Writing Tips
You Write for Your Reader, but Can They Read It?
Demonstrate your great vocabulary and lose your readers? Maybe
Do you have a mental — or written — understanding of your target demographic when you write? And do you adapt your writing style for those demographics?
It’s an important consideration
Because if you don’t then you may well lose readers forever. When I write my techno-thrillers I’m writing for a specific demographic and I actually have specific individuals (whom I know) in mind as examples of that set of readers.
But when I write blog content I write for a more general demographic.
Fancy words
Fancy words are all very well and can demonstrate your erudition:
Learning; scholarship; knowledge gained by study or from books and instruction; particularly, learning in literature, history, antiquities, and languages, as distinct from knowledge of the mathematical and physical sciences.
But if you’re demonstrating to the wrong demographic then they will be turned off.
Conversely, if you’re writing literary fiction then people who read that actually enjoy erudition and embrace new words that improve their erudition.
Reading ease is important in SEO as well as to your readers
If you’re writing material that you hope will rank in Google, then reading ease is important, although not everybody currently agrees about this. I prefer to err on the safe side given that Google has probably the most powerful lexical analyser on the planet.
There are tests which measure ease of reading, such as the Fleisch-Kincaid test.
If you use WordPress for blogging, then the free Yoast plugin automatically uses this test and provides you with a measure of its ease of reading, as you write. Just start a new entry, paste the text in and get the feedback immediately. I have no affiliation at all with Yoast, other than as a free user.
Here’s a piece I wrote yesterday. It has several obscure words in it, by design:
I ran it through the Yoast plugin and here are the results:
The interesting point is that although there were several obscure words the piece was still considered OK to read. And that’s a lesson for me, too.
So, although long words in your writing could turn readers off, style is important too.
That Wikipedia reference I quoted earlier provides an interesting analysis of articles in the media and how they vary in readability across subject headings. It’s worth reading.
Conclusions
- Think about what you’re writing. Is it literary fiction, a steamy romance, a blog entry on juicing or a blog entry on the latest nuclear fusion research progress? Or maybe even a Wikipedia entry?
- Every time you write a story or book, imagine your target reader demographic. I’m imagining you right now: a person interested in writing, language and erudition, with maybe even a bit of SEO hope thrown in. Just like me.
- Check the readability of your text. Even if you don’t run it through a tool, consider it as objectively as possible in the light of your target readers.
Footnote
I ran the entire Wikipedia Fleisch-Kincaid entry through the Yoast plugin. Here’s the result:
Somehow I don’t think that Wikipedia is too worried about their SEO ranking!
And this Medium story I’ve just written? A green smiley on ‘readability analysis’ but 59.8 on Fleisch. It seems I should just shorten some sentences.
What did you think?
Anyway, I hope that all helps you with your own literary endeavours. Have fun Fleisching!
About me: I write on a variety of topics including humor, tech and travel, together with daily news events and the minutiae of daily life on a boat. I also write techno-thrillers…and about…
…erudition, writing and reading ease!
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You can follow me on Facebook Twitter @jamesmarinero . On Pinterest you will find many of my research photos from around the world. Check out my website where I occasionally have a free book on offer.