Story length

Benchmark readability against The Huffington Post

How does your news stand up?

How does your message stand up against The Huffington Post?

After all, The Huffington Post is the third most popular online news site, after only Yahoo!… Read the full article

Steal email newsletter content tips from the Skimm

Make your e-zine interesting, relevant, easy

What’s the secret to a successful e-zine? Make ’em laugh; make ’em think; make ’em Skimm.

In other words, make it interesting, relevant and easy.… Read the full article

Format long stories for mobile web page readability

4 ways to optimize long stories for phone reading

How long is too long for the mobile screen?

“Only the biggest/most complex stories should go above 600 words,” counsels the BBC in its guide to writing news for the mobile screen.… Read the full article

Measure estimated reading time to condense copy

How many minutes will it take them to read?

Writers measure copy in words, inches or pages. Readers use a different measure: time.

So instead of using writer-centric measures, think like your reader.… Read the full article

Short-form digital content helps readers choose

Too many options paralyze people

Here’s a famous story among persuasion researchers and Malcolm Gladwell fans:

When a researcher offered shoppers 24 types of jam, many customers stopped by for a sample, but only 3% made a purchase.… Read the full article

Are press releases dead? No!

Long live the release

Twitter has never issued a news release. Amazon introduced the Kindle through a series of tweets. Google announced Alphabet via a blog post from Larry Page.… Read the full article

Three ways to streamline sentences

Cut a word, increase comprehension

Here’s the problem with long sentences: Every time you add a word, you reduce comprehension.

Let your sentences sprawl, and the subject, verb and object get too far away from each other.… Read the full article

What closet tidying taught me about editing

Audition your words to go in, not out

When Lynn Wylie, aka Best Sister Ever, sent me an Unfancy blog post arguing that all you need to look great every day is a capsule wardrobe of 37 items per season, I scoffed.… Read the full article

Create more short pages

Fewer long pages are less effective

Think index cards, not toilet paper: websites with many short pages — as opposed to those with fewer longer pages — work better.… Read the full article