Content Mastery Guide

Editor and Ghostwriter

Talk is Cheap 2.0 conference for PR writers

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I had a great time the other night at the Talk is Cheap 2.0 conference put on by staff and students of Centennial College’s Centre for Creative Communications and Social Media Group.

It was nice to hang out with June Li, Elizabeth Cockle and Barb Sawyers. I also ran into Terry Fallis, who I met, heard and blogged about at last year’s event. Congratulations to Terry for winning the 2008 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour.

I saw two sessions. In a presentation about The Ethics of Social Media PR, Dave Fleet and Michael O’Connor Clarke, both of Thornley Fallis, did a great job of explaining things like astroturfing, although in some ways the discussion raised more questions than answers. The question I was most interested in was why is it ok for professionals to have a speech written for them, but not a blog post?

Their take on that was that a blog is meant to be a two-way conversation, and if one of those two people isn’t truly present in that conversation, it’s fake. They offered the point that when someone has a speech written for them, it is still them that is standing there delivering the words.

Speaking of speechwriting, I also bumped into John Watkis at Wednesday night’s event. John (who, incidentally, attended the same high school that I did) made a big impression on me when he spoke about speechwriting at a PWAC Toronto seminar last year.

Dave and Michael suggested that if you use a ghostblogger, you could include a disclaimer explaining that someone on your staff is writing the blog, but that you review and approve every post before it goes out.

What’s the difference between ghostblogging and what I do when I edit and clean up my clients’ blog posts before they publish them? Is there a difference?

I wouldn’t be comfortable blogging “as” someone else. That would definitely feel fraudulent to me. I agree that when someone reads and comments on a blog post, they should expect to be interacting directly with the blog owner.

But ghostwriting or editing a blog post that my client then goes ahead and publishes themselves, that’s different. That’s just one of the many ways I help my clients get their own great ideas out of their heads and into writing. It means they can make use of this fantastic marketing tool even if they struggle with writing, can’t find the time do it or whether they just need some help to clarify and polish their words.

The second session I saw was also really interesting. It was called Influencing the New Influencers, and was about how to “pitch” to bloggers to get them to review, endorse or simply talk about your product or service. The panel was moderated by Keith McArthur of com.motion and featured Brenna Flynn, also of com.motion and Eden Spodek of Bargainista.

Not surprisingly, they talked a lot about the importance of building a long-term relationship (“make friends before you need them”) and also about customizing your pitch to demonstrate that you’ve read and followed the blog.

Congratulations to the Talk is Cheap Team for another great event! I’m so glad I was there.

Thank you for the abundance, now something has to give

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I’ve just updated my Terms of Service to reflect new turnaround times. I am so grateful for all of the work that is coming my way, and it means that I need to change our expectations of how soon work will be delivered.

Thank you for your understanding, thank you for your trust and THANK YOU for your business!

Talking to Canadian editors about better business relationships

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On Monday, October 27, 2008, I had the pleasure of speaking at a meeting of the Toronto branch of the EAC (Editors’ Association of Canada). The location was the beautiful and inspiring Women’s Art Association of Canada.

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Thanks to Shar O’Brien for the photo.

The topic was Business Relationship Management Essentials for Editors: What one freelance editor learned in her first three years.

You see, at the EAC year-end party in June, I was chatting with another member and she expressed some of the challenges she’s had in dealing with difficult client issues.

That got me thinking about how much I have learned over the last three years; the mistakes I’ve made and what I’m choosing to do differently. I didn’t want to keep such good stuff to myself, so I contacted the EAC Program Chair and offered to present the topic at an EAC Toronto chapter meeting.

The presentation was recorded, and the audio and handout will be available from the EAC Canada website in the next week or so – I’ll let you know when it’s ready.

I’m also hoping to have a version of the presentation accepted as an article for the EAC Toronto branch newsletter. And who knows, I may even get the chance to be part of the 30th anniversary National EAC Conference in June 2009 (Toronto). I only have until November 15th to submit my proposal, though, so I had better get busy!

Here’s another photo – I’m not sure sure which mistake I was referring to at this exact moment, but the thought bubble would probably read, “What was I thinking?”

Eac8oct27

Blog posts vs. articles: What’s the difference?

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Clients have asked me, “What’s the difference between a blog post and an article?” Great question! Since we’ve already talked a lot about article writing, I’m going to take this opportunity to talk about blog posts.

Anatomy of a blog post

Here are just a few of the elements that a good blog post will include:

Keywords: Think about the words and phrases that your ideal client might type into a search engine if they were looking for information about this topic.

Links: Demonstrate your expertise and solidify your credibility by pointing out relevant and useful resources on the Internet. Set up the links so they open in a new window.

Personality: A blog is a great place to bring more of your personal identity into your business communications. You can write more conversationally, share your opinions and give the reader a peek behind the scenes of your business activities. You may even choose to share details about your life outside of work.

But the most crucial element of your blog post is definitely its:

Point: Be sure that each blog post is making one clear point. A business blog is not the place for an aimless rant or random ramblings. Before you publish, ask, “What’s the point of this post?” and, “Is that point important to my target market?”

Of course some of your blog posts will be announcements, promotions or just plain fun stuff. That’s fine; that’s what makes blogging so appealing! Just limit those posts so that the bulk of what you’re publishing is valuable content for your readers.

Blog posts versus articles

All articles can be blog posts, but not all blog posts can be articles. Generally speaking, a blog post will be shorter, more informal and less structured than an article. See Section 20.1 of the Customizable Style Guide for Coaches Who Write, Anatomy of an Article, for more details about the elements (e.g., introduction, conclusion and author resource box) that you can add to any blog post to turn it into an article.

This blog post is an excerpt from a brand new bonus chapter of The Customizable Style Guide for Coaches Who Write: Look Smarter, Write Faster and Get Better Results from Your Writing. The full chapter includes more blog post elements, tips on how to use other social media tools to make each blog post work harder for you AND a 5-point checklist that will improve every blog post that you write.

Writing Prompt: Look over your last few blog posts. Did you stick to one main point, or were you trying to write the blog post of a lifetime? Write a new blog post, with all of these tips in mind. Then send me the link!

Dina Giolitto on How to Get Two (or More!) Articles for the Price of One

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I think my colleague Dina Giolitto could relate to the “Article of a Lifetime” syndrome that I’ve blogged about before. In a recent blog post, she says that it’s difficult for her to write shorter articles.

She’s come up with a handy formula to take her longer articles and chunk them up. Read about it on her blog.

Writing Prompt: If you’ve got too many ideas for one article (or blog post), try Dina’s method and enjoy the extra exposure of a second or third article or post.