Run the ‘Hey, did you hear?’ test
Having trouble nailing that “business casual” tone you’re aiming for? Try reading your message aloud — after a friendly greeting or phrase:
Cut Through the Clutter
Beat BBC’s readability
Benchmark against world’s largest broadcaster
The BBC covers the most serious news known to man — West Bank stabbings, friendly fire air strikes, Justin Bieber’s bad behavior — and does so in an average of 4.7-character words.… Read the full article
Stop wasting readers’ time
They ‘get visibly angry’ at verbose sites
Here’s an interesting dichotomy: Killing time is the killer app for mobile devices. But mobile users are in a hurry and “get visibly angry” at verbose sites that waste their time.… Read the full article
Write with your eraser
Newspaper + marker = poetry for Austin Kleon
“Instead of starting with a blank page, poet Austin Kleon grabs a newspaper and a permanent marker and eliminates the words he doesn’t need.”
— NPR’s “Morning Edition”
Talk about writing with an eraser.… Read the full article
Conduct a sound check
Read your copy aloud
When Don Murray arrived in the newsroom for his first day on the job as writing coach for the Boston Globe, he turned to his new boss and said: “I can tell you who your three best writers are.”
Then the Pulitzer Prize winner and author of Writing to Deadline: The Journalist at Work proceeded to do just that.… Read the full article
‘Dear Mother’
Write a letter to make your copy conversational
“Good writers are visible just behind their words.”
— William Zinsser, author, On Writing Well
Eliot Fette Noyes was a Harvard-trained architect and industrial designer.… Read the full article
Aim for one-syllable words
Churchill was right — short words are best
What do you notice about this passage, excerpted from an article in The Economist?
“‘Short words are best,’ said Winston Churchill, ‘and old words when short are the best of all.’
“And, not for the first time, he was right: short words are best.
… Read the full articleCut long words
Make copy easier to read, understand
Words too long? Here are four ways to reduce your average syllable or character count:
1. Eyeball your copy.
Scan for long words.… Read the full article
Harness the power of one
Single-syllable words can shock, jolt and pop
By Mim Harrison, author of Smart Words
“Samuel Clemens” meanders. “Mark Twain” stands up straight and takes charge.
John F.… Read the full article
Get the words out
Write tight sentences, like the Times
How long should your sentences be?
According to the American Press institute:
- When the average sentence length in a piece was fewer than eight words long, readers understood 100% of the story.