editorial Archives -

Eleven Amazing Ways An Editor Can Make You Fascinating

Why use an editor at all? Many of you might ask this question every day. After all, there are about a million apps and plug-ins that help you to write. Some of them can even help you dumb down your writing to the 6th grade level so that 12-year-olds can comprehend your words. But is that really your audience? Twelve-year-olds?

Editors Are Old-School, But Then Again, No

After all, isn’t having an editor a bit old-fashioned? Like using an old-school typewriter? Well, no, not really. You see, an editor can make your work flow, especially a great editor who can do a structural edit. A structural edit looks at the big picture–see Robert Doran’s article So What Is a Structural Edit Exactly?

Get in the Flow

Speaking of flow, a good editor can help the sentences flow from one paragraph to the next. If the style changes, if the verbs and nouns disagree or even fight each other (a terrible sight!), an editor can help.

They Know More Words Than You

Not only that, but they know what parts of speech those words belong in. Sheesh, does that even make sense? I might have to stop and ask an editor!

They Are Not Afeared of Semicolons

Or colons. And when to use an ellipses (…). And what an em dash is! Who the heck knows what an em dash is?! Seriously. Who does? By the way, here’s a snazzy article about punctuation, from the Living Oxford Dictionary. (I particularly like their explanation of the Oxford comma.)

Contrary to Popular Belief, They’re Not Meanies

Now, some people are clearly too sensitive to work with an editor. And I remember back in the day when my words were me. Do you know what I mean? But now they’re just words–doing their own thing. It’s the thoughts behind the words that really matter.

They Are Actually Nice

We all know that mean people suck (a bumpersticker that no editor would ever put on her Honda Civic, by the way), but editors are not people who suck. They are kind 97% of the time. The other 3% of the editors are suffering from psychological damage.

They Help Your Writing Soar

If you’re a perfectionist, then you are ripe for an editor. Because an editor can make your writing soar. And not in a Red Bull gives you wings kind of way, either.

Photo by luca.sartoni

They Can Remove All the Weird Bits

Everyone has a few things they always do. We all kinda sorta make mistakes that can make our writing less than good. But with the digital equivalent of the red pen, an editor can get rid of those. In other words, a good editor won’t let you embarrass yourself.

Make Your Writing More Concise, Editors Can

If you have the tendency to write like Yoda speaks, as do I sometimes, an editor help you can. By the way, if you don’t have the skill of writing like Yoda, you can use the Yoda Translator. And you write yourself into a grammatical corner if also assist you an editor can. Did you see what I did there?

Photo by luca.sartoni

Your Writing Might Not Be As Good As You Think It is

Or maybe it is! But only an editor will tell you the truth. By the way, here’s an article about how to write a headline that people will want to click.

Editors Need Love, Too

If you don’t own a mug that says Have You Hugged An Editor Today?, then you might want to think about getting one.

Photo by -closed- look 4 /MyVisualPoetry

Do You Love Editors?

Tell me about your love in the comments! And thank you!

Social Media Calendar: Six Ways

What do you think of when you consider creating a social media calendar? Would it be a complex document, filled with charts and graphs, passed around at long meetings? A calendar is simply a tool to help you, a structure that can assist you with your overall goals (including your time management)–nothing more. You don’t even have to follow it all the time. And if you want to know why you need to create a social media content calendar, this Sprout Social article has plenty of reasons.

Keep it Simple

First, create a very high-level, daily structure. So for example, say you are a new zoo. Your schedule could go something like this: Monday: Monkeys, Tuesday: Toucans, Wednesday: Warthogs, Thursday: Tortoises, Friday: Flamingos. You can always revisit your daily calendar later and tweak it to suit yourself or your team.

Decide When to Post

Let’s use Facebook as an example. If you’ve set up a business page, you might want to post once a day to begin with (two or three times a day is fine). So, keeping with the above example, find content that matches your strategy of Monday Monkeys. What do they eat? Where do they live? You might start your search with Google and then find more specific sites to search.

Find a Model

Monkey See, Monkey Do Could Work for Your Editorial Calendar

Say your zoo is in Sydney, Australia. Find another zoo in a different part of the world to model your account after. (Maybe the San Diego Zoo?) Then find two more. Examine what the zoos are posting. What posts are getting the most traction, likes, comments? How often do they post? Adjust your schedule. “Monkey see, monkey do” could work for your social media editorial calendar.

Learn from What Doesn’t Work

You may not find another account you like, but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn from someone else’s failures. You can often learn more from someone’s failures than their successes. If you had to write the headlines for someone else’s Facebook posts, what would you do differently? What makes you want to comment on a post? Is there a particular writing style that you like?

Use Analytics Combined with Common Sense

Try using analytics, but also experiment with posting at different times. For instance, you may see that everyone is online at 5:30 pm, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re active then–lots of people leave their Facebook accounts open while they watch TV or eat dinner. Also, your followers may not be online on holidays.

Track Good Sources of Content

You might have your own blog, but you may also need content from other places. Could you share content from another zoo? Or is there enough going on at your zoo that you can post every day? When you find a good source, record it somewhere. I like to throw everything into a Word doc, so if I’m half-asleep looking for content, I’ll have some ideas. Images are becoming increasingly important in posts, so make sure to have a good source for images. Huffington Post has a great article on how to create engaging images.

What Else Goes Into Your Calendar?

What has helped you create your content calendar? Please leave a comment!