Journalists aren’t just experts in their given beat, they are also highly developed writers with a keen eye for proper punctuation and grammar. For PR pros to have their media pitches taken seriously, they must pay the same attention to detail or risk having their pitch sent straight to the trash bin. According to The Pew Research Center’s 2014 State of News Media report:
- 19% of respondents said it would be “completely likely” that they would delete a pitch based on a spelling/grammar errors, regardless of the content’s quality, while 33% said they would be “very likely” to hit delete
- Only 15% of writers said they would continue reading your pitch if it had a grammar/spelling error in it
The AP Stylebook twitter handle tweets out great writing advice that PR pros can incorporate into their press releases and media pitches. Here are a few of the best tips that were shared during a recent twitter chat with Ragan’s PR Daily:
A7a: Only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized in headlines. An exception is the first word after a colon. #RaganSocial
— AP Stylebook (@APStylebook) January 13, 2015
A7d: More abbreviations are acceptable in headlines than in body copy, such as 4Q, if necessary. #RaganSocial
— AP Stylebook (@APStylebook) January 13, 2015
A7c: Use single quotes for quotation marks in headlines. Use US, UK and UN (no periods) in headlines. #RaganSocial
— AP Stylebook (@APStylebook) January 13, 2015
A4a: In general, avoid jargon, which is the special vocabulary and idioms of a particular class or occupational group. #RaganSocial
— AP Stylebook (@APStylebook) January 13, 2015
A4b: When jargon is appropriate in a special context, explain any words likely to be unfamiliar to most readers. #RaganSocial
— AP Stylebook (@APStylebook) January 13, 2015
A7b: Follow story style in spelling, but use numerals for all numbers except in casual uses like hundreds instead of 100s. #RaganSocial
— AP Stylebook (@APStylebook) January 13, 2015
A5a: In general, avoid alphabet soup. Do not use abbreviations or acronyms that the reader would not quickly recognize. #RaganSocial
— AP Stylebook (@APStylebook) January 13, 2015
A5b: Abbreviate titles before a full name, such as Dr., Gov., Rep., Sen. and the Rev. #RaganSocial
— AP Stylebook (@APStylebook) January 13, 2015
A5c: Use the abbreviations A.D., B.C., a.m., p.m., No. and certain months when used with the day of the month. #RaganSocial
— AP Stylebook (@APStylebook) January 13, 2015
A5d: Abbreviate Ave., Blvd. and St. in numbered addresses. Some agencies like FBI, CIA and IRS are widely recognized. #RaganSocial
— AP Stylebook (@APStylebook) January 13, 2015
A2b: Our rule is to use commas to separate elements in a series but do not put a comma before the conjunction. #RaganSocial
— AP Stylebook (@APStylebook) January 13, 2015
This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: Grammar Hammer: Writing Tips from the AP Stylebook Twitter Account
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