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Editor Group is proud to support the Sydney Writers’ Festival again in 2023. As part of this support, we edit and proofread the program, and we’re enthusiastic attendees! There is something for everyone on this year’s program, including food writing, Aboriginal and...

We’re delighted to welcome Susan Moore (pictured with Editor Group’s Founder & Director, Grant Butler) to the newly created role of General Manager, as we prepare to celebrate our 25th anniversary this year.

Style isn’t everything but it’s nice to have, especially if you want to impress or even just leave a good impression. So if questions about your organisation’s writing style usually elicit a shrug, it could be because you don’t have a style guide. Time to look up the online Australian Government Style Manual.

Everyone wants an impressive vocabulary. There’s nothing like playing Scrabble and feeling intellectually superior for knowing ‘loquacious’ or ‘magniloquence’. But good writing is about more than frilly language and triple word scores. It’s clear, it’s snappy and it communicates a message with as few words as possible.

At Editor Group, words and ideas are some of our favourite things. So, what could be better than enjoying the two together under one roof – at a writers’ festival? There’s plenty going on in that regard in 2023, whether you’re based in Australia, Singapore or the US.

Artificial intelligence is transforming every aspect of business and marketing, including content strategy. But what software applications should you choose to embrace this megatrend? We explore the options.

So you’re ready to take your product or service overseas. Or maybe you need to make a foreign offer relevant in your local market. Localising your language will be critical, but what does that mean and where should you start?

Are you dissatisfied with the quality of the writing that represents your brand? There’s a lot you can do about it. Here are our top 10 tips for improving your content writing.

Editor Group was pleased to sponsor the Sydney Writers’ Festival again in 2022. After several challenging years due to COVID, the week-long celebration of books and ideas presented more than 120 paid events and more than 60 free events and attracted more than 64,000 book lovers.

The Sydney Writers’ Festival is over for another year, but if you didn’t catch all the sessions you were interested in, don’t worry. Highlights from the 2022 event are now available on the Festival’s website as podcasts.

If you’re like us, you’re probably already familiar with – and possibly addicted to – the web-based sensation Wordle. Here’s what the word game tells us about good writing.

With more than 25 years’ experience as a journalist, corporate writer and editor, Grant Butler is one of Australia’s leading authorities on writing persuasive thought leadership material. Grant recently shared his thoughts on the link between thought leadership and marketing with Dan Sanchez from podcast B2B Growth.

Hyphens notify a reader that two or more elements in a sentence are linked. So why do hyphens trip up so many people? Fortunately, our editors are on hand to clear up your questions about this misunderstood punctuation mark.

There are two schools of thought about long-form content. Some marketing professionals claim that people’s attention spans are diminishing. It’s therefore a waste of time to publish anything longer than 400-words. Others have greater faith in their potential readers. Here’s what you need to know about the debate.

The first step in developing a content marketing program for any brand is to set clear objectives. What are your reasons for creating content? What’s your vision for success? And what are your timeframes and deadlines for achieving your projected outcomes? Here are some content marketing objectives you might consider.

Nothing beats media coverage in amplifying your content marketing and thought leadership, and generally building your brand. And a key tool for winning media coverage is the humble media release. But how do you ensure your media release gets noticed? The former journalists on our team share some tips.

Commas create cadence and rhythm, clauses and pauses. But it’s not always obvious where to put them, as this letter from a subscriber to our newsletter shows. Fortunately, our team of editors are here to help.

Writing, designing and delivering an annual report isn’t for the faint-hearted, but it can come with significant rewards. A job well done will not only earn you kudos from your bosses and the board, but it can also earn you and your organisation a national or international award.

A well-placed punctuation mark is the difference between ‘let’s eat grandma’ and ‘let’s eat, grandma’. But, nailing punctuation can be tricky, as the many questions we receive about it prove. Luckily, our team of editors are here to answer your questions.

Business-to-business marketers are more likely to use LinkedIn to share content than any other social media platform, with 66 per cent saying it generates the best overall content marketing results for their organisation. Here are three simple steps that can help you make the most of it.

So, you’ve decided to start a business podcast. Obtaining the appropriate recording equipment and space is probably the easiest part of the process. Writing a podcast script that’s going to engage, inform and keep your audience listening episode after episode is a bigger ask.

