Lead by Example – Except in the News

Or … When can you call yourself a “writer”?

Lead by example, right? Argh, are we in for some bad grammar from our kids and grandkids! Quick, delete the news links from your computer!

Why? By reading what passes for journalism these days, our children are definitely getting the wrong impression – that typos and bad grammar are A-OK. How can our schools combat illiteracy with what passes for news articles every day on the Internet?

When I was a kid … oh, quit rolling your eyes. I know that’s a disdainful cliché, but it’s appropriate! BTW, while typing that sentence, the Microsoft grammar tool urged me to change “it’s” meaning “it is” – which is proper – to “its.” See what I mean?

So … when I was in school …

Publishing’s Redheaded Stepchild Waiting in the Wings for Center Stage

Yes, Self Publishing thrives! In spite of its beer bubbles in publishing's wine tasting room.

Four years ago I wrote “Publishing’s Death Knell Premature" (01/01/09),  about the redheaded stepchild of the book industry: Self Publishing. Of course, I’m using the term “self publishing” as the masses do – ANY form of publishing that is not through a traditional publisher.

I know, I know, that is not correct – have you tried changing public perception lately? (Click here if you want to know the difference between forms of publishing.)

So, let’s pretend this is January 1, 2013 again – seriously, I meant to write this then – after four years we can attest that the industry has indeed, changed. Not news. But the stagnation of self publishing’s image is.

After four long, recessionary years in which self publishing has exploded, unlike other industries, a recent journalist’s query requested to connect with “authors who have not yet been signed to a publisher,” still assuming all authors have the desire to sell their souls to a traditional publisher. I nearly choked on my coffee (OK, it may have been beer … don’t recall what time of the day).

Shock Jock Writers – Oh Yes, They Exist!

Shock-jock writers. Who are they? Think about it. We all know the name of the radio jock generally considered the epitome of the original broadcast shock-jocks. His name rhymes with “learn.” (I refuse to give him credit here – he offends me on so many levels.) If you haven’t a clue to my reference that’s OK; you’re not missing anything.

Somewhere underneath the vitriol diatribe, shock-jocks may have a valid point. But they apparently don’t feel comfortable enough with their normal personable charm (said with tongue in cheek) to attract your attention, so their agendas are punctuated with profanity and/or adjectives meant to disgust, berate, or shockingly suggest sexual exploitation.

Well, guess what? The world of authorship has its own breed of shock-jocks. What I’d like to offer is the viewpoint that if you’re a good writer, you don’t need tricks or trash-talk (fiction and erotica excluded) to make your points and gain a following.

Static Pages Could Be Sabotaging Your Business (Challenge below!)

So tell me – how many pages does your website contain? Five? Fifteen? A hundred or more? Large companies’ sites stretch into the thousands. Even with a website team, maintaining more than two can be time-consuming. And time is money.

Oh, and please don’t tell me you don’t have a website (or blogsite). Have you published a book? Do you own a business? (No matter how small – home based qualifies.) You MUST have a website. Are there true naysayers anywhere who disagree? I seriously doubt it.

It doesn’t really matter how many pages you maintain because the top five viewed are generally the most important. Why? For whatever reason – your marketing, backlinks, their popular searchability – interest in their hype or content has driven people to them. As such, they are your site’s foundation.

Good for you! Enticing people to your website is difficult. Of course, keeping them there and ensuring they click on your Buy Buttons is even trickier. But as an editor, I know one element of your website that once created is often neglected in updates, and just might be the biggest cause to losing your visitors’ interest.

But it’s true; but he said …

You know, I admit, off the cuff, I’m just a mediocre writer. If I don’t edit my writing several times, the original text is ripe with flaws like misplaced phrases and redundancies—similar to the news articles that are now shoved down our throats every day.

Once upon a time in a fairytale world journalists were writers of note, highly regarded for not only their style, but their writing acumen—realizing of course, most were edited prior to publication.

My morning routine is to grab a cuppa joe and check out today’s Yahoo! news. And every day I shake my head over the mediocre writing—sometimes to the point of overshadowing my interest in whatever report or rumor I’m trying to read.

Today’s pet peeve? When hurried, a writer resorts to familiar words … over, and over, and over again.