Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don't Matter

by Scott Adams

APPENDIX A The Persuasion Reading List

APPENDIX B How to Be a Better Writer

Business writing is about clarity and persuasion. The main technique is keeping things simple. Simple writing is persuasive. A good argument in five sentences will sway more people than a brilliant argument in a hundred sentences. Don’t fight it. Simple means getting rid of extra words.

Humor writing is a lot like business writing. It needs to be simple. The main difference is in the choice of words.

Your first sentence needs to grab the reader.

Write short sentences. Avoid putting multiple thoughts in one sentence. Readers aren’t as smart as you’d think. Learn how brains organize ideas. Readers comprehend “the boy hit the ball” quicker than “the ball was hit by the boy.”