What to read to write normally

In past issues, we talked about why brands should do content, rather than stupidly promote their products. Now let's talk about how to write about a product. Today we will share useful links so you never write like an amoeba.


In the photo: Amoeba Proteus. Some brands write at her level.

Blog of copywriter Denis Kaplunov

Necessary remark: copywriting is a bad word. If you are looking for a person who will write about your product, run away from those who call themselves copywriters. Look for editors, commercial writers, or former journalists (not all).

Kaplunov is engaged in copywriting and writes a lot for colleagues. Among the tons of information on the profession there are texts useful not only for copywriters.

“80 rules of copywriting” , in fact, is a guide in the form of harmful tips on how amoeba write. Check out and instantly upgrade your level. Here are some examples:

• Absolutely any text, if you wish, can be reduced by at least 30%. I repeat ... Any text can be reduced by at least 30%.
• Why doesn’t anyone think that you don’t need to use negative stylistics? She cannot help but yawn.
• Bad metaphor for nailing into the eyeball.
• Ashipki admit everything. But not all of them are subtracted and smeared by retacting.
• Some wise guy said that you can’t use brackets in the text (though he didn’t explain why) ...

Another text about basic skills is “15 Ways to Muck Texts” . Kaplunov tells what can not be done and why. Forbidden turns, useless idioms, unnecessary words.

“15 cases when pictures are better than text” - a guide on how to remove water, replace it with an illustration and not burn out.

• Product image: why describe in a few sentences what the reader can see in a couple of seconds? The main thing is that he get the clearest “picture” possible, the picture of the goods here has an advantage.

Tip from Relap: do not illustrate the texts as Kaplunov does. Next time we will tell you in detail about the correct search for images.

“The Word Alive and Dead” , Nora Gal

You do not have the moral right to write until you read “The Word Alive and Dead.” Nora Gal - Russian-speaking mother of the "Little Prince" Exupery. It was she who correctly translated it.

In the book, Gal talks about clerical work and borrowing. The author explains why they cannot be used, and gives examples from many years of practice.

We all met with the clerk. It is spoken by amoebas and officials. The clerk deprives the text of adequacy and kills it.

And so, nouns in indirect cases are piled on each other, and more and more verbal:

• "The process of developing the movement to strengthen cooperation."
• “Increased competency leads to instability.”
• “An equally typical phenomenon is the imaginary mother’s motive.”
• "... wandering in the ... fourth dimension ... final defeat when you question your ... existence!"
• "... With complete astonishment, he participated a moment ago in what happened ..."

This is not invented! It is printed in a circulation of 300 thousand copies.

The more verbs, the better. The word must carry life and be a source of knowledge. Making a speech mistake is simple. But finding her is an overwhelming work, especially if you do not turn on the head.

Nora Gal also touched on the topic of translations. It is necessary to translate from foreign into Russian organically, and not verbatim and mechanically. There are hundreds of stable expressions in English that simply cannot be translated verbatim - the reader will stumble and lose the thread of the story. Such turns should be turned into reasonable Russian-language formulations.

• In the original, like a Trojan, literally “like a Trojan”, the dictionary is clearly well done : the girl bravely, not complaining and not giving up, carried a heavy burden. But the translator does not notice that the ends do not meet. And, of course, he doesn’t check himself.

Keep this in mind when translating your next press release.

Maxim Ilyakhov: blog , newsletter and tips

If you write about a product, but still have not heard anything about Maxim Ilyakhov, think: what is wrong with you?

Ilyakhov - Executive Editor of the Bureau Artyom Gorbunov. Created "Glavred" - a good service for cleaning text from garbage. First tip: Drive the creations through Glavred. But do not get carried away: sometimes stop words do not spoil the text, so do not turn off the brain.

In the mailing list Ilyakhov gives editing advice. In addition to the basics of information style, he talks about the structure of the text and other nuances of its creation. This issue is covered in more detail in the advanced course of Glavred.

• The optimal length of the text is still interesting.

In the councils, Ilyakhov parses the real texts and says what mistakes are made in them and how to correct them. And the blog writes detailed instructions on how to write text about yourself and about the company.

If you are writing about a company or a product, then put “functionality” and “exclusivity” in a plastic bag. Talk about the benefits and solve user problems.

• For the reader to remember the text, show him a specific movie about life. When there is a specific movie, put an abstraction in the beginning. And do not forget about the benefits.

News Internet Journalism , Alexander Amzin

No, we didn’t mix anything up. Despite the name, this book is a storehouse of useful information for those who decide to write about their product.

Alexander Amzin is a media analyst, a former journalist of the old-school Lenta.ru. He wrote a book to systematize knowledge. Journalists still teach how to write articles for newspapers and do not always correctly perceive reality, where the Internet steers information.

In the book, Amzin gives advice on working with texts. For example, tells how to correctly compose a verb title.

• Each editor, journalist, newsreader eventually notes that the set of verbs used in the description of events is very limited. Many make the wrong conclusion from this that it is necessary to use the most common verbs without any intention. Meanwhile, this is killing the news.
• When half of the news feed consists of verbs of the type “became”, “turned out”, “will”, “suspected”, “blamed”, “stated”, “called”, “told” - this is wrong, although some of them are strong and almost always work. Fortunately, there are many good, rarely used verbs. They are forgotten if they try to write news according to the scheme and do not want to think for a couple of minutes. Imagine how much such headings would lose if we replaced the verbs in them with more familiar ones:
• Solar ejection tore off comet tail
• 10 dollar bill turned red

Amzin teaches how to work with information correctly: how to understand whether a source is reliable, how to structure text and monitor information.

• A sports commentator on TV uses the adjective ро ц кий »» ». One must have an absolute lack of hearing in order to say this. Following the commentator of this freak, secondary media are producing - in the news, in articles.

We strongly recommend News Internet Journalism to anyone who is planning to write about a product. In the end, sometimes you need to turn a new feature into adequate news, rather than a sour press release that is easier to burn than read.

Now the book is outdated in places, so Alexander Amzin is preparing a new version and promises to supplement it with fresh information.

Luda Sarycheva's blog

Luda Sarycheva - editor of the Megaplan newsletter, has been working with Maxim Ilyakhov for a year and a half.

In addition to posts about the personal, she writes about the art of composing texts.

A valuable post on why the author’s style is not needed.

• Individuality, author's style - in the world of the author. The author satisfies his own ambitions with them, because he wants to write unlike others. The reader does not care. He wants a useful and understandable text. If the author has a super-style, but he writes garbage, no one will read. Conversely, if the text is useful, but poorly written, the reader will abandon it.

Or advice on how to write congratulations. And also about double words , frequent grammatical errors and superfluous words .

And finally, a few rules from Relap.io

1. Love verbs.
2. Avoid the office.
3. Kill the graphomaniac in you.
4. Get to know your reader.
5. Try to avoid specific terms.
6. Use as simple words as possible.
7. Do not make too long sentences.
8. One paragraph - one new thought.
9. Keep a neutral style.
10. Write so that your mother understands.