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Anne Janzer

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Writing to Be Understood: What Works and Why Kindle Edition

by Anne Janzer (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.5 279 ratings

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How do great nonfiction writers connect with us so strongly—and what can you learn from them to apply to your own writing?

Writing to Be Understood explores the ways powerful writers explain and inform, including analogies, imagery, humor, story, and more.

The book combines insights from cognitive science with advice from expert practitioners in the fields of psychology, technology, economics, medicine, policy, and more. Each chapter wraps up with practical advice that you can put to work, no matter what you're writing.

You'll learn how to:

Appeal to your readers' innate sense of curiosity
Connect with audiences that aren't immediately receptive to your ideas
Make abstract ideas understandable and memorable
Banish the boring from your work

Whether you're trying to communicate expertise with a mainstream audience, pitching ideas to your team, or hoping to make an impact with a nonfiction book, dig into Writing to be Understood to reach more people with your words.

Gold Medal Winner, 2019 Independent Publisher Book Awards

From the Publisher

Three key concepts from Writing to Be Understood


Your job, as a nonfiction writer, is to find the sweet spot between what the reader wants to know and what you want to write. If that sweet spot is small, enlarge it by engaging their curiosity! Read the chapter on Curiosity to learn how.	To increase the impact of your writing, focus beyond the words on what’s happening with the reader. Writing to Be Understood analyzes the techniques of masterful nonfiction writers and describes why they work. Learn how to use them in your writing.	If you write about abstract topics, enlist support from other parts of the reader's brain. Stories, analogies and images connect on levels beyond the analytical and abstract. Read the chapters on explanatory analogies, stories, and imagery to learn how to use them in your writing.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In this straightforward, practical guide from Janzer (The Writer's Process), the 'why' of her subtitle provides her book's most intriguing aspect...[H]er belief that the world needs effective communicators of challenging and multifaceted topics provides this entry into a crowded genre with an unusually compelling reason for being." — Publisher's Weekly

"The world needs more writers who can communicate effectively, clearly, and empathically about complex topics like science and medicine. Read this book and become one of those writers." — Laura Lindenfeld, Ph.D., Director of the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University

"In today's distracted world, it's not enough to simply write well — you have to hook the reader's interest and accelerate their comprehension. Use this book to engineer a better, more effective reading experience." — Nir Eyal, author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07G3JT7K4
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cuesta Park Consulting (August 9, 2018)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 9, 2018
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2455 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 228 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #401,495 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #59 in Nonfiction Writing Reference
- #108 in Business Writing Skills (Kindle Store)
- #400 in Writing Skill Reference (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
4.5 279 ratings

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Anne Janzer

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Anne Janzer is an award-winning author, unabashed writing geek, and cognitive science fan on a mission to help people communicate more effectively.

As a professional writer, Anne spent years writing for scores of technology companies. That experience led her to write her first book, about marketing for the subscription economy.

Once she started writing books, she was hooked. She's now written five books (and one workbook) about writing.

Anne blogs about writing at annejanzer.com, where you can sign up for her Writing Practices list or online courses.

To stay up to date on her latest books, follow Anne on Amazon.

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4.5 out of 5

279 global ratings

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T. Gaiser

Outstanding Guide for Non-Fiction Writers

Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2023

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"Writing to be Understood" is an outstanding guide for writing non-fiction. Author Anne Janzer provides ample detail and resources on both major and minor topics, including understanding readers, how to explain abstract ideas, and tone and style. Throughout, Janzer's prose is thoughtful, clearly written, and easy to follow. "Writing to be Understood" belongs on the bookshelf of every non-fiction writer. Highly recommended.

One person found this helpful

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B. L. Keller

Helpful Thoughts on Writing

Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2021

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I’ve been doing a lot more writing than I had in the past, so I thought this book would be a great book to read. This book had a lot of good information about different ways to communicate to help readers stay interested in your writing and keep them reading until the end. There was also some great advice about how to help the reader feel like you’re having a conversation with them personally.

There were three parts to the book:

- Understanding Your Reader
- How to Explain Complicated Ideas
- How to Not Be Boring

Some of the key takeaways I got from the book were:

Know How Much To Share

I definitely try to do this in my writing, but it can be difficult because you don’t know who will read what you’re writing. Limiting jargon and providing more background information may be important if you are writing for someone with little to no knowledge of the topic. But, if you’re writing to peers, for instance, you can get to the main points more quickly without a lot of background details.

The Effectiveness of Repetition

This rule is better applied to longer works, but repeating your main point three times can greatly help retention. One trick for using repetition effectively without causing boredom is to switch up how you word the information. So you’re repeating without sounding like you’re repeating.

