How to Stop Agonizing Over Writing That Email

Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

I work with independent authors who can knock out a 70,000-word story in a month but have anxiety over a 250-word email.

I’m sure many of you can relate.

My article “Use This Letter To Say No To Anything” was written to help someone out of a tricky email situation.

So, here are my five steps to email mastery. These steps are universal, so you can use them with any email you need to write.

#1: Identify your reader, and write to them. It doesn’t matter if you send an email to one person or 10,000 people. Everyone reading is by themselves on the other end of the screen.

#2: Speak with your reader, not at them. An email is small talk; it’s the first step into a more extensive conversation. So keep it short and sweet but engaging.

#3: Build your first draft. I highly recommend Alexandra Frazen’s “Feel. Know. Do.” method of building your email. It will help you organize your thoughts and give your reader one clear call to action.

#4: Grammar Check. I can not stress this enough. Spell check. Grammar check. Flow check. If email is small talk, make sure you speak correctly to your reader.

#5: Read It Aloud. Yes, really. Read your email aloud to yourself. If it doesn’t sound good to you, it will not sound good to your reader. You’ll instantly know if it’s too long or too vague or if you missed any errors.

Bonus: Spend the time on your subject line. You are competing against thousands of other emails. Make sure your subject line gives your reader an idea of what’s waiting for them when they read your email.

In the end, an email is just an email, but it could be so much more with just a little bit of effort and time. It could be a gateway to sealing deals, making professional connections, and negotiating raises. So have a plan, spend the time, and make it shine.