By its nature, an idiom tends to obscure its literal meaning – that’s part of its creative power. But that power also allows some idioms to carry racist undertones into our writing – even if the writer doesn’t intend it and many readers don’t notice. Careful choice of language is critical.

Thanks to overuse, many of 2020’s biggest linguistic hits have already turned stale. Here are some of the worn-out expressions that’ll have our proofreaders reaching for their red pens in 2021.

The point of this blog is that pieces of writing should have a point. One that’s so strong and clear that people remember it and can act on it. In fact, we should stop right here. Job done! But a point without an explanation is like dinner without dessert. It just doesn’t quite satisfy.

Want to become a top technology writer? Someone who can explain and persuade in the high-value realms of computing and telecommunications? Or perhaps you’re an editor or content producer who has to decipher and improve tech-related copy. Here are seven tips that will help.

Like many organisations, we’ve been using the Australian Government Style manual for authors, editors and printers (6th edition) since its release 18 years ago – and wishing for an updated digital version for almost as long. So the newly announced online beta is like Christmas come early.

If you live in Asia, you might have noticed that some organisations/organizations aren’t always aware of the differences between British and US English. But does this really matter? If you care about being known for quality and consistency the answer is yes!

Whether you’re trying to craft a piece of thought leadership, a white paper or even a memo, it can be difficult to know where to start. If this sounds familiar, then Barbara Minto’s classic book, The Pyramid Principle, could be just the thing for you.

In the increasingly saturated world of digital marketing, brochures can be a powerful way to tell your story. What’s more, you can use them for almost any campaign, regardless of whether you have a business-to-customer or business-to-business company.

As the COVID-19 crisis has unfolded we’ve seen a huge array of thought leadership articles and blogs released. In addition to being valuable for anyone trying to navigate the pandemic, we’ve been reminded of six fundamentals of writing great thought leadership content.

When the internet is the first port of call for the organisations and executives you’re trying to reach, it’s important to rank highly in online search results. This means how you write – and especially your SEO strategy – is critical.

With so many projects on hold, it can be difficult to know what to do with yourself and your team each day. At Editor Group, we’re thinking about how we can help our clients by adapting our services for the new environment – especially our writing training.

Coronavirus is giving us some strange new hobbies. Without the commute to work, dinners with friends or trips away, many of us are finding ourselves with more time on our hands than ever before. And at Editor Group, we’ve fallen down some interesting rabbit holes. One of these is etymology.

Podcasts can be entertaining, educational or a force for change. They can drive debate on key issues, give a voice to minorities and affect legal outcomes. For businesses, they can also be an effective way to engage customers, establish credibility and share brand messaging.

We sometimes say proofreaders are born not made, but of course that’s not entirely true. Whether you have a natural inclination to proofread or have developed an interest in it somewhere along the way, here are some practical steps you can take to turn your pedantic passion project into a productive professional pursuit.

The classic media release format is still going strong. And thanks to email and social media, it doesn’t take an expert to get one out. But the low cost of issuing a press release means there’s more competition than ever. Here’s how to write one journalists will want to publish.

Marketing and business communicators at the top of their game know that to tap into an audience’s emotions, there’s no better vehicle than narrative. To learn why, put the kettle on, make yourself comfy and read on.

Is your website attracting less business than it used to? Maybe you need a website refresh. Refreshing your website is a great way to boost your company’s image, improve SEO and weed out turn-offs like poor spelling and bad grammar.

We’re delighted to have been reappointed to the NSW Government’s Advertising and Digital Communications Services panel after a rigorous review process. Our success means that we continue to be pre-approved for use by all NSW Government agencies for a variety of editorial services.

Asking for something to be delivered in plain English is another way of saying, ‘in layman’s terms’. Plain English is clear, concise and free of jargon. And it’s easy to comprehend, which is why businesses and governments favour it.

Language is one area you can’t overlook when striving for a diverse and inclusive workplace. It’s a legal (and hopefully moral) requirement in Australia to ensure language isn’t discriminatory, but it also makes good business sense.

In an era where social media is the main source of online news for more than a third of Australians, tabloid news sites have nailed the art of writing successful headlines. The challenge is how to borrow from tabloid journalism in a way that’s appropriate for your organisation.

