Recent Writing Roundup - Summer 2016

In addition to writing a book these last few months, I've also been doing some writing for Command C, an ecommerce web development shop. You may be able to benefit from these articles as well! 

If you own or help run an ecommerce shop, check out these posts on planning for more holiday sales and the value of loyalty programs.

If you ever think about how authentic you are (or aren't) at work, read The Power of Vulnerability in Business Part 1 and The Power of Vulnerability in Business Part 2. 

If you are interested (transfixed?) by the presidential campaigns by Clinton and Trump, learn what's been going on with their ecommerce stores. For a while Trump was running a sub-par shop, then the Donald basically copied Clinton. 

Enjoy! And please let me know if you have any questions at all. 

The Zombie Business Cure Book Coming Early 2017

I'm happy to share with y'all that the book I've been working on for the last two years will be out in stores in early 2017.  I'm currently finishing up the last chapter with my co-author and friend, Dr. Julie Lellis, a professor of strategic communication at Elon University. 

Our book helps small business owners and communication professionals in larger organizations to be more mindful and authentic in their communication. 

We include case studies and examples in the book of organizations such as:

• Starbucks
• Buffer
• Lululemon
• Allstate Insurance
• The Unipiper
• Nat's Hard Cider
• Duke University Lemur Center
• Meals Plus
• and many more!

This will be a short blog post as I'm so tired of writing already. I'll keep you posted as the book becomes available.

Thanks to everyone for their support!

3 Things Journalists Do to Improve Their Writing

Do you write for your own website or someone else's? If so, these three simple practices that journalists often use can help you catch problems before they end up online:

1) Read your writing out loud.

When you sense you have a good draft, stop typing, and read your work out loud. You will often catch phrases that sound awkward. This is essential to do if you don't have an editor checking your work.

2) Print out your writing to review it.

For many of us, it's much easier to find errors on a printed page than on a screen. When I worked at Bloomberg News, I was encouraged to print out my articles in order to check them carefully before submitting them to one of my editors.

3) Ask a friend or colleague to look it over.

An extra set of fresh eyes will see things you can't. For example, if you are a blogger, find someone who can review your blog posts in exchange for reviewing their posts or other writing. Ask for exactly what you want. If you simply want help finding typos, say that. If you are open to getting feedback on clarity or audience relevance, say that as well. You can spend less than 10 minutes helping each other...but these few minutes can make a big difference!

Using these practices will improve the quality of your writing. Typos undermine credibility. Confusing your readers isn't going to help anyone. And if you want to learn more about writing for the web, read Letting Go of the Words by Ginny Redish.

Please share any other practices you use to better your writing before it ends up on the web.