If you need to reduce word count, look for instances where to can be dropped. Here are two examples:
Your
excellent institution can provide greater opportunities for his
growth and help him to realize his potential.
She
has helped me to improve my tennis.
Like many other people, I often make a "to do" list. Bill Vossler, whose excellent advice I commented on earlier this year, has a rigid but highly effective approach to such lists:
Start with number one on your list. Get started, get it done, and cross it off or remove it from your list. Then you're ready to go after number two. Remember, no deviating, and no skipping around.
He explains five key points in this short article.
The word both is often used in situations where it adds neither clarity nor elegance. For instance:
Both my wife and I enjoy cycling.
The chef tasted both the main course and the dessert before sending them to the customers.
There's no need to use both in the sentences above because
the two items have been identified. Both is only required when you don't otherwise make it clear you're referring to two people, two objects etc.
"Don't just proof it," I'm told by some of my editing clients. "Tell me which are the best bits and which are the worst bits. If there's anything that should be taken out, let me know. And if there's anything that should be expanded, tell which direction I should go in."
When quoting a price for my services, I always examine the unedited text, note its length and estimate how many hours I'll have to spend on it. Also, I ask the client what exactly he/she wants: basic proofreading, copyediting or full content editing - terms clearly explained in this recent article.
I was educated in the UK but have lived in a society which prefers American spellings and usages for more than 20 years. I've been writing for publications here in Taiwan for 16 years, and have gotten used to (in the UK, we say got use to) writing American English. From time to time, however, I'm asked to write something for a magazine which follows British spelling and punctuation rules. If you're not sure whether a publication follows British or American rules, do ask before submitting anything!
I consider myself fully "bilingual" when it comes to writing or editing British or American English. The differences between the two forms of the language have always intrigued me. It's no surprise, then, that this article on the BBC website really tickled my fancy, as we'd say in the UK.
A few days ago, I began explaining how I decide how much money to ask for when approached by a publication. Of course, the same principals apply when choosing whether to accept an offer from a outfit which says its payment rates are "fixed."
There's another factor which isn't coldy commercial: Personal interest. If
the subject is dear to your heart, you may be willing to write about
for very little money. That's fine if the piece is for a campaigning
website or magazine - just don't let for-profit publications take
advantage of your passion. For me, personal interest seldom means
asking for less money. Rather, having no interest whatsoever in the
topic is why I sometimes turn down work.
More food for thought on this issue can be found here.
Having established that you shouldn't/needn't ever work for free, the next business issue you'll likely have to tackle is this: When writing for a publication where the payment rate is negotiable, how much should you ask for?
Whenever I'm contacted by someone who wants me to do some writing for them, I never commit or refuse until I've ascertained the following:
The deadline. If the editor wants the finished piece within a few days, I demand top dollar. Of course, if you think you can build a long-term relationship with the publication, you may be willing to accept less. Most editors are grateful when writers pull them out of a hole
How much work is involved. Word count isn't very important. Doing the research usually takes more time than actual writing, so a decent 1,000-word article isn't much more work than a thorough 700-word item. Quote a price for the entire article, not per word, just in case the editor decides later to go for something shorter. (That's happened to me).
Resale potential. If you're being offered less-than-fabulous money to write a piece that requires considerable research, but you're pretty sure you can repackage the information and sell it elsewhere later, I'd advise taking the job. The first time I wrote about sustainable architecture in Taiwan, I had to do a great deal of work - but that effort paid off in the long run as I've since written several articles about green buildings (like this one). However, if you can't see any way to leverage the work into additional income, politely say no.
Part Two of this post will follow in a few days.