Need to explain a complex concept to an expert audience, while subtly promoting your company or a product? A white paper is a useful tool for educating readers about the technical aspects of a new technology, making a business case for a product or demonstrating thought leadership.

Customer marketing is on the rise. Here are our key takeaways from the recent Summit on Customer Engagement, for those responsible for customer reference and customer advocacy programs – or anyone interested in this increasingly important field.

Most of us are so fearful of trying out new phrases that we forget about the damage overusing old ones can do. But who wants an uninterested – or, if you’re planning on going on for a while, a potentially unconscious – reader?

Need to convince a potential client that your product or service is going to solve the problem that’s plaguing their business? You could tell them. Or you could let one of your existing customers do it for you.

An email’s subject line is often the only thing a reader looks at before they decide whether to read it or keep scrolling. Here’s how to write a great email subject line.

If you work in a top-end professional service firm or successful company, you will need to quickly produce high-quality material on complex topics that elite readers won’t tear to bits. The trick to fulfilling the brief is to follow a sound process that gives you a sporting chance of not only succeeding but impressing.

A good index may be the difference between people referring to a report regularly and it gathering dust on the bookshelf. Here’s what you need to know.

Active sentences are, more often than not, shorter, punchier and more engaging than their passive counterparts. Here’s why you should ‘give a damn’ about not letting passive voice lead you into vague and ambiguous territory.

Effective speechwriting is difficult to master. You overturn the box and pick through the polystyrene, only to find there’s no instruction manual. Here are our tips for writing a good speech.

The semicolon is undoubtedly the dark horse of the punctuation family. Some people fear and avoid it, some use it incorrectly and others only know it as one half of a winky emoticon.

Think of a style guide as your map around the world – you wouldn’t go sailing without it. From setting the tone of your organisation to preventing unwittingly offensive language, here’s why you need a corporate style guide.

These days everything seems to be about speed. Learn fast, publish fast, fail fast! Here’s the lowdown on faster ways to punctuate and format in Microsoft Word.

Signing off on the final version of a document without having it proofread is like leaving for work without looking in the mirror: you may gain a bit of extra time as you rush for the train (or the deadline), but could end up walking into a meeting with egg on your face (literally or figuratively).

Nude superstars frolicking on a Cannes beach probably have nothing to do with your working day, but now that we have your attention, here are some tips you may find useful for writing corporate reports.

The humble comma has long been a source of unnecessary confusion for writers. In this article, we’ll show you when to comma and when not to comma by following some simple but effective principles.

Coordinating a tender, proposal or application – or any large document with multiple contributors – is a daunting task. But you can avoid coffee-fuelled all-nighters before the deadline by establishing some good processes early on.

There are two schools of thought on how dictionaries should work. Prescriptivists believe that a dictionary’s purpose is to set the rules; descriptivists believe it should merely record current and common usage. Here’s our take on the subject.

You might have the feeling that things are rapidly spinning out of control in the digital era. But never fear, the same technologies that helped create the problem are being redeployed to help you out.

Our editing team is often asked about their work in client meetings, at parties, during family dinners and in the odd chance discussion in airports. Here are their answers collected in one convenient Q&A.

The humble hyphen might just be a tiny stroke on a page, but it has the power to change the meaning of a sentence depending on its placement. Here’s a primer on when you should (and shouldn’t) hyphenate words.

Good writing often comes down to knowing what to delete. These common words are often overused, misused or unnecessary, which makes them worth watching out for as you write or edit.

Convincing people to take notice of an electronic direct mail (eDM) is increasingly tricky. Yet it remains a convenient and cost-effective way to promote services or products. Here’s how to stand out.

A good proofreader knows where to put the apostrophes. The best ones know that’s only half the job. There’s ‘correct’ and then there’s ‘correct’.

With leading global organisations using technology to improve the quality of their content, artificial intelligence (AI) is the future of writing and editing.

When the pressure is on to prepare a major government tender response, and everyone is expected to perform, having good editing processes in place can help smooth the way.

How familiar does this scenario sound? Last year, a big report had to go out in January. Everything about it was finished late and in a last-minute panic that had people working until all hours, and the end result was, well, underwhelming.

Correct use of quotation marks is a perennial point of confusion, so we’ve created this handy guide to help you settle those nagging questions.