Use Stories

I can see how using stories can impact what you’re writing, but I have had a hard time doing it. I recently read The Money Tree by Chris Guillebeau. Chris took the concept of storytelling to the max by using a fictional story to get across his non-fictional points. I really enjoyed this book as the story had me interested right from the beginning and helped illustrate the author's points.

In most non-fiction writing, you will use short stories and anecdotes to get specific points across that may otherwise be difficult to understand. Stories can also help make your content more memorable as it’s easier to remember a story than specific data.

Humor Can Keep Them Reading

How do you sound naturally funny in your writing? This concept is easy to understand but not so easy to pull off. Whether or not you can get away with using humor in your writing may depend upon your audience. Some audiences will be more receptive to humor than others.

One of the keys to good humor I’ve noticed lately is that if the reader figures out a joke's punchline before they read it, it helps them feel more connected to the writer because they were both thinking the same thing. I have also noticed this when watching TV commercials. If there is a punchline in a commercial I’m watching for the first time, and I figure it out before it’s delivered, I think it’s even funnier because it’s the line I would have used.

Some key quotes from the book:

- “…the end goal is to be understood…”
- “…you must understand the reader's needs and context…”
- “When it comes to identifying a target audience: everyone is no one.”
- “The most effective writers don’t simply explain things — they make their ideas memorable.”
- “The number one attribute of good writers is being willing to delete.”
- “Engaging the reader’s curiosity ‘sweet spot’ requires a balance of the known and unknown.”
- “Stories put complex ideas into a human scale.”
- “…people remember stories, not data.”
- “Be concise.”

Conclusion

In addition to the author's thoughts about writing effectively, she included information from interviews with many other writers. These details provided more perspectives and supporting details for the content in the book.

I learned a lot from this book and hope to apply many of its concepts to my own writing.

10 people found this helpful

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H.K. Holland

Perfect job in explaining about "Knowing your readers."

Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2020

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First of all, no one recommended this book to me. I was skimming through the top books on Amazon and I saw it. For some reason, the title captivated me, and when I looked through the first chapter, I liked it.

Anne weaves in all the methods and tactics she talks about in this book. And, she makes it clear--you should know how to write before you read this book. This one is specifically written for writers and authors who write abstract/complex ideas for the general population.

And I have to say, and I am pretty sure, most people that have read this book are people who have read other books about writing, and other articles related to writing. Me too.

But there is one thing Anne does very well in this book--she clearly explained this issue of "Understanding your readers/audience." Thank you for that beautiful Part 1 and its enclosed chapters. It makes it worth reading the book.

The other part I found unique was the last chapter. She gives you all the techniques, in her own style and then she tells you to do what you want with them. Finding your own voice? There is no method. Try out what she has told you and through that, you will know what works and what doesn't work.

5 people found this helpful

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Ritu K.

Great book for nonfiction authors!

Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2020

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If you are writing nonfiction and wanting to translate complex/abstract ideas into a book that is accessible to a general audience, this is a wonderful book for you! I think a lot of amazing ideas get lost because they don't get mainstream acceptance. People who are experts in their subjects are not able to translate the complexity of their thoughts into a form that is easily digestible. Anne talks about how to write so you'll be understood by a general audience. As a writer who has written a memoir and plans to write more books in the creative nonfiction space, I found this book really insightful. Instead of focusing on the nuts and bolts of writing such as grammar and punctuation, it talks about how to use cognitive neuroscience to engage readers. Readers today have a hundred things that are vying for their attention, which put a huge cognitive load on them. As writers, we need to understand this reality and write in a way that makes reading our books easy for readers. Anne shows us exactly how to do this. I highly recommend you get this book if you are writing nonfiction or creative nonfiction.

2 people found this helpful

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Robbie Kellman Baxter, author of The Membership Economy

Useful for beginning and experienced writers alike

Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2018

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I read this book in preparation for writing a book of my own. I've already written a book, but I know my writing could always be better.

Anne is a master of communication, and really provides specific, easy-to-implement techniques that will help any writer be a better writer. I like her idea of focusing on a few key readers, and thinking about the intersection between "what I have to teach" and "what they want to learn". It can be so tempting to just focus on what I've been learning and not on the mindset of the reader. I had never thought about the idea of "empathy for the reader" but she's right--it's a really important concept. I also loved the idea that what makes you a good speaker can help you be a better writer--as someone who does both, that was a thought-provoking concept.

Side note--this is the first book I've ever read that used a flush toilet as a metaphor (page 48 of 206) and it was perfect.

If you want to communicate more effectively with your audience, you should buy this book. Read it in one sitting, and then review it for a few minutes each time you prepare to write. Your readers will thank you.

