Whether you run a small cohort of writers or an entire publication team, small steps can improve the quality of your writing team’s output. Here’s how to nurture their talents and help you put great written content into the world.
Strive for Great Grammar
Strong grammar is a cornerstone of strong writing. Keep errors to a minimum with tools such as Grammarly or ProWritingAid which can correct grammar and tense errors, even highlighting where writing could be stronger. Polishing grammar as you write means the editor can focus on the content. This helps not just in their published work, but in their communications, as well. Having a tool like Grammarly and ProWritingAid means everyone is less likely to fire off an email with a glaring error.
Both Grammarly and ProWritingAid offer team pricing and have both apps and Chrome extensions, so they’ll be looking out for your team wherever they write.
Remember: Relax! In the digital world, you can go back and correct a typo on a blog post. The world is fast paced and you have a lot to do. Keep the standards high but don’t sweat it if a small error goes out – just correct it. It’s one of the advantages of digital media.
Catch Spelling Foibles
Everyone has words they spell wrong, and not all of them are common misspellings found in the average autocorrect dictionary. Use TextExpander to correct personal misspellings by creating a snippet which expands the correct spelling.
Even your brand name is subject to misspellings. Make sure everyone spells your name properly, whether they’re in-house or a contractor with a shared snippet group. Include corrections for all the ways people misspell your brand. Join our free group of popular brand name corrections. That way your team won’t have to remember that “YouTube” is camel case, TextExpander will remember for you.
Bonus: For even more accurate styling, join our Accented Words group to always get the right accents and umlauts.
Get More from Editing
Editing your own work can be tricky. Often, we are blind to our own writing faux-pas. Smaller teams can swap work with one another to edit with fresh eyes. If you’re a larger organization, having official editors will help to improve the quality of your team’s output.
Banish Clichés
Common cliché’s dilute good writing. Set up a group to have all common cliché’s in your industry autocorrected to something that sounds better. For correcting common clichés, join our Cliché corrections group. Next time you type ‘at the end of the day’, a little ‘pop’ and it’ll say ‘ultimately’ instead. And ‘beg to differ’ will become ‘disagree’. Magic.
Experiment with Deadlines
Deadlines can inspire productivity, but stress can squash it. Talk to your team to find out what works best for them. Some writers may find strict deadlines stressful, while others see their creativity thrive under pressure. Know what works for them and adjust each team members’ deadlines to set up the conditions that produce their best work.
Share Your Tips
What tips do you have for managing a team of writers? Let us know in our Facebook group.
