Use the checklist below to make sure your article, tip, or book excerpt will get published and make you a household name on the Internet. 1. Does the title grab you and include a benefit? Make sure it is clear, but clever and clear is great. 2. Does the opening grab your attention? How? You need a hook in your short 1-3 sentence introduction. A shocking fact, drama, or question about where your audience is, their challenge. 3. Avoid starting sentences with "This is, there is, She is/was." Avoid passive construction such as: have, is, was, seems, appears. Replace "Judy is a book coach" with Book coach, Judy Cullins, digs her client's buried treasure (their words) up to make their books saleable gems. Aim for only 2-4% passives. Use strong, action verbs instead. 4. Punch up those sentences. Instead of "people who are assertive are willing to stand up for themselves," say, "Assertive people stand up for themselves." 5. Reduce general words. Replace them with specifics that are more compelling to the reader. Instead of "saves you time," use "saves you 10 hours a week, so you can finally take that vacation to that Caribbean island." 6. Shorten all sentences for Online reading. Did you know that 15-17 words per sentence is standard? Over that number the sentence is "difficult?" We write differently for Online because we are busy people who want information fast! 7. Use the present or past tense instead of "would have" and other passive forms. These verb forms help your article's clarity and give punch to it. 8. Show, don't tell. Instead of saying this book helps you to a healthy life, say after you read my book, you will have "leap out of bed energy." 9. Reduce the use of adjectives and adverbs. Avoid all -ly adverbs. Make your nouns and verbs describe. Use the senses of sight, sound, emotions, touch. Instead of "Suddenly, she yelled at Tom," just say," She opened the front door and yelled at Tom." 10. Discuss only one point per article to help you write focused, compelling copy for the rest. Check out your article's thesis. What question does your article answer? Remember, for opt-in ezine publishers to take your article and spread the good word about you, you need to submit a quality, well-edited article that will wow them. |
