Tuesday, April 24, 2007

The New York Times is writing shorter...

... and so should you.

Ask yourself :
  • Can you existing written communications be shortened?
  • Can you design and write your communications so they'll capture the attention of busy people who skim before they commit to reading?
I thought about this when I attended the annual conference of the American Society of Journalists and Authors this past weekend. A correspondent for the New York Times said that the newspaper has halved the typical length of the articles it has her write. That's because people's attention spans have shrunk.

Labels: ,

Monday, April 16, 2007

How to pitch the Wall Street Journal's op-ed page

"Robert Pollock - Editorial Features Editor for The Wall Street Journal" gives you tips on how to pitch op-ed essays to that newspaper.

Pollock is open to a wide variety of topics, but says he takes a special interest in the war and the crisis in healthcare in entitlements.

Essays typically run 900-1,200 words, but occasionally run much longer.

I learned about the article from Erica Dreifus' Practicing Writing blog of April 16.

Labels: ,

Friday, April 06, 2007

"Creating Spam-Filter -Friendly E-mails"

"Creating Spam-Filter -Friendly E-mails" includes a handy checklist of words, images and other e-mail characteristics to avoid in your e-mails so they'll reach your targets.

It also includes a list of links to articles with additional advice.

When I send my e-newsletter through Constant Contact, I use Constant Contact's Anti-Spam Check, which is built into its Preview pane.

Happy e-mailing!

________________________
http://www.investmentwriting.com


Labels: , ,