Being a marketer for 14 years, writing is central to my work. I believe that writing is the most difficult thing to do, and you either like it or you don’t. I happen to love it and am always reading books and blog posts on writing.

I just finished the audio version of the classic “On Writing Well” by William Zinsser (I prefer listening to books on my Zune rather than reading them and use Audible). Zinsser stresses four simple principles of writing. These principals apply to non-fiction writing–business or personal. These points are logical, but we all know logic isn’t as easy as it sounds. He also instructs his readers to take some previous writing or mail you may have received and rewrite them based on these principals. Put away your cliches, industry buzzwords, and fancy words. You don’t need them! Zinsser goes into detail about these four points, but I will keep them brief.

1. Clarity

“If it isn’t clear, you might as well not write it. You might as well stay in bed.” says Zinsser. If you can’t make your writing clear to other people, they shouldn’t waste their time trying to read it. Life is too short!

2. Simplicity

Clutter is our enemy. Stop trying to make yourself sound important. Instead, use every day English. Example: Instead of “Are you experiencing any pain?” use “Does it hurt?”

3. Brevity

Keep it brief! Short is better than long whether words, sentences or paragraphs. Zinsser believes that most writing can be cut by 50% without losing the main points or author’s voice. An exercise he uses is to take your last piece of writing and cut it down to 50%. It may sound impossible at first, but you’ll be amazed at how many words you didn’t need!

4. Humanity

Writing is more about you than anything else. It’s your personality and how you communicate with your audience. Whether you’re writing a marketing brochure or a post in your blog, people appreciate your sincerity and the way it comes across in your writing.

Zinsser emphasizes that simple writing is the result of the most intelligent and difficult writing. Finally, always read your writing out loud.

Keep these four points in mind while you’re writing. Happy editing!