words

The lead paragraph of a news release should be short

Get to the point faster

“‘In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.’ The creation of the universe has a 10-word lead!” writes John McIntyre, copy desk chief of the Baltimore Sun.… Read the full article

The best PR pitches are short

Limit it to 150 words or so

J.W. Elphinstone’s “Business Watercooler” feature for the Associated Press is just 200 words long. Why, then, do PR pros send her pitches that are longer than that — even PowerPoint presentations with 30 slides?… Read the full article

Neologisms: Coin a word

Create new terms by merging old ones

I was working on a story today when a writerruption occurred: My brother sent me photos of The Cutest Kid In the World — aka my niece.… Read the full article

Reel them in with readability

Yamaha Marine Group communicator makes message 164.57% easier to read

When Austin Roebuck needed to get the word out about how a new bill in Congress would affect his audience of fishing fanatics, he first tried a traditional message.… Read the full article

Why increase average page view time?

It’s a meaningless metric that leads writers astray

The more words on a web page, the longer visitors will stay.

But is that really the best metric to measure?… Read the full article

Turn Strunk & White upside down

Three new ways to approach classic writing wisdom

After 50 years on writers’ bookshelves, The Elements of Style — aka “Strunk and White” — still offers perhaps the best collection of techniques for compressing copy: