Numerals in headlines quantify value, draw readers Next time you hit the Safeway, take a look at the magazines displayed at the checkout counter. Chances are, you'll find that they're packed with numerals. There's a good reason for that: Headlines with numerals, like Top 10, promise quantifiable value. And that draws readers. "Numbers sell," writes Richard … [Read more...] about Numbers count
Archives for September 2014
World of words
Only 7 countries studied achieve basic literacy rates On average, adults tested in the latest worldwide literacy study can read a few paragraphs and locate a single piece of information in them. But they struggle to find information that requires drawing even low-level conclusions from what they've read. Or so says the 2013 Program for the International Assessment of Adult … [Read more...] about World of words
Write for the world
How to reach readers in the face of global illiteracy How can you write for adults who can barely read? That's what two Chicago academics — William S. Gray and Bernice Leary — set out to learn in 1935. To discover what makes prose readable for adults with low literacy rates, the University of Chicago's Gray and St. Xavier College's Leary studied 48 passages of about … [Read more...] about Write for the world
‘Every sentence is a little drama’
How to build plot, scene and character with verbs Things that make your copy more creative: Storytelling. Human interest. Wordplay. Concrete details. Verbs. Verbs? Yes, verbs, writes Constance Hale. "What I want writers to understand," writes the author of Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch: Let verbs power your writing, "is that every sentence is a little drama. There’s a subject, … [Read more...] about ‘Every sentence is a little drama’
Catch Your Readers in New York
Meet me in the Big Apple, Oct. 28-29 Would you like to learn to write copy that moves people to act? Master a structure that's proven in the lab to work better than the inverted pyramid? Make every piece you write measurably easier to read and understand? If so, please join me at "Catch Your Readers," a two-day writer's Master Class on Oct. 28 and 29 in New York. … [Read more...] about Catch Your Readers in New York