If you’re reading this, the chances are you’re in need of some words, or copy, as we say in the words business. You must be clear about what you want your words to do. Sell? Inform? Educate? Explain? Tell a story? Entertain? Then you’ve got to think about what tone you want your words to have. Formal? Relaxed? Chatty? Cheeky? Direct? Emotional? Reserved? Obviously, your tone will be dictated by your message, but it should be clearly recognisable as your voice – or the one your organisation normally uses. Just like businesses, words come in all shapes and sizes. Pick the right words, match them with some more right words, spell them correctly, use punctuation in the proper places, address them in the appropriate manner to your identified audience, and you should have a rip-roaring success on your hands. Slip the wrong words into your copy, however, omit a comma or two, throw in a careless spelling mistake, mention a ‘your’ instead of a ‘you’re’ or an ‘its’ instead of an ‘it’s’ and, well, your message could end up on the scrap heap. ​Most people think they know how to string a sentence together, and they do, of course – verbally at any rate. But when it comes to stringing those words onto a page or a screen or a piece of packaging, it can often prove to be a bizarrely tricky procedure. There are a great many things I don’t know how to do. I cannot, for example, mend a high voltage electrical cable – but I have written about someone who does. I don’t really understand the concept of UX design, yet I have written several articles for a high profile UX magazine. I am useless at golf – but that didn’t stop me from editing a bestselling golf book. You are probably awesomely brilliant at doing something else I can’t do, but you may not feel able to write about it. That’s where I come in. You give me the information, and I’ll give you your words. I’m sure we’ll make a great team.