14% of U.S. adults have below-basic reading skills, says PIAAC 2013 Just 12% of Americans read well enough to review search results from a library website to identify a book suggesting that claims made both for and against generically modified foods are unreliable. Which means that if you write for these proficient readers, you'll miss 88% of U.S. adults aged 16 to 65. … [Read more...] about Can you read me now?
Archives for December 2013
Measure and manage readability
Readers multiply reading ease So your copy is too tough for even the most literate among us to read? You can measure and manage readability by using readability indexes like the Flesch-Kincaid grade level. (I like to use StoryToolz readability statistics to calculate this.) That's what I asked you to do for our October writing contest: Find a hard-to-read passage, then … [Read more...] about Measure and manage readability
Nounify a name
'That was so Bankheadian' I was thrilled last month when one of my clients asked me to "Wylie-ize" part of her website. (Thank you, Libby Catalinich!) That reminded me of this exchange between characters in Jeffrey Eugenides' The Marriage Plot: “My goal in life is to become an adjective,” Leonard said. “People would go around saying, ‘That was so Bankheadian.’ Or, ‘A … [Read more...] about Nounify a name
Do hashtags #help?
When it comes to retweeting, they do, says Dan Zarrella "Using a hashtag does no harm in the same way wood paneling does no harm to your station wagon, or a misspelled tattoo does no harm to your bicep." — Daniel Victor, social media staff editor at The New York Times Love them or hate them, hashtags may help you increase retweets. Or so says Dan Zarrella, HubSpot's viral … [Read more...] about Do hashtags #help?
Book Ann now and save
Lock in this year's fees for next year's programs Thank you, Dear Clients, for making 2013 Wylie Communications' best and busiest year yet. It's been a blast to do so much interesting, creative work for so many interesting, creative people. The bad news: Because of increasing demand for my time, I'll be increasing my fees for writing workshops on Jan. 2. The good news: … [Read more...] about Book Ann now and save