Americans spend 16.2 minutes a day reading for fun
Some 69% of young executives and 43% of veteran professionals spend less than four hours a week reading for business.… Read the full article
Concise Writing
What closet tidying taught me about editing
Audition your words to go in, not out
When Lynn Wylie, aka Best Sister Ever, sent me an Unfancy blog post arguing that all you need to look great every day is a capsule wardrobe of 37 items per season, I scoffed.… Read the full article
What’s the value of readability [research!]?
Save money, make money and more with readable messages
What are the benefits of making your message measurably easier to read and understand?
Readability formulas measure how easy your message is to read based on average number of words per sentence, percentage of polysyllabic words and familiarity of words on the Dale Chall list.… Read the full article
Why is rhyming important to communication?
Fluent words more trustworthy, believable
Which of these food additives is more dangerous: Hnegripitrom or Magnalroxate?
Most people said the more difficult to pronounce Hnegripitrom was the most hazardous, according to a recent study by Hyunjin Song and Norbert Schwarz at the University of Michigan.… Read the full article
Don’t do a data dump when writing statistics
Don’t make your readers’ eyes glaze over
“Great clots of numbers dropped into a story with a steam shovel create a wall of abstraction.”
— William Blundell, author, The Art and Craft of Feature Writing
Don’t create a wall of abstraction.… Read the full article
How to use statistics in persuasive writing
Turn numbers into people and otherwise reframe the data
Which is more dangerous? A disease that kills 1,286 out of every 10,000 people it strikes? Or one that kills 12.86% of its victims?… Read the full article
What are numeracy rates by country?
Fewer than 12% of adults are competent at math
Nope, this isn’t a joke about writers’ math skills: Just 12% of adults around the world are numerically literate, according to an enormous global literacy study.… Read the full article
Find data for writing descriptive statistics
How to hunt down numerical comparisons
When I wrote an annual report about charitable giving in Kansas City, I wanted to compare the $770 million Kansas Citians gave to charitable organizations in one year to make that number more meaningful to the audience.… Read the full article
Benchmark readability against the BBC
How does your news measure up?
The BBC covers the most serious news known to man — West Bank stabbings, friendly fire air strikes, Justin Bieber’s bad behavior — and does so in an average of 4.7-character words.… Read the full article
Measure readability with these 6 readability apps
Test your clarity with these free online tools
There are a million readability tools out there. Here are 6 of my favorites:
1. Datayze Readability Analyzer
This tool not only analyzes readability, but also gives you different ways to dig into your message.… Read the full article