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How To Write A Business Letter

If you’re going to be a writer, you have to have a subject to write about and it has to be a subject that others will want to read about. Right?

So, what do people like to read about?

First and foremost, they like to read about themselves! Think of something that most people do or would like to do and you’re on a winner.

We all like to:

• Travel
• Eat
• Care for our families
• Make money

Of course, there are other things as well, but these four cover a great deal of territory - let’s take a closer look at how you can use these to come up with a great article.

Note: you can use these ideas as the basis for a short piece or an entire book - it’s up to you.

Putting the Right Slant on Things - writing a non-fiction article

Once you’ve come up with your subject matter, the next thing is to decide on the angle or slant you’re going to adopt. This can make all the difference between a ho-hum piece and a best seller!

Here area few ideas to get your little grey cells pumping:

Travel

• Places to stay and see - guides to unusual travel destinations
• Exotic places
• Cheap holidays
• Adventure holidays
• Luxurious places to stay
• Educational tours
• Historical places
• Travelling with children
• Travelling with pets
• Travelling with handicapped people
• House swapping holidays
• Walking tours
• ‘Live like a local’ holidays
• Art appreciation tours
• And so on - choose a subject dear to your own heart and think of a holiday or tour that could be built around it, do a bit of research and then write an article that you would enjoy reading.

Eating

As well as the obvious articles on what to eat and where to eat, don’t ignore the possibilities of how to eat. You could do a whole series of articles on the new etiquette. Consider some of these:

• Casual, outdoor entertaining
• Formal occasions
• Special occasions - weddings, coming of age, engagement, funerals(!) etc
• Holiday celebrations - Christmas, Easter, national holidays
• After show suppers
• Romantic dinners
• Vegetarian meals
• Cooking for the frail and elderly
• National and regional food differences
• Seasonal foods and cooking
• Growing your own food

Caring for the Family

There are many angles for this topic:

• Child rearing stories
• Raising children - past and present
• ‘Behind the scenes’ stories
• Life in an orphanage
• Children’s hospital report
• Famous families
• Happiness on a shoestring (budgeting)
• Medical reports of new treatments / products
• Healthy mind and healthy body stories
• How to entertain your children
• Marriage advice
• Secrets of … (dating / successful marriage / raising happy children etc)

Making Money

On the Internet, this is one of the “biggies.” Anything you can tell people to help them improve their finances, will be read with interest.

• A guide to some of the new schemes around, with some professional advice about their relative merits
• A “buyer beware” list - what to watch out for when considering purchasing products
• A round-up of businesses from around the globe - an investigation of the different way we all do business
• The 10 (or 5 or 20) best businesses you can operate from home
• Some famous failures
• Some spectacular successes
• The secrets of X revealed (we all love to hear something confidential - think how you can use this angle)
• The confessions of …

Also think of the possibilities with price guides - everything from washing machines, computer courses and Barbie dolls to Akubra hats, fence posts and face-lifts.

These are just some of the possibilities - you can mix and match the ideas and the topics to come up with a new and catchy slant that will guarantee that your article gets read!

For help with your writing, click now here.