Don't dumb it down : Readability helps everyone, On readability, WWJD?, 10 readability indexes, 10 readability calculators and more ...
Welcome to Rev Up Readership — your guide to Catching Your Readers |  | | September 2017 // Don’t dumb it down | | You’re not dumbing it down; you’re lifting it up It never fails. When I talk in my writing workshops about the importance of making copy easy to read and understand, there’s always one communicator who can’t believe the advice applies to her. “Are you kidding?” she gasps. “I’m writing to surgeons/executives/pharmacists/school district superintendents/engineers/financial planners/horse breeders. These folks are superbly educated, brilliant and smart as a whip. There’s no way they’ll read anything that easy.” But new research shows that we should make all of our communications — even those written to highly educated, highly literate readers — easier to read and understand. | | |  | Benchmark against world’s largest broadcaster | | |  | The Wall Street Journal weighs in at 11th grade | | |  | From the Flesch to the Fry, from the Fog to the SMOG | | |  | Test your clarity with these cool (free!) online tools | | | | New and Noteworthy |  | Creative process helps you write better, easier, faster Have you ever come up with a brilliant idea — on the way home from the brainstorming meeting? Developed a creative theme for the annual report while pulling weeds? | |  | Readers see ‘white horse,’ not ‘absolute truth’ Write “juicy hot dog,” and your readers may see a frankfurter nestled in a bun, slathered with mustard and onions. They may even taste it. | |  | Blog post structure increases reading by 520% “God is in the structure,” says Richard Preston, author of The Demon in the Freezer. Once you’ve nailed your structure, writing becomes almost a matter of filling in the blanks. | |  | Web visitors look at 70% of bulleted sections Think of lists as the celebrities of your messages — “what Brad Pitt is to the paparazzi,” say the authors of How People Read on the Web. “You just can’t get enough.” | |  | Get 34 facts & figures about your clarity Plug in a chunk of copy, and STORYtoolz will deliver a wealth of readability data — 34 pieces in all, from your longest sentence length to the number of “to be” verbs. | |  | Learn to engage readers with wordplay, metaphor and more Paint pictures in your readers’ minds so they read your message faster, understand it better and remember it longer. Rev Up Readership members save $100 with code RURNYC100 | | | | |  | © 2017 Ann Wylie • All rights reserved • Thank you for subscribing to Rev Up Readership.
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