Using examples from celebrated writers and orators who know the power of a well-chosen word, The Essentials of Great Writing takes you on an eight-step journey to transform your writing skills.

With George Orwell you'll discover the wonder of the English language. The extraordinary scientist Dr Tim Flannery will help you transform dry fact to vivid picture. You'll learn not to waffle with Elmore Leonard and how to choose interesting words with Winston Churchill. Legendary ad man David Ogilvy will give you a lesson on the power of persuasion, Tim Winton will make your words sing and Samuel Johnson will help you polish those words. And finally, like anyone who has ever achieved greatness, you'll learn that greatness takes practice.

This is the first book published by Editor Group, which has been delivering great editorial services and helping business and government clients upgrade their writing skills for more than a decade. You can buy the book through this website, or receive it as a complimentary gift when you attend any one of our half- or full-day writing training courses.

The Essentials of Great Writing is written by acclaimed writer and journalist Tony Spencer-Smith. As the Director of Training at Editor Group, Tony writes high-level corporate communications material and runs innovative courses.

Before joining Editor Group in 2004, Tony was Editor-In-Chief of Reader's Digest magazine and a senior newspaper journalist in South Africa. He is also an award-winning novelist, winning South Africa's most prestigious literary prize for his novel The Man Who Snarled at Flowers.

In the spirit of Mark Twain, who once wrote "I didn't have time to write a short letter so I wrote a long one", Tony has taken the time to write a short book, one that you can dive into rather than wade through.