Natalie Canavor

Want to know how to write a book? It's more complicated than just sitting at a computer and letting the words flow. For many people and for many reasons, writing a book feels like a paramount achievement. It’s an “end product” of our knowledge, experience, and professionalism. © Michail Petrov / Shutterstock.comThere’s something exciting about the idea of holding your book in your hands, giving it to people, even signing copies or seeing it in a bookstore—though this is no longer where most books are sold.

You may be under the impression that you don’t write business letters and never need to in today’s fast-paced world. Think again. You are probably writing letters without realizing it. Don’t be fooled by the fact that you’re using an electronic delivery system and don’t need a stamp. Acknowledge that your missive is a letter, and you do a much better job of achieving your goal.

Essentially, when you use the tools of persuasion, you are asking people to change in some way. The challenge is that human beings don’t like change. We may enjoy deciding whether to travel to Paris or Rome, but change a long-held conviction? Give up a skill we took years or decades to develop in favor of the new?

For everyday sharing, reports, project-hunting, client correspondence and more, you need email. For the ongoing back-and-forth between team members, you may depend on Slack or another instant messaging channel that is restricted to a group. The difference in how we use email and work chat today is that we need to help counter what is lost through the growing absence of in-person contact.

Writing well is always its own reward: Effective messages achieve what you want much more often. But writing also can be put to use in personal ways—to catalyze your thinking and problem-solving skills, understand important people in your work life and strategize how to advance toward where you want to be. This article gives you ten ways to build your personal power.

Business writing becomes even more important as more people work from home. Working from home and virtual teaming trend upward every year. In addition to the escalating numbers of people who work on a project or hourly basis, more employees than ever work from their home base part of the week. Many others do their jobs away from headquarters, and may be continents and time zones away, or crosstown.

If you’re a solopreneur or partner in a small business, you may regularly need to write pitch letters or deliver cold-call messages. Typically, your goal is to bring you, or your product or service, to someone’s attention and ask for an in-person meeting.Such letters are important for professional specialists of many kinds.

Most freelancers hate talking about money. Often, business writing is a good way to do it. You can marshal your thinking points and articulate them more effectively without the person present, and give them breathing space to consider your request as well. Clients typically don’t enjoy these conversations any more than you do, and may blurt out a negative response that’s hard to reconsider.