The Rude Guide to Being a Better Writer
Improve Your Career Through Better Writing
by David J Hayles
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
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Pub Date 28 Aug 2025 | Archive Date 15 Oct 2025
Troubador | Troubador Publishing
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Description
The Rude Guide to Being a Better Writer aims to help anyone who wants to improve their writing. It explains and demonstrates how plain English helps writers to write clearly and concisely, which in turn helps their readers to easily understand what they have written. The book supports the path to becoming a better writer with step-by-step guidance, storytelling, and comprehensive and relatable examples. At the same time, it is shot through with entertaining facts and adult humour.
In the same way that David Mitchell’s Unruly is a funny book about a serious subject, this book will appeal to people who want to improve their writing, but without the process being too academic. It leads its readers by the hand, delivering clear guidance in an entertaining way. This makes the transition to being a better writer easy and enjoyable: a guide to better writing that is refreshingly down-to-earth and relatable, and really quite rude too.
A Note From the Publisher
Available Editions
| EDITION | Ebook |
| ISBN | 9781836289302 |
| PRICE | £7.99 (GBP) |
| PAGES | 288 |
Available on NetGalley
Average rating from 7 members
Featured Reviews
I wouldn't have called it "rude" but rather "crude" way to becomming a better writer. But - alas - I am not British, so maybe that whole thing is lost on my American brain. However, I did enjoy the author's "not safe for work" examples, and his no nonsense approach to writing. He is right - stop writing to show you are smart and instead write so people can understand you. Seems simple, but we live in a world that we want people to think we are intelligent. So, we use big words and hard to understand logic. The author tells you to JUST STOP! The best lesson is "think about what you are trying to say, then turn it into what people want and need to read." A must-have book for any writer.
Anne M, Reviewer
If you're writing professional emails, letters, pamphlets, or other business communications this is a decent book to add to your collection. Chapers cover the latest approaches to addressing cold communications, reviewing grammar and punctuation, and there are plenty of good plain English tips. He approaches everything with a sense of humor and if you're easily offended by a few curse words livening up your grammar this is probably not the book for you.
Definitely know going in that this book is geared more towards UK English than American English. That will make a difference when it comes to punctuation (which isn't always clear in the book) and spelling (which gets an entire, rather humorous, chapter devoted to it). However the general ideas of plain English and plain writing are something that need more attention everywhere. So if you do general comunications for your business or are working on writing more professionally, this is a book to check out. Probably less overwhelming if you space out the chapters as you go.
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review
Mike M, Media/Journalist
The author of this book might describe his book as rude, but I consider it nothing less than a good heart-to-heart talk with a writer who knows what he is doing.
Reviewer 1394760
Some well-known, others fresh, all nevertheless well-explained and gathered tips for writers.
Particularly handy for emerging writers, students and those who might lost a bit of courage.
The first thing to know about David J Hayles’s The Rude Guide to Being a Better Writer is more focused on British English vs American English. While this won’t make a huge difference to the enclosed information, it’s best to know as there are differences. I very much enjoyed David’s writing style: it’s entertaining, conversational, and easy to digest. David’s instructions/lessons are fairly comprehensive and are a great starting point that covers what you need if you’re looking to level up your writing game. I’d like to thank Troubador and NetGalley for the eARC.
https://www.amazon.com/review/R3R7DNOLLVXWS2/ref=pe_123899240_1043597390_SRTC0204BT_SRTC99_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv
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