Category Archives: Writing and Editing
According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, the country’s 400 most successful fundraising organizations expect to raise a median of 9 percent less in 2009 than 2008. That means that half will do even worse, and the picture isn’t expected to improve in 2010.
Given this grim reality, nonprofit organizations need messages that stick in the heads [...]
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Abridged with the author’s permission from a post on my 2 cents.
A research brief from MediaPost this week brings up, yet again, the issue of the press release — is it a dying dinosaur? Nearly half — 49% — of the professional communicators polled said releases are “as useful as ever.”
I’ve [...]
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This interview has been abridged with the author’s permission from Mac McIntosh’s Sales Lead Insight™ blog.
Miller McMillan is a copywriter who worked on high-profile accounts at ad agencies in Atlanta and Boston before establishing his copywriting boutique agency in Los Angeles. Miller has worked with such clients as CNN, Hughes, Nestlé, Avery and Microsoft. His [...]
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Reprinted with the author’s permission from Post Advertising.
In September, The Huffington Post surpassed the Washington Post in terms of unique visitors. “The Huff Post was up 26% year-over-year to 9.4 million uniques, while uniques at the Washingtonpost.com dropped almost 30% to 9.2 million,” reports Jennifer Saba at Editor & Publisher. Look out, media giants. You [...]
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“How to Write a Great Novel” in Friday’s Wall Street Journal quotes noted literary figures on their work habits, many of them idiosyncratic but all supportive of the maxim: Writing well is hard work.
Few of us mortals aspire to be short-listed for the National Book Award, but one element of hard work—rewriting—should be familiar to [...]
Posted in Writing and Editing 1 Comment
Several admired colleagues write intelligently about online content. This post is for the others who need a gentle reminder: think first, repurpose second.
My inbox is filling up with tips from marketing companies that treat content as if it were a commodity, like baking soda or apple juice. There is no such thing as “content,” just [...]
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The writer, who received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Business Publications Editors (ASBPE), contributes frequently to the ASBPE blog on techniques for improving editorial quality. This post is abridged with his permission.
Given the staff cutbacks that face almost every type of publications enterprise, it has become more important than ever for [...]
Also posted in Management of a publications enterprise Leave a comment
Abridged with permission from Henry Stimpson’s PR and Marketing Tips
It’s easy to just Google whatever you’re researching and stop there. Well, don’t just Google! You’re likely to miss invaluable information that isn’t anywhere on the Web. Trust me—I was a research librarian before I went into PR and marketing many years ago.
Here [...]
Also posted in Audience research and strategic planning 1 Comment
In thinking about the resolutions I have made over the years, I have concluded that incremental changes have a better chance of adoption.
In this spirit, I would not venture to suggest something like “write a novel” or “get published in The New Yorker.” Instead, here are a few, do-able things that will not take long [...]
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