The Writing Habits That Impress Content Managers and Editors

The Writing Habits That Impress Content Managers and Editors

Reader Comments (21)

  1. As an editor, I love it when the writer has done the job perfectly –
    – proofread the write-up and formatted the it very well. It makes my job easy, and I don’t have to start correcting mistakes or re-wording sentences.

  2. Thank you, Stefanie! For me, all of these points boil down to creating that kind of environment where you can do your best work (as much as is possible with you). I get a lot of requests for people to do freebie editing or critiquing of their pieces (friends, writing peers), and I’ve had to blend my “want to help” attitude with asking them exactly when they need the piece evaluated and telling them when I can realistically get to it. Then the ball’s in their court. Keeps me from getting irritated at them for emailing me with last-minute requests; and keeps me on schedule with my own (paid-for) work.

    I really need to spend time working on #1, though. As an inspirational magazine article writer, I often need to wait until the end of the piece to provide the takeaway. Just the nature of the genre and the publication’s expectations. Writing my inspirational blog is another story. Thanks for reminding me that I always need to know my audience and their needs!

    • That’s a great tip for handling your non-paid editing work, Andrea!

      When you do a favor for someone, you can often cut out asking them for a deadline and just be upfront about what you can do for them and when you can complete the request. It helps manage their expectations too. 🙂

      For your inspirational articles, making sure that the benefits of reading are in the headline (and perhaps expanded on a bit in the introduction) might be all you need to provide value upfront, if the style of the articles require you to provide the full takeaway at the end.

  3. An idea hits me. Then the headline forms. I start envisioning what the image might look like. The flow of the subheads start to take shape…

    Articles hit me hard, and I need to stop what I’m doing and go with it, or they are lost. I’m guilty of riding that wave of enthusiasm all the way to hitting the “Publish” button or dashing it off to an editor without building any kind of “marinade time” into my process. After reading this, I can look back and recall times when I wished I had waiting one more day or so because of a last-minute insight I got and would have liked to include. I just added a new column to my Trello Article Pipeline board.

    Thanks Stefanie!

    • Glad to hear the article inspired you to add a new step to your routine, Randy!

      I love that momentum — you have to ride it. And when you can balance it with time to rest, reflect, and improve, that’s powerful. 🙂

  4. I’ve definitely found that implementing any feedback on style etc. that I receive on the first couple of articles helps – it proves you’re willing to listen, and it gives the client less to do at their end.

    • Yes! It absolutely shows that you want to have a working relationship with them, rather than blindly do everything your way and make the same *what-they-see-as* mistakes again and again. 🙂

  5. Giving yourself a deadline is really something that helped me. I wanted to take my online brand to the next level by producing content every week for the blog portion of it.

    I did that by requiring myself to consistently post an article once a week on a specific day and at a specific time.

    Now, I’ve been able to be highly consistent about it for the past couple of years. That blog gets me thousands of views a week and has increased my ad revenue, significantly.

    My next objective will be two posts a week.

    • It’s great to see how you made your goal manageable for you, Shawn.

      Getting to 2 posts a week is a lot more realistic once you’ve mastered 1 post a week.

      Thanks for sharing!

  6. Great insights Stefanie.

    I am often delayed by the need of wanting to perfect my writings before I send them off to the first draft checkpoint.

    Falling into this trap can often delay workflow because after all, in the end, you are going to edit the whole piece.

    Thank you!

  7. Hello Stefanie,

    A very helpful guide on improving writing habits. I love to write and still trying to hone my writing skills. I love to use short paragraphs as people love to grasp them easily. Thanks so much for writing this awesome post.

    Regards,
    Vishwajeet Kumar

  8. When someone expresses a unique point of view and is able to back up their case while skipping the obvious. We are all living busy lives and reading well thought out and edited content that communicates a point without duplication while staying on point, makes for a satisfying read.

  9. Hey Stefanie, I found your post on my Google feed this morning.

    Must say here are some good tips. Like providing value upfront and writing short paragraphs.

    As I manage several websites I usually follow a copywriting formula.

    I then write the first draft and edit it several times before I publish it.

    Most of my clients don’t have problems with my writing as I make them more money.

    Anyway, keep up the great work.

  10. Creating and sticking to deadlines has definitely been the biggest contributing factor to my success as a blogger! Writing habits that impress me is consistency lol!! 🙂 If you try every single day & don’t give up the habit I think anyone can succeed as a writer

    Joanna

  11. Absolutely agree with this, especially point number 2! People overlook the power of storytelling outside of the obvious applications.

    Emails, internal communications, slideshows, simple landing pages, whatever… they can all benefit from inserting a bit of that ‘journey’ (whether it ends up being first person or not.)

    Great post!

  12. I’ve found that being curious and asking client specific questions is always helpful. I think there’s a risk of having all your content sound ‘too’ similar and not really client-focused. So the takeaway is, don’t be shy about asking questions.

    Thanks Stephanie, great article.

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