I see people all the time saying that grammar, spelling, word usage and syntax don’t matter when writing an ebook. They say that all buyers want is good information. Yikes!
Running a successful info product business is all about coming across as an authority figure in the minds of your buyers. The people who say the things I mentioned in the first paragraph are almost always people sho have no grasp of the English language. They say those things don’t matter because they haven’t mastered those things themselves!
Language is the antecedent to knowledge. Read that sentence again because not only is it 100% true; it is also very important. If you want to come across as an authority figure your writing must reflect that. Let me give you an example. Consider the following sentence.
Grammar: the difference between knowing your shit and knowing you’re shit.
See what I mean? If you don’t want to sound like a dweeb, then work on improving your writing skills so that you do sound and write like the authority figure you need to be.
Read what you write. Edit it and re-read it. Go through that cycle many times until you’re confident you have expressed your thoughts properly. Good writing doesn’t happen by accident. It is the result of learning the rules of writing and applying them vigorously every day in everything you write.
Nothing comes out perfectly first time. Make each paragraph lead logically to the next. Make each sentence cue up the next sentence in a logical way. Good writers have become good writers because they have studied and learned the rules to the craft. Does proper grammar matter? You bet it does! Writing is your stock in trade. Master it and apply it.
I’ll leave you with a quote from William Zinsser’s book, “On Writing Well”.
But the secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components Every word that serves no function, every long word that could be a short word, every adverb which carries the same meaning that is already in the verb, every passive construction that leaves she reader unsure of who is doing what-these are the thousand and one adulterants that weaken the strength of a sentence.
Those are some powerful words to ponder. Zinsser’s book is available on Amazon here… On Writing Well