Andrea's Afternoon Delight: Five Steps to Editing Just About Anything. (And Why Knocked Up Reminds me of This.)
You know that scene in Knocked Up where Alan Tudyk encourages Katherine Heigl to "tighten"? And Kristin Wiig is super annoyed that she's being offered the position. And, of course, they're really telling her to lose weight, because they're putting her on camera, but of course, as their employer, they can't say that out loud? Remember that?
Well, (without getting into the ickiness of this--its a whole other blog) the other day, while helping a client hire an editor, I found myself with a sense of "deja-moo" what happens when you know that you're suddenly embodying a scene from a favorite movie. I was telling my client that this hire can't just be a good writer, that they must know how to edit. Really sculpt! Shape. Tighten! I actually used that word.
And this is just so true.
Because words have weight.
And if we want readership, leads, conversions and caramel-apple lollipops, we must be lighter. Here's a quick read about how to do that. Either for your editor or yourself.
1) Stop welcoming me to wherever it is I've landed (your whitepaper, your introduction, your website, your company, your careers page). They know where they are. They're internet savvy. Cripes, they may even be a millennial. They likely chose the link themselves. Get to the good stuff. Online pleasantries are so ten years ago.
2)Give me my bold subheads and no one gets hurt. As a busy person, I want to scan not just a webpage, but every single thing I get my hands on. A letter from my daughter's school. A bio. A menu. An online dating profile. An analytics report. A how-to article on hearing aids.
3) Stop with the click here. They're called verbs people. Use them often. Example: SO VERY WRONG: Interested in learning more about our software packages? Click here. SO VERY SENSATIONAL: Learn more about our software packages.
4) F*** that fluff. Phrases like “What you need to do is. .. . .” and “It is our hope that this section will provide” don’t’ add value and make the reader wade through words to find the wow factor. Again. Verbs are so delicious. Have them with fava beans and a nice chianti!
5) Oh No! Cliche Obvious-itys!: Unfortunately, sports announcers and newscasters are fabulous at taking up space when they need to fill time. And this is where we get non-value statements like. "The XXXX are here to stay", "There’s no denying that", "Where does the time go?" Don't be a sports announcer. Your name's not Boomer and it doesn't become you.
That's all the delight I have time for today. So go on, get to editing. No, now!