The U.S. newspaper of record runs 33% feature leads New York's Grey Lady isn't so gray any more. Topping one-third of its stories with feature leads, The New York Times covers the world in living color. We analyzed 87 stories in the Dec. 15, 2014, edition of the Times. (We skipped the sports pages and one-paragraph stories.) Reporters started 29 of those pieces with … [Read more...] about The best of Times
Archives for February 2015
Catch Your Readers in Chicago
Learn to use the bait your fish like on April 21-22 If you want to Catch Your Readers, you need to think like a reader. Then you need to use the bait your reader likes, not the bait you like. Problem is, many of the techniques we've institutionalized in business communication writing are not the bait the reader likes. In my two-day, hands-on writing workshop, Catch … [Read more...] about Catch Your Readers in Chicago
Lists with benefits
Make them parallel, verb-based When Mr. Wylie's Writing Tips had a hip replacement recently, he had to take a break from grocery shopping. I went searching for my new BFF, an online grocery delivery service. I found Envoy, which turned out to offer grocery delivery and a writing workshop in one. Envoy does a great job of expressing its benefits. My favorite: … [Read more...] about Lists with benefits
Captivate your audience
Three ways to make your copy more creative Ogilvy was right. If you want someone to buy what you're selling — whether you're pitching products and services or positions and ideas — you must first engage them. And nothing engages audience members quite so well as creative material. Creative elements get attention, communicate more clearly and enhance … [Read more...] about Captivate your audience
Balance and Power
Win our February writing contest The sound your're hearing in that Oscar Wilde quote is called balance. Also known as parallelism, balance works because of the rub between similarity and difference. Balance draws reader attention to the most important parts of your message, with passages like: "... my head in the rainclouds, my heart in the sky." — Donna Tartt, … [Read more...] about Balance and Power