I have this idea that the quality of an ebook can be judged by the hyperbole used to market it. The more excessively shouty and lurid the sales blurb, the less valuable the advice itself is likely to be.

You’ve probably seen the worst offenders. Over-excitable, garish web pages employ capital letters, bright colours and phrases like “THE BOOK THE PROFESSIONALS DON’T WANT YOU TO HAVE!!!!!!”  Making unfeasible promises about unimaginable wealth, they only say one thing to me: run away.

Once you’ve seen a few of these it’s easy to tar every ebook with the same brush. Easy, yes. Unfair? Definitely.

One ebook worth reading

I say this because over at Bad Language, old pal Matthew Stibbe has released a comprehensive ebook to help make you a better business writer.

There’s no guarantee of lifelong wealth and a conspicuous lack of garish promotional graphics on Matthew’s site, yet this excellent guide offers some of the best business writing advice I’ve seen.

Grounded firmly in the real world, the book is packed with practical information to help you write better. It explains how the principles of good journalism are just as important to business writing. It’s all about telling an interesting story and geting under the skin of your audience.

Structured as a 30-day course, (but almost as useful read as and when you get the chance), Matthew’s book is free, well-written, and useful regardless of whether you write a bit, write a lot, or just work with writers.

Rather than listen to me bang on about it here, just go and take a look.

It’s been a bit of a strange week. Having arrived back from holiday on Sunday, I feel like I’ve been playing catchup for the past few days.

No matter – I’ve still managed to spot a few things you might find interesting. One or two of these might date back a month or so – I just noticed them late ’cause I’ve been away:

• Design agency CX Partners has taken issue with the view that you need to get all your important content above the fold on a web page. In a convincing blog post they explain how people really handle scrolling and what you can do to encourage them to explore your pages further.
• I posted about an error message myself recently, and at Perishable Press there’s some good advice about how to make your site’s “page not found” message more useful and friendly. It gets technical in the middle, but make sure you scroll to the great examples near the end.
• Are you giving National Novel Writing Month a go this year? Me neither, but it’s inspired Merlin Mann to dispense some no-nonsense advice about how to start writing– and keep at it. (I appreciate the irony in linking to a blog post which advises not reading too many blog posts, but he makes some good points.)
• I’ll leave you with a handy guide to using apostrophes (found via Sonja Jefferson on Twitter). If you’re a professional writer you shouldn’t need it, but it might be handy next time someone asks you a grammar question. Bored? Check out the source code on that page as well.

This week I’ve mostly been reading about usability, excessive flying and events for writers that are happening vaguely near me. Here goes…

• If you’re anything like me, you probably feel odd consulting an online dictionary instead of an old skool printed one. Well, Slate has a good piece about the symbiotic relationship between search engines and online dictionaries – and how easily it could be unbalanced.
• Are you in Brighton or Oxford? I’ve spotted new events for writers in these creative cities. WriteClub is an informal gathering where Brighton writers can meet each other. And Ben Werdmuller organised the first Oxford Writers’ Group last week. I think the next one’s penciled in for 19 October, but check Ben’s site for more information.
• Usability consultant David Hamill has written a really good article about, er, usability. He uses some easy to follow, practical examples to explain what usability is about and why it matters. Go on, have a read. (I found this piece via Helen Baker on Twitter.)
• Finally, a chap called Brendan Ross is spending a month flying from place to place in the States. He’s bought an unlimited pass with the airline jetBlue, aims to never leave airline property and is writing about the experience for Wired magazine. It’s an entertaining read, if not particularly aimed at us writers.