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How Readable is Your Writing? Measure It!

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by Bob Kelly (used by permission)

Do you know how readable your writing is? You should. In fact, with all the tools available to you these days, there’s no excuse not to know. I assure you that your target audiences know – instinctively. Once they start reading what you’ve written, they’ll keep going – or quit – depending on how easy or hard it is you’ve made it for them.

The good news is that you, as the writer, don’t have to depend on instinct. Take anything you’ve written and you can quickly determine how readable it is by calculating the average grade level needed to understand it.

I produce a quarterly newsletter for a client, who requires that each of the dozen or so articles I write and/or edit per issue have an average grade level of 12 (high school graduate) or less.

Used to Be a Tedious Task

Calculating readability used to be a tedious task. One way was to take a sample of 100-200 words, count the number of words, then the number of sentences, then the percentage of words with three or more syllables. Take the average sentence length plus the average of the longer words, add them together and multiply the sum by a factor of 0.4. The result: the average grade level needed for comprehension.

I did that for years. But now, as we used to say in Noo Yawk, fuhgedaboudit! I simply highlight the writing sample, go to www.readability-score.com and paste in the sample and instantly see the average grade level, also known as the Fog Index.

Readability Doesn’t Equal Comprehension

A word of caution: finding that level is just the first step. Comprehension and readability are not the same thing. According to The Wall Street Journal, “People prefer to read well below their education level, and at a fog index of 13-college freshman-even a PhD’s eyes may start to glaze a bit. At 17 virtually the whole audience has fled.”

Most business magazines are written at the 9-10 level. I once read that TV Guide is at 6, and Reader’s Digest at 8. So, unless you’re writing a doctoral thesis or a legal brief, I strongly recommend you aim for a level of 10, or below. Once you start doing it, you’ll find it comes naturally. (I just checked; this article is at 7.)

If your writing is higher than 10, and you’re struggling with how to lower it, send along a sample and let’s see if I can help – with no strings attached.

Bob Kelly founded WordCrafters, Inc. in 1979, providing complete writing and editing services for authors, speakers, businesses and professional men and women, ministries and other nonprofit organizations. A former newspaper editor and publisher, he’s an award-winning author/co-author of 20 books, and has edited or ghostwritten more than a dozen others. His unique and extensive collection of quotations numbers 480 volumes and 1.7 million quotes. He’s also the author and publisher of a popular free monthly ezine: The KellyGram: Wisdom and Wit about the Wonderful and Often Wacky World of Words. His email is bob@wordcrafters.info.

Ruthlessly Edit Your Own Writing and Be Gentle With Others

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By Jerry Brown, APR (used by permission)

Good editing is a blessing, bad editing a curse. Unfortunately, there are more bad editors than good ones.

The reason for this unfortunate situation is that too many of us don’t know when to quit editing other people’s copy and when to keep editing our own.

Be ruthless when editing your own copy. Get out your axe and chop away. But be gentle when editing someone else’s. Put away your axe and use a scalpel.

In fact, one of the true marks of a really good editor is that s/he knows when to leave things alone. We all have our own unique way of saying things. Your job when editing someone else’s copy isn’t to turn their words into yours. Your job is to help them say what they have to say clearly and accurately.

If you’re editing someone else’s copy and find a typo or grammatical error, fix it. If you find something that isn’t clear, make it clearer. Better yet, tell the writer why it isn’t clear to you and encourage her/him to clarify what s/he has to say. If there are extra words that don’t add anything worthwhile, take them out. If you find a mistake, fix it. If you find something you suspect could be a mistake, check it out — or suggest the writer check it out.

What’s written is accurate and clear but you’d say it differently? Leave it alone. You’re not the writer. Your job is to help the writer, not replace the writer’s voice with your own.

It’s a different story when it comes to editing your own copy. Then it’s time to be ruthless.

Jerry Brown specializes in Media Training, Media Relationships, and Message Development at www.pr-impact.com. Do you agree with Jerry’s point of view? When you pay for an editor, what are your expectations–gentle or ruthless? Share your thoughts below.

Nonfiction Authors: Think Like an Editor

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Barbara McNichol

Writers take their observations of the world, draw a few conclusions, and translate them into messages on paper (or computer screens). When you write something to market your products or services, you don a writer’s hat to express your message in words. But don’t stop there. You then need to put on your editor’s glasses and focus on fine-tuning those words to make sure they communicate with your intended audience. That requires you to read your piece as if you have never seen it before and think like an editor.

A skilled editor examines every phrase and asks:

  • Is it NECESSARY?
  • Is it CLEAR?
  • Is it CONCISE?

When you review your own writing, you likely won’t answer “yes” to all these questions. So take off your writer’s hat and look through your editor’s glasses, then make changes based on these five common writing problems.

1. Use the active voice. (WHO does WHAT to WHOM.)

Passive: It was decided that everyone would take the class.
Active: The principal decided everyone would take the class.

2. Make subjects and verbs agree. (No mixing singular and plural.)
Incorrect:  A group of writers were in town. (“Group” is singular while “were” is plural.)
Correct: A group of writers was in town. (“Group” is the subject here, not “writers.”)

3. Use parallel construction. (Give your writing rhythm.)
Weak: We’ve learned to read, write, and we’re making sure information is shared.
Stronger: We’ve learned to read, write, and share information.

4. Make the subject obvious. (Don’t let your participles dangle!)
Yucky: Driving down the highway, the new stadium came into view. (Who was driving down the highway? The stadium?)

Better: We could see the progress on the new stadium as we drove by it on the highway.

5. Use specific, vivid verbs and nouns. (Don’t overuse adverbs and adjectives.)

Dull: I saw some really pretty yellow daffodils.

Interesting: I reveled in a riot of daffodils.

When you wear your editor’s glasses, make sure every word counts. What are your favorite writing/editing tips that will enhance someone’s writing? Please share them here.

 

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