Technical writer, journalist and author
You’re preparing a document. You want to improve its readability. How to do this? Do what the U.S. Department of Defense does: use Flesch-Kinkaid scores to evaluate your documentation. Rudolf Flesch and J. Peter Kinkaid created the formulas in the…
Read more
Suppose you have a great idea for a nonfiction magazine article or book—how to prepare delicious high-fiber recipes, for example. You can see your article being placed in a given magazine, or your book being traditionally published through a commercial…
Read more
1. The message shouldn’t be e-mailed in the first place. Some people use e-mail as a buffer. If they don’t want to have a difficult or sensitive conversation with someone, they just drop an e-mail and figure that’s the end…
Read more
Usability testing refers to evaluating a product or service by testing it with representative users. Yet many people have misconceptions about just what usability testing means. Here are four myths about usability testing. 1. You don’t need a test plan….
Read more
For all the attention paid to digital marketing, the printed brochure remains one of the most useful and versatile marketing tools available. Brochures help a company establish its corporate identity. Companies spend money to project an identity. Brochures play an…
Read more
In the first part of this article, I addressed the first three questions you should ask before you create a book trailer video: Do you know your book, audience, and genre? Do you know what other trailers exist for similar…
Read more
A book trailer video is similar to a movie trailer you would see at your local theatre. However, you’d most likely see the book trailer online, and not at the theater. Some trailers get broadcast on television, but this is…
Read more
“I have a great idea for a book, but I don’t know where to begin.” Does this statement apply to you? Do you have a book that you’d love to write and see published, but don’t know how to proceed?…
Read more
In the first article of this two-part post, I wrote about three key elements of a nonfiction book proposal: the overview, market, and promotion activities. In this article, I’ll write about understanding the competition for your book, preparing the about the author…
Read more
The nonfiction book proposal is an often underrated element in the creation of books, whether electronic or printed. Perhaps this is because people think in terms of a finished book, and not the plan for creating it. Traditional book publishers…
Read more