14 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

DGKaye

How Writers Can Connect Emotionally with Readers

Reviewed in Canada on May 5, 2024

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I found this book had some excellent tips for writers to focus on, zeroing in on what engages a reader in an author’s writing style, how to draw in the reader and keep them engaged using cognitave empathy to grab and maintain a reader’s attention. The author shares the importance of focusing on tone and delivery of information when writing a story, not just the storyline. She goes on to say that good nonfiction reading should have the reader feeling the emotions of story, and as for self-help books or manuals, make the readers easily able to digest information instead of sounding like an instructional. She offers great tools to keep the writing lighter and interesting, with tricks about how not to bore readers, how to cater to and connect with your readers, and learn how to be able to please the majority of our readers – because, as Janzer says: there will always be some readers that can’t be pleased, by offering her methods for connecting with readers, helps to ensure most readers connect with our ’emotional components’.

The author offers snippets from other writers with tips to keep the readers reading, as one stated, we must keep the reader curious enough to continue reading without using ‘unnecessary’ vocabulary terms a reader may be unfamiliar with. Although a reader may not appreciate tedious writing, the importance of keeping readers engaged is with voice, and using analogies to activate sensory processing of emotions, especially with nonfiction readers.

You will also find a chapter about the importance of never deleting unused work or parts of a book, and what to do with those bits, for future uses. “When you’re writing nonfiction, you don’t have to mesmerize people with suspense. You might simply frame a moment, a scene, or transformation.” “People remember stories, not data.” In Part Three – How Not to be Boring, Janzer talks about tone and style – voice, style, and tone. As a conversational writer myself, I did enjoy the chapter on Conversational writing. The author broke it down nicely as to what’s involved with conversational writing, such as paragraph and sentence length, and the importance of staying away from using jargon and the importance of using personalized writing and imagery by use of figurative language, metaphors and similes, which spur a pause or curiosity from the reader. Also caveats on choice of metaphors so as not to irritate readers with a misintrepreted choice of metaphor, which may not convey the writer’s initial intention and may also distract a reader when they pause too long to think about what the writer is trying to convey. We’re advised to choose familiar images to project with our metaphors to avoid distraction as can idiomatic expressions, (natural and unscripted thoughts) which can leave a reader visualizing something more problematic.

Metaphors should support work and move the cause forward, and the importance of clarifying a metaphor the general public may not clue into. Imagery touches all the senses. But I think my favorite chapter was #13 – Credibility, Humanity, and Humility, and how Janzer goes deeper into how these three elements are important in nonfiction writing – “Humility disarms the reader and paves the way for deeper connections.” This book reinforced in me what my own readers in general, gratefully, say about my own books, my vulnerability and empathy not written as authority, but from authentic self, not self-absorbed, welcoming in the reader because something about a story made them feel connected as though I was conversing directly to them. An author’s dream audience.

A well written book by Janzer on how to write to keep the reader engaged by connecting with the reader’s brain. The author reminds that stories and anecdotes are an essential part of a nonfiction writer’s arsenal. We will also learn why repitition of key sentences are effective to instill key points that may have been skimmed over, reiterating that repitition is to be used judicially as to not sound repetitive or boring, rather by rephrasing when reiterating to fuel memory.

This book offers some great cognitive tools for a writer’s arsenal. I also found the style the information was delivered in was very engaging, as opposed to feeling more manual-like as many books on writing can appear. The description of this book mentions it talks about how nonfiction writing can connect strongly with readers; but I will say as a writer that any genre of writer can benefit from this well written and straight forward book.

Yogeshwar

Must read for writers!

Reviewed in India on January 29, 2024

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As a first time writer , it's daunting task to complete a book start to end. Many times, one feels confused and un-guided ; what should be done to make writing more effective?

How do I really "land upon" the reader, what I want them to "get"?
How not to make it heavy and boring on reader's mind?

This book has definitely provided some tools that should be in every writer's toolkit for effective drafting.

Highly recommended for new and seasoned writers.

Walter Silva

Five stars is not enough

Reviewed in Brazil on May 23, 2021

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Don't think twice. This is the best book on how to write a nonfiction book. To ignore your tips is simply to deliver your destiny to "luck". I strongly recommend it to anyone who REALLY wants to be a successful writer.

Albert Einstein

On point and well-written

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 16, 2022

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Extremely helpful and useful advice on the skill of writing packaged in a very easy-to-digest manner.
Clearly a lot of work went into this work and it shows. The value provided is off the charts.
Must-have.

Francis Shaw

Helpful and Informative

Reviewed in Germany on December 24, 2018

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An interesting read. It's well written and put together, covering various topics when considering how to best to communicate a message so it reaches the reader as the author intends.

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Writing to Be Understood: What Works and Why Kindle Edition

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Three key concepts from Writing to Be Understood

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Anne Janzer

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