The writer, who received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Business Publications Editors (ASBPE), contributes frequently to the ASBPE blog on techniques for improving editorial quality. This post is abridged with his permission.

Given the staff cutbacks that face almost every type of publications enterprise, it has become more important than ever for publications managers to assess their staffs’ productivity. Here is a basic approach to the task.

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Abridged with permission from Henry Stimpson’s PR and Marketing Tips

It’s easy to just Google whatever you’re researching and stop there. Well, don’t just Google! You’re likely to miss invaluable information that isn’t anywhere on the Web. Trust me—I was a research librarian before I went into PR and marketing many years ago.

Here are a few key research tools that can turn up lots of great information that Google can’t.

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Posted in Audience research and strategic planning, Writing and Editing 1 Comment »

In thinking about the resolutions I have made over the years, I have concluded that incremental changes have a better chance of adoption.

In this spirit, I would not venture to suggest something like “write a novel” or “get published in The New Yorker.” Instead, here are a few, do-able things that will not take long but will improve how you write.

1. Revise one more time. No matter how many times you usually revise something, go through one additional revision. You will catch all sorts of things that otherwise would slip by.
2. Ask one more person than you usually do for feedback (which means, of course, if you don’t normally ask anyone, ask one person). Another set of eyes will give you a fresh perspective.
3. Attend one literary reading. Bookstores, the Library of Congress, and universities all schedule regular readings by poets and prose writers. I’m not suggesting weekly or even monthly attendance, unless that is what you enjoy doing. Just try one. It is very inspiring.
4. Read one book about the craft of writing. Two of my favorites are by William Zinsser (On Writing Well and Inventing the Truth). Others I go back to include On Writing by Stephen King (yes, that Stephen King) and Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande (written in 1934!).
5. Write one piece in a genre you have never tried. A poem, an op-ed, a travel article—something you don’t normally try. Make it short. Don’t spend a lot of time on it unless you get inspired. But stretch yourself a bit.
6. Read one literary classic. Go back to an author of your choice—Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Herman Melville, or any other author that you have been “meaning to get to.”
7. Bookmark one new reference website that you will actually use. A few possibilities: The Columbia Gazetteer of the World Online, Chicago Manual of Style Online, or the Mayo Clinic, depending on your needs and interests.
8. Schedule an artist’s date that does not involve words. Those familiar with Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way know she suggests a weekly “artist’s date”—a walk in nature, a museum, an interesting shop—to get the creative juices flowing. In this case, help your writing through something visual, musical, or tactile.
9. Write a letter (not an e-mail) to a friend or family member. You might even consider doing something really daring, like handwriting it.

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I found out about this from an ad in my monthly newsletter from the American Society of Business Publication Editors: the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism offers free online courses “specifically geared to editors who wish to learn more about business journalism and how to cover public and private companies.”

Writing about business well is an important skill and one that’s all too rare, so we headed over there to dip into a few of their hour-long online tutorials, which address the following: Read the rest of this entry »

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Rick Holton is a freelance writer and trainer who works with businesses and nonprofits nationwide.

Bad writing can be contagious. People in organizations learn bad writing habits from each other in two main ways: by copying bad models or by copying the wrong models.

Everyone is busy, so employees often look through the files to see if there’s something they can use or modify to meet their present writing needs.

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Researchers at Stanford University have shown that clean, jargon-free language makes it easier to absorb new ideas.

Of course, that’s not quite how they thought of it.

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First, the good news. The majority of editors of business-to-business, or B2B, publications think their editor-in-chief demonstrates effective leadership behavior.

But what they see isn’t exactly the most effective behavior. Close, but no cigar.

This was what Heather Onorati, Chief Editor of Advanstar’s Healthcare Centralized Content Group, concluded in her survey of 211 B2B editors, which she discussed at the recent editorial conference of the American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE). ASBPE co-sponsored the study.

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This past month, I moved back to Washington, DC, after spending over four years living in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where I undertook postgraduate study in history while also working on writing and translation projects.

In Argentina, I enjoyed translating projects from Spanish to English—my principal strength—while also doing work from English to Spanish and Portuguese to English. On a couple of occasions, I even helped with translations from Portuguese to Spanish, which was quite fun and often easier than translating from English to Spanish since the syntax between the two romance languages is very similar.

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Is your publication or Web site recruiting experienced writers, editors, graphic designers, or photographers? You couldn’t ask for a better market.

As the newspaper industry spirals downward, newsroom downsizing has sent hundreds of talented journalists on job searches. One of the best places to find talent is the Website of the Poynter Institute, the journalism school founded in 1975 by Nelson Poynter, chairman of the St. Petersburg Times and its Washington affiliate, Congressional Quarterly.

Job posting packages start at $50 per month and include access to the résumé database. From experience, I recommend searching the database as well as posting a job. Qualified people may respond to a personal e-mail who wouldn’t respond to a job posting. After you’ve sent out 100 résumés, with no responses, it’s easy to get discouraged.

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Posted in Industry trends, Management of a publications enterprise, Writing and Editing 1 Comment »

When they err, newspapers run corrections. (Sometimes, that is, for some errors). Book publishers insert errata sheets in textbooks and correct egregious errors in subsequent editions.

But the Web, still in its adolescence, has no agreed-upon standard for corrections. There’s controversy over whether to quietly make necessary changes or to update and indicate what’s been done, and whether to preserve original text. For content such as Web site privacy policies and usage terms/conditions, there can be REAL fireworks about how changes should be posted, integrated, and publicized.

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Posted in Framing content in print and on the Web, Management of a publications enterprise, Writing and Editing 1 Comment »