 Most organisations have an idea of how they want to be portrayed to clients or the public. They will have a brand and know what their values are.
With many people all creating writing on behalf of an organisation, including freelance copywriters or editors, it would be difficult to be consistent across all communications without a reference tool. Creating and using a writing style guide makes an organisation look professional, ensures clear communication, and creates a cohesive brand. A client may not consciously recognise that there is consistency in the writing style choices, but they will notice if there is not.  I’m sure we've all experienced the feeling when we've spent hours creating a detailed report with important information only for the reader to skim it and put it aside. What if they missed an important point? How will they make a decision based on a quick skim read? Or you write a short report on an issue with well-thought-out recommendations, and the reception is not as positive as you expected. Most people don’t have spare hours to read each report that arrives on their desk. But they need to be able to find the important information quickly to make decisions. The answer is to use the right structure for your content so that the important information will be read and understood. Once they have the key information, the reader can then decide whether they will need to read the entire report to fill in the detail.  Photo by Adam Birkett on Unsplash Related articles:
Part 1: What is plain English? Part 2: Why you should use plain English in your business. Plain English writing means uses writing techniques and layout design to make your message clear to the reader. It is user-friendly writing. It's not as easy as it sounds to write in plain English. And there are no rules on how to write in plain English – just guidelines. The guidelines are there to help you, but different contexts or readers mean that the guidelines must be interpreted correctly for your purpose. There are two stages to writing a document in plain English: Stage 1: Planning the structure and flow of the document. Stage 2: Writing the sentences using plain English techniques.  Photo by Andrew Pons on Unsplash Related articles:
Part 1: What is plain English? Part 3: How to write in plain English We are used to seeing plain English in government publications and information. Think of all the information we receive daily now around the Covid-19 pandemic. It is clear and easy to follow. Many countries have laws that require plain English to be used in government publications. In June 1998, a memorandum was issued in the US that required government departments and agencies to use plain language in all government documents. The UK and Australia have similar laws. We're a little behind in New Zealand, but the Plain Language Bill was introduced to Parliament in September 2021. On the New Zealand Legislation website, the explanatory note says that the bill “promotes the use of plain English in official documents and websites. Comprehensible information from government organisations is a basic democratic right. Plain English must become the standard for all official public and private communication in New Zealand.”  Photo by Maarten van den Heuvel on Unsplash Related articles:
Part 2: Why you should use plain English in your business. Part 3: How to write in plain English. Plain English, or plain language, is a way of writing and using layout design to make your message as easy to understand as possible. It's user-friendly writing. Plain English can
 Photo by Leslie Lopez Holder on Unsplash Writing a non-fiction book for your business, or to share a message or an interest, can be a daunting process. You know that want to share your knowledge, but if you have never written a book before, you might not know how to begin. Where do you start? Read on. It’s not as quick and easy as some would have you think, but you can do it.  Photo by Proxyclick Visitor Management System on Unsplash Social media, networking and email subscription have long been on everyone’s marketing plan. Publishing a book is now the trend. Many successful businesses have launched their business, or grew their business, by publishing a book. How? A book can set a you or your business apart and show your expertise. It can show that you are an authority on a particular subject; that people can turn to you to find the answers they need, either by purchasing your book or by talking to you directly. Most businesses that have published a book use it as a marketing tool, but not a source of income. A book will most likely not generate a huge profit on its own, but it can bring other benefits to your business.  Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash ‘What if I share my writing with someone else? What happens if they steal my idea?’ I get asked this all this time. It's natural for writers to be protective of their work. But are these writers’ concerns warranted? And what if you want to use song lyrics in your writing? Or you want to use a quote from someone long passed away that you found on a quote website? Can you?  Who doesn’t have a cookbook in their house? I know I have far too many, but I can’t help myself when I see a new one with beautiful images and yummy recipes. The beauty of a cookbook is that the result of using it is great-tasting food. Cookbooks are one of the most popular non-fiction genres in publishing. They are in the top five selling categories for e-books on Amazon, despite the ease of googling for a recipe. There’s something comforting about opening a book, choosing a recipe based on pictures of mouth-watering food, and putting it on the stand as you are cooking. You might buy a cookbook because it’s written by your favourite chef or a famous person, it teaches you new skills in the kitchen, it contains a new style of recipes you want to try, or you trust the author to write recipes that work. Whatever the reason, cookbooks are staying popular. There are many ways to write a cookbook, but there are some elements that are important to get right.  I always feel like the semicolon is one of the more sophisticated punctuation marks, and also that it scares people a little. It tends to be used more in formal writing, but it has its place in fiction too. It can be very useful to subtly convey a relationship between two thoughts without using more words. And there is no need to fear it if you know how to use it correctly. |