Diverse writers, one voice

Diverse writers, one voice

I’ve ghostwritten text for a diverse group of people: Voices I don’t change my writing style that much when writing in the voices of these people. Why? Because of what I’m writing. I’m writing about business strategy or personal productivity, in general. That requires an authoritative tone. Anyone can take on an authoritative tone. It…

Tone matters. Yours should be authoritative, but not boring.

Tone matters. Yours should be authoritative, but not boring.

I read and edit a lot of nonfiction content — business books, blog posts, advice, and so on. Poor choices in tone often undermine authors’ credibility. Your tone should be expert and authoritative, but not dull. What is tone? Tone is the way in which an author’s prose choices communicate the author’s relationship with the…

Are you writing a memoir or an advice book? Avoid the murky middle.

Are you writing a memoir or an advice book? Avoid the murky middle.

It is tempting to add personal stories to a book of advice, or bits of advice in a memoir. When mixing the two genres, though, be careful not to mix your objectives, or readers will find your book confusing. The challenge here is one of tone. Recall the ROAM analysis: Readers, Objective, Action, iMpression. Consider…

In the Wix vs. WordPress fight, impressions matter
| |

In the Wix vs. WordPress fight, impressions matter

Matt Mullenweg, the originator of WordPress and CEO of Automattic, is fighting with Avishai Abrahami, CEO of Wix. (Both companies make it easy to build web content.) The question driving this fight is the appropriate use of open source code. But what’s really at stake is reputation — and on that front, Abrahami’s wry commentary…