Marco on Long-Form

2 thoughts on “Marco on Long-Form”

Fred Parry says:

January 27, 2014 at 6:28 am

For four years now, I’ve trended downwards in my word count on my monthly blog entries. I found that quality suffered if my entries were too long (resulting in fluff), but also suffered if they were too short (like John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ lyrics) – I’m not THAT good!

Also, as a columnist, I found my editor was forced to have all articles reduced from 1000 to 500 words – to economize on space.

I find this to be the hardest thing, but Hemmingway would have approved.

So, if you can make it “short n’ sweet”, you’ll gain the readership of people who are not avid readers, because their time is limited and so they think twice before committing themselves – much like me.

Fred P

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1. Chris Knowles says:
  
  January 27, 2014 at 1:20 pm
  
  It’s not about long-form or short-form: neither services the needs of the reader if they are done simply with a focus on length or word count.
  
  All good stories should be as short as possible. For some this might mean 200 words, for others 10,000; as Marco says, it’s about being “substantial”.
  
  It also shouldn’t be about audience numbers although there’s always a balance with trying to commercialize content.
  
  Time is limited, yes, but rather than pandering to those who skim their way through the day, surely it’s better to provide something substantial for those who are willing to commit themselves?
  
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