Home
>
Article Writing
>
How To Edit Your Articles As You Write

How To Edit Your Articles As You Write

Increase your ezine subscribers by submitting articles once or twice a week to the opt-in ezines. Read by thousands, even hundreds of thousands, you get 10-25 new subscribers for each submission. Your articles also bring people to your Web site to buy your products. Use this checklist to edit your own work.

Knowing these benefits, you want to create and submit as many excellent articles as you can. At times, you have the articles complete, but don't have anyone handy to edit them. While it's best to get at least two other edits from business associates, you can edit your articles yourself with a little help.

Use this checklist to edit your own work:

1. Start your introduction with a question or startling fact. You must hook your readers with something that reaches their emotions.

2. Make your introduction only a few sentences. Your readers want to get to the heart of your article fast. They want easy-to- read quick tips. Long stories can bring a yawn to your reader.

3. At the end of your introduction, include your article's thesis to stay on track and make your article clear and compelling. For instance, "use this checklist to edit your own work."

4. Make all of your sentences short. Since standard sentence length is 15-17 words, make most of your sentences under that number. Complex sentences and multiple phrases make the reading tougher. Make it easy for your readers to find the subject and verb of each sentence, so they get the point fast.

5. Avoid dull, slow sentences. To avoid passive construction, start them with a subject, and then follow with a verb. For instance, "The coach marketed her business and books through submitting articles online" is an active sentence. "The coach's books were marketed online through submitting articles." is passive. Drop linking verbs such as "is," "was," "seemed," or "had." Replace them with power, active verbs. Instead of "She is beautiful," you could say, "Her beauty compels you to stare at her."

6. Aim for compelling, clear copy. Write for the 8-10th grade reader. Don't try to impress with pompous words such as "utilize." Always think "What's in it for them?"

7. Use specific nouns and names. General references don't engage your readers' emotions. Let them see the size, color, and shape. Rather than say, "Write your book fast to make lifelong income," say "Write and finish your book fast so you can take that long vacation to a Caribbean island." Money alone doesn't motivate, but what we can do with it does.

8. Let go of certain adverbs. Words like very, suddenly, and sparingly, tell instead of show. Use adverbs as often as you celebrate your birthday. Did I show, rather than tell? Your readers are hungry to experience feelings as well as picture themselves in your examples.

9. Let go of adjectives. Instead of saying, She is a super-intelligent person," you could say, "She's a genius."

10. Appeal to the senses of sight, sound, and emotions. Telling is not effective. Instead of "Buy this book today because it is so useful," say, "Would you like to double, even quadruple your Online income in three months?"

11. Cut redundancies. Too much repetition in your articles speaks boring or "talking down" to your readers. Be willing to part with some of your "precious" words. Your first edit should reduce your words at least by one-fourth.

12. Don't use pompous words to try to impress your reader.
Use the shortest, simplest, most well-know word. Check your word's number of syllables. The more syllables, the more difficult.

13. Keep the subject and verb as close together as possible. Don't make your reader work to get the meaning.

14. Use the present or past tense of the verb rather than the "-ing" form of the verb. Instead of "she is singing," say, "she sings or she sang.

15. Put your point at the end of a sentence, a paragraph, or chapter for emphasis. This position hooks the reader to pause and notice or hooks him to keep reading.

16. Cut clich?s. Once, original metaphors, clich?s age and become trite. Instead of "Birds of a Feather Flock Together," you could say, "Birds of a Feather Need to Fly Away."

Make your articles sculptured and painted like a fine work of art. Your word choices do make a difference--both in commercial acceptance as well as audience understanding.

Self-editing will help.

Judy Cullins, 20-year book and Internet Marketing Coach, Author of 10 eBooks including "Write your eBook Fast," and "How to Market your Business on the Internet," she offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, The Book Coach Says...and Business Tip of the Month at http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml and over 140 free articles. Email her at http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml

recurring cleaning service Mundelein ..

In The News:

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Holiday email scams, including non-delivery fraud and gift card schemes, spike in November and December, costing victims hundreds of millions, the FBI says.

Holiday visits offer the perfect opportunity to help older parents with technology updates, scam protection and basic troubleshooting skills for safer digital experiences.

Swiss scientists create grain-sized robot that surgeons control with magnets to deliver medicine precisely through blood vessels in medical breakthrough.

Researchers exploited WhatsApp's API vulnerability to scrape 3.5 billion phone numbers. Learn how this massive data breach happened and protect yourself.

Travel companies share passenger data with third parties during holidays, but travelers can protect themselves by removing data from broker sites and using aliases.

Xpeng's humanoid robot moves so realistically that crowds believed it was fake, marking a major advancement in robotics technology ahead of 2026 commercial launch.

Researchers discover phishing scam using invisible characters to evade email security, with protection tips including password managers and two-factor authentication.

iPhone and Android users can reduce battery drain and data usage by restricting Background App Refresh to Wi-Fi connections instead of mobile networks.

Scammers nearly stole an Apple account by exploiting the support system with authentic-looking tickets and phone calls, users can protect themselves with safety steps.

FoloToy restored sales of its AI teddy bear Kumma after a weeklong suspension following safety group findings of risky and inappropriate responses to children.

Threat intelligence firm Synthient uncovers one of the largest password exposures ever, prompting immediate security recommendations.

Viral video shared by Elon Musk shows Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots performing tasks from cooking to construction, garnering over 58.5 million views on social media.

Chinese hackers used Anthropic's Claude AI to launch autonomous cyberattacks on 30 organizations worldwide, marking a major shift in cybersecurity threats.

Apple's new Sleep Score feature gives you a rating for your nightly rest quality. Learn how to set it up on your Apple Watch and iPhone today.

Essential phone settings to enable before losing your device, including Find My network, location services and security features for iPhone and Android.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Cybersecurity research shows weak passwords remain a major threat, with simple patterns and number sequences putting millions of accounts at risk.

New Android malware BankBot YNRK silences phones, steals banking data and drains crypto wallets automatically. Learn how this advanced threat works.

FDA approves first human trial for Paradromics' brain-computer interface that could restore speech for paralyzed patients through neural technology.

New phishing platform QRR targets Microsoft 365 users across 1,000 domains in 90 countries. Learn how to spot fake login pages and protect your accounts.

OpenTable now uses AI to track your dining habits and share insights with restaurants. Learn what data they collect and how to protect your privacy.

Google's discontinued Nest thermostats still secretly upload home data to company servers despite losing smart features, raising serious privacy concerns.

New Android malware NGate steals NFC payment codes in real-time, allowing criminals to withdraw cash from ATMs without your card. Learn protection tips.

DoorDash confirms data breach exposing customer names, emails, addresses after social engineering attack. Learn how to protect yourself from scams.

How To Edit Your Articles As You Write

Article Writing