Afraid of publishing subpar copies? These insights will keep your writing in top form! [Wednesday: Write with the Pen of the Masters]
Picture this: You’re staring right at your laptop screen heaving a sigh of relief as you’ve just finished writing the first draft of your write-up.
You’ve spent several hours ideating, outlining, and writing your write-up.
Now you’re done with your write-up and you feel like it’s good enough for submission or publication.
… but wait!
Before you submit that write-up, there’s still a few more steps you have to consider before you turn it in for submission or publication!
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In today’s always-on and fast-paced world, many people who write or do some form of writing for a living often forget the importance of editing the first draft of a write-up or copy.
This practice has led to the publication of articles or copies filled with typos, grammatical mistakes, stylistic errors, or worse, factual inaccuracies.
As a consequence, countless articles and various forms of copies have had to be updated or rewritten in full.
These problems could have been avoided if only the first draft was edited thoroughly in the first place.
So, if you want your write-up to be error-free, here are the steps you should consider when editing first drafts:
- If it isn’t essential, cut it out or refine what you wrote.
After finishing your write-up, go through it once again and ask yourself this question: “What can I get rid of?”
Sometimes, when putting together a draft, writers come up with words, phrases, and sentences that only approximate what they intend to say, leading to a final product that’s riddled with walls of text.
Readers tend to stop reading articles with too much text and that’s why you must strike out any unnecessary words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs.
- See if everything follows logically and smoothly.
Go through your draft one more time and try to read it as your reader would. This way, you’ll be able to know if everything flows smoothly and find out if there are any holes in the main and supporting arguments of your write-up.
- Check if you got your facts straight.
Nothing torpedoes a write-up more than factual inaccuracies. A single error can ruin a reader’s confidence in both the author and the content he or she wrote.
To avoid this mistake, make sure that any data points or statements you made in your write-up are correct and error-free.
- Spend some time away from your draft.
It’s helpful to spend some time away from your draft after you’ve fact-checked and trimmed its content. This is a very important step because imperfections that weren’t visible before will be seen once you’ve taken a look at what you’ve written with fresh eyes.
By letting time pass, you’ll spot the things you need to work on in your draft and know what to do with them.
- Solicit the opinion of others.
Receiving feedback from your friends or colleagues about your draft is one of the best ways to improve your write-ups.
Reviewers can spot areas for improvement that you may have overlooked due to your familiarity with your own writing.
An external review is also the most efficient way of tweaking the tone of your draft since it enables you to solicit feedback from a reader.
There you have it—the steps you need to take after completing the first draft of your write-up!
By incorporating these principles into your writing, you’ll be able to create content that’s error-free and captivating to read.
These steps might take additional time, but trust us, these will help you out in the long run.
If your profession involves writing or some form of it, incorporate the insights we shared with you into your next write-up!
About The Dynamic Marketing Communiqué’s
“Wednesdays: Write with the Pen of the Masters”
Who doesn’t find content writing to be a skill that requires a lot of practice and effort?
In fact, many people may even find copywriting very intimidating.
However, you can be a good writer as long as you have the right tools. You won’t always get things right the first time, but with enough time and practice, you’ll get the hang of it!
When you write copy for any brand or for your company, your aim is to make an impact and…
… to get people to remember.
Getting people to remember means getting consumers to buy your product or avail of your service.
… and when you get your content to deliver the results you want, THAT is great copy!
Every Wednesday, we publish content based on tips and insights from the masters of content writing, copywriting, and storytelling.
Become more familiar with ways to write great copy that helps you gain ROI from your efforts, drive profitability, and achieve your business goals.
Learn time-tested tactics that better capture the attention of your target audience, and maximize the benefits of great copywriting.
Hope you find this week’s insights interesting and helpful.
Stay tuned for next Wednesday’s “Write with the Pen of the Masters!”
Cheers,
Kyle Yu
Head of Special Projects
Valens Dynamic Marketing Capabilities
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