Style guide wiki now up for online copy editors

After calling for a universal style guide in a recent post, well, here it is:

Style guide for online sub-editors 

Thanks to journalism.co.uk for the set-up. It’s editable for your learning pleasure and is full of tips, links and explanations for print subs moving over to online. Would be great to hear the input and suggestions of subs and copy editors, or go to the wiki and add your tuppence worth there.

There’s loads of things I haven’t covered, or haven’t covered enough. Please help and make this work-in-progress a useful resource.

Re-styling print copy into web conversation

Want a quick tip on how to tone up your copy for the Web? Dave Taylor at Copyblogger provides…

[I] read what I write out loud rather than just subvocalize it as I write. Not only is this a great way to learn which sentences are too long or need commas … but it also helps you “hear” which of your sentences are awkward and stilted rather than flowing and relaxed.

Basically, write the way that you speak. While Dave’s suggesting this helps him create a distinctive tone of voice, his tip also works as a generic trick for copy editors having to re-style print copy for Web.

How to host an online conversation

Following on from the last post on joining the conversation as being essential to get the tone right, I just found this piece from the OJB’s Paul Bradshaw (here are some edited highlights; find the full story here):

An online journalist should be a mix of the ideal party guest and the ideal party host, taking part in – and stimulating – conversations in a number of ways:

• Be involved in your communities.
• Open up your own work for others to contribute editorially.
• Make your content portable by providing an RSS feed; widgets users can place on their webpages; wikis for them to edit; or even raw data for mashups.
• Respond to contributions.
• Show explicitly that you are part of the conversation, by linking to sources (who will in turn know that they are being quoted either through pingback or traffic)
• Listen! That means reading blogs, forums and other media in their sector, and then starting from the beginning again: comment, respond, link, open up.

It reminds me of how on citizen journalism sites, there is usually a team of professional facilitators behind the scenes who help the content and contributions come alive and pull out the growing stories.

Of course, the image of being both a party host and a guest sounds a lot nicer.

But essentially it is a way to think of a potential future role for journalists – particularly sub-editors and copy editors who like to have the overview – rather than focusing on feeling defunct in the new media age.

Wrestling with online tone and etiquette

Being sort-of-flamed in a forum a while ago was a wake-up call to getting the tone of online writing right. It’s something I’m still working on and something subs, copy editors and writers moving into online work would do well to learn.

Because unless you’re actively writing for the Web – blogging, contributing to forums, commenting and so on – then the Web’s more natural, conversational tone and transparency won’t come easily. In fact, your writing may end up sticking out like an academic essay delivered on the radio.

I’m learning that one of the best things you can do to make a successful transition to online work is to take part in the culture of the Web – just as your readers do.

Writing a blog, making comments, joining a forum or discussion – these are all ways to join in and develop your online voice.

The problem for print journalists is that we’re used to operating in a vacuum. We’re used to telling the reader what to think in a one-way distribution of information that is forgotten as soon as it goes to press.

And too often, the reader has felt like a nameless, faceless entity summed up by market research as an ABC1 type.

Not so on the Web. Expect them to talk back and respond directly to the content you upload. And be ready for them to click through to you from Bratisalava or Boston as much as from Birmingham or Bognor. Cock it up or come across as superior (even if you are!) and you can expect a flaming for you and/or your brand.

Dan Gillmor (author of We The Media) says journalism is in the process of evolving from ‘journalism as lecture to journalism as conversation’. Which means…

Online editors need to be ready to engage at a grassroots level. We can now write in the second-person, ask direct questions, start debates and reply to commentors, critics and detractors.

Btw, don’t think having a site which with comments disabled lets you off – anything you publish can be linked to, commented on, blogged about or discussed openly for anyone to read, ad infinitum.

But get the tone right and the readers are more likely to buy into what you’re saying.

(For a commercial rationale on this, check out why being likeable online is an important business strategy. Being controversial brings in traffic but if you’re selling something it’s likeability that makes people want to buy.)

And if you do cock up? Don’t respond in anger. Be humble, be honest, apologise for getting it wrong, ask what they suggest doing and avoid tit-for-tat responses. People will usually forgive you for being an arse. Once anyway.