and a big kick in the butt from Tac Anderson, I’m coaching a group of four local superstar entrepreneurs through the process of writing their first business books.

Continue reading “Biz book writers pilot workshop”

Popularity: 18% [?]

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We’re all in this together. Every business has competition, but that doesn’t mean those competitors are necessarily enemies.

I know I’m not the only copywriter in town. I know this because I belong to several professional organizations, at meetings of which members take turns introducing themselves and their businesses. Every time, there are plenty of others who stand up and give a pitch that sounds unnervingly like my own. It takes confidence not to feel like chopped liver.

Continue reading “Competitors or collaborators?”

Popularity: 22% [?]

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A couple of months ago, the Idaho Statesman printed an excellent feature by Rocky Barker about the controversy over the reintroduction of wolves into Idaho. I was floored by a statement from one of the article’s interviewees, who said: “Hunters’ visions are that they can return to the same location year after year and have a positive experience with elk. Wolves interfere with that.”

Continue reading “Straight talk vs. spin”

Popularity: 35% [?]

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