Scarsdale Diet author's writing secret

When you write with a clear picture of your reader in mind, your copy is much more effective.

Samm Sinclair Baker, author of many best-selling books (including "The Scarsdale Diet" with Dr. Herman Tarnower), had an interesting way of picturing his reader as he wrote:

Baker looked through magazines until he found a picture of a person he imagined was a typical reader for what he was writing.

He then cut out the picture and taped it to the edge of his PC monitor.

As a result, he was constantly looking at his reader while he wrote.

Baker says this helped him write more conversationally, because he was "talking" to the person in the picture as he typed.