Channel Eye has joined forces with Jo Buchanan, the Founder of TwitTwooYou, a business growth strategic consultancy centred on getting brands noticed.
In this article, Jo tells us what Ernest Hemingway has to do with online editing.
American novelist, Ernest Hemingway Editor became best known for his straightforward prose and use of understatement. And this simplicity in writing style is probably why the Hemingway Editor App was named after him.
When writing content, for business or promotional purposes, it’s vital that the content is simple, compelling and catchy. How else will you keep the reader focused and even entertained if your content is wordy, and peppered with BIG words or jargon that are hard to understand?
Hemingway Editor is a free online editing tool that helps you write brilliant copy for the web and beyond. The free tool is web-based, meaning you can simply access the tool via any browser.
But why is simple content important for writing for the web?
Because readers on the web prefer scanning and if the content isn’t easy-to-read, they will quit and move on to something else. AKA a lost opportunity. The Hemingway App helps you make your content easy to read and digest.
To use the tool, you simply write your proposed copy in the tool’s white space, (or copy and paste your content into it if you’ve already written it using another tool, like Microsoft Word, for example) and it will critique the content based on the following six areas:
- Readability – how likely is the reader able to interpret and understand the content
- Adverbs – the ideal copy will have fewer than a couple of adverbs
- Use of passive voice – great copy avoids this tense as much as possible
- A more simple phrase – will identify sentences that could be written more simply
- What’s hard to read – will highlight sentences that are difficult to read
- What’s really hard to read – will highlight super complex sentences
The app also gives you all the hard metrics of your article too, such as:
- Reading time
- Letters
- Characters
- Words
- Sentences
- Paragraphs
Here are some examples of Hemingway Editor in action
If your copy highlights a sentence in yellow the tool is telling you to simplify the sentence or indeed shorten it. It’s too lengthy and quite challenging to read, the tool will advise you to make it shorter or divide it into two parts.
If you write a sentence or two that shows up in red, it’s vital that you review and change the copy. Hemingway Editor believes the content of the sentence is too complex for the typical reader to understand. This can happen when you have put too many facts into a sentence or you have used complex language. To stop your sentences from showing in red, consider ways to divide the content into two or more sentences.
If Hemingway Editor highlights a word in purple, it’s stating that the word you have used is quite complex and a more simple word could be used in its place. If you hover over the purple word with your computer mouse, Hemingway Editor gives you a couple of alternatives that will make the sentence easier to understand and read.
If you see any words in blue, Hemingway Editor has highlighted them as being adverbs. Great copy should avoid using too many adverbs. If you hover over the blue word using your mouse, Hemingway Editor will ask you to remove the word, but also give you some tips on the kind of verb you could use that will deliver the desired effect without using the adverb.
So what’s up with adverbs?
Generally, adverbs are regarded as unhealthy additions to writing because they weaken the structure of the statement. Usually, they can be swapped for a firm, dominant, and more effective word that means the same, but has a stronger voice.
Writer Stephen King, once said, “The path to hell is paved with Adverbs.”
If you see a verb has been highlighted in green, it means you are using the passive tense or voice. Using the passive voice is a big no-no for effective copywriting.
What Is the Passive Voice?
In English, most sentences follow the subject + verb + object formula.
Here’s what a typical sentence might look like using the above formula:
Delilah (S) ate (V) the sandwich (O).
The dog (S) chases (V) the cat (O).
Sentences that follow the SVO structure are written in the “active voice.” It makes a sentence snappier, clearer, and easier to read.
Now, let’s look at the same sentences written in the “passive voice.”
This is when the person or thing being acted on actually comes before the verb. It becomes the subject, the focus of the sentence. If you write in the passive voice, sentences become vaguer, and often, longer.
The sandwich was eaten by Delilah.
The cat was chased by the dog.
Why Copywriters Avoid The Passive Voice
For the most part, the passive voice makes your writing vaguer. It removes the punch and power of your words, which makes your writing less convincing.
One of the reasons copywriters tend to write in the passive voice is because it’s easier!
Allow Hemingway Editor to help identify those instances where you have used the passive voice and flip your sentence into a more active one.
As with all of the above, if you make the necessary changes to the copy, the highlighted words or sentences will disappear to leave you with an awesome piece of copy!
The Advantages of using the Hemingway Editor App
- It’s simple and easy to use
- It helps your writing sound better
- It works for all types of writer
- It’s free
- Your writing style will improve
- There is no limit on word count – simply write in the app or copy and paste as much content as you like to get critiqued
This is a sponsored article.
