4 ms·

1. Buy this book. Then read it. http://www.amazon.com/Associated-Press-Guide-Newswriting-Professional/dp/0768919797/ http://www.amazon.com/Associated-Press-Guid

1. Buy this book. Then read it. http://www.amazon.com/Associated-Press-Guide-Newswriting-Professional/dp/0768919797/ http://www.amazon.com/Associated-Press-Guide-Newswriting-Pro... 2. Avoid injecting yourself into the story. Before hitting publish, do a text search for 'I', 'me', 'my' etc. You'll be amazed what you find. 3. Read and re-read before publishing. Delete, cut, slash, burn. Make it concise without losing the emotion or human aspect. 4. Do your research! Data is the real value. Take the time to Google and include links for readers that want to go into more depth. 5. As you're writing, if you feel it's not coming together or you don't have enough to write about, hit save-draft and move on. My save-draft button is really my way of deleting a potential post without feeling like I lost the sunk cost. 6. Try to keep it under 400 words. "I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one" ~Mark Twain

jgrahamc 16y ago
Seems reasonable if you are writing for the AP, but I think that #2 is a mistake in blogging. Blogging is personal, I think it's ok to be part of a post.
swombat 16y ago
Wrong. Blog posts are not AP releases. Most of your tips are either irrelevant or downright wrong if trying to write a successful blog post. Regurgitating generic advice without adapting it to the current topic is a very, very bad habit.
- mmaunder 16y ago
  Daniel you should try the OP's technique of reading your comments out loud before posting.
- CapitalistCartr 16y ago
  His advice is mostly spot-on for the type I write. You are being a little overly general and harsh there.
jrockway 16y ago
#3 is really the only relevant advice for blog posts. Inexperienced writers seem to have a really hard time with this one. The other day, I was reading some Google review that said, "I'd like to start my review by saying that I don't like Starbucks". My thought was, "So... why didn't you?" "I don't like Starbucks." would have been a perfect introductory sentence for a review about not liking Starbucks! Personally, I'm going to do the opposite and start all my reviews with "I'd like to start my review by saying 'I'd like to start my review by saying'." That way I get what I like, AND I get to annoy the reader.
- SkyMarshal 16y ago
  Second that. Nobody has time for verbose blog posts these days. To paraphrase Tuco, if you're going to say something, say it, don't talk about saying it.
  - jrockway 16y ago
    I disagree with that. I read blog posts for the story, not for points. That's why I hate blogs that bold the key phrases. I want every phrase to be important, and I want the reading experience to be enjoyable. I could not care less about your 5 tips for getting more Twitter followers if all you write are the tips (instead of how you discovered them, or why you think they work). For example, I like Steve Yegge, not Jeff Atwood.
    - SkyMarshal 16y ago
      I agree in principal, I hate those 'N tips for doing X' blog posts (and magazine articles) too. That format is so overused and so shallow. <3 Yegge and Paul Graham. But not many bloggers are Yegge and Graham. And they don't beat around the bush with uneccessary verbiage either, as the OP was complaining about.
timwiseman 16y ago
This depends on what type of blog you are trying to write. If you are trying to write a blog that comes close to news releases, then I suspect this is good advice (though #6 is situational), but I have never tried that type of thing. Most blogs are really more like exposed journals that are only interesting to people that already know the writer well (facebook/myspace has started to, but not completely, supplanted this type of blog). For all of these, this advice would be inappropriate. Most interesting blogs fall in between. ArsTechnica for instance calls itself a blog officially, but it has strong elements of reporting in it. In this type of blog, the readers often want and expect some editorializing and some personal anecdotes along with the news and research. For this type of blog, #3 and #4 are absolutely vital, but the rest are probably inappropriate. Different types of blogs fall at different points between the news paradigm and personal journal paradigm and will therefore have different approaches. I suspect #3 at least could improve most blogs out there.

jgrahamc 16y ago

Seems reasonable if you are writing for the AP, but I think that #2 is a mistake in blogging. Blogging is personal, I think it's ok to be part of a post.

swombat 16y ago

Wrong. Blog posts are not AP releases. Most of your tips are either irrelevant or downright wrong if trying to write a successful blog post. Regurgitating generic advice without adapting it to the current topic is a very, very bad habit.

mmaunder 16y ago
Daniel you should try the OP's technique of reading your comments out loud before posting.
CapitalistCartr 16y ago
His advice is mostly spot-on for the type I write. You are being a little overly general and harsh there.

jrockway 16y ago

#3 is really the only relevant advice for blog posts. Inexperienced writers seem to have a really hard time with this one. The other day, I was reading some Google review that said, "I'd like to start my review by saying that I don't like Starbucks". My thought was, "So... why didn't you?" "I don't like Starbucks." would have been a perfect introductory sentence for a review about not liking Starbucks! Personally, I'm going to do the opposite and start all my reviews with "I'd like to start my review by saying 'I'd like to start my review by saying'." That way I get what I like, AND I get to annoy the reader.

SkyMarshal 16y ago
Second that. Nobody has time for verbose blog posts these days. To paraphrase Tuco, if you're going to say something, say it, don't talk about saying it.
- jrockway 16y ago
  I disagree with that. I read blog posts for the story, not for points. That's why I hate blogs that bold the key phrases. I want every phrase to be important, and I want the reading experience to be enjoyable. I could not care less about your 5 tips for getting more Twitter followers if all you write are the tips (instead of how you discovered them, or why you think they work). For example, I like Steve Yegge, not Jeff Atwood.
  - SkyMarshal 16y ago
    I agree in principal, I hate those 'N tips for doing X' blog posts (and magazine articles) too. That format is so overused and so shallow. <3 Yegge and Paul Graham. But not many bloggers are Yegge and Graham. And they don't beat around the bush with uneccessary verbiage either, as the OP was complaining about.

timwiseman 16y ago

This depends on what type of blog you are trying to write. If you are trying to write a blog that comes close to news releases, then I suspect this is good advice (though #6 is situational), but I have never tried that type of thing. Most blogs are really more like exposed journals that are only interesting to people that already know the writer well (facebook/myspace has started to, but not completely, supplanted this type of blog). For all of these, this advice would be inappropriate. Most interesting blogs fall in between. ArsTechnica for instance calls itself a blog officially, but it has strong elements of reporting in it. In this type of blog, the readers often want and expect some editorializing and some personal anecdotes along with the news and research. For this type of blog, #3 and #4 are absolutely vital, but the rest are probably inappropriate. Different types of blogs fall at different points between the news paradigm and personal journal paradigm and will therefore have different approaches. I suspect #3 at least could improve most blogs out there.