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tip you can follow that relates to how both press release and news report writing works. This is the who, what, when, why and how.

Tell the reader who is involved, what is happening or has happened to them and when. Were there any unusual circumstances as to why this is of interest now and what is the back story. Remember that there always is one. With any reported incident there is more to it than just the event itself. If there was a fire, what started it? If there is tension in a local community, what has motivated these feelings? Back up your story with a quote from someone involved and with relevant statistics.

Oh, and a rule of thumb regarding the length of sentences - on average, each one should have around 22 words. Some will be longer and others will be shorter but if you keep this figure in mind you won't go far wrong. Just give the reader the chance to breathe with punctuation and don't let a sentence run so long that you forget how it started.

I would recommend that writers from outside the United States consider whether to use US or English spellings of words. This has been a challenge for me as being born in the UK, it is my native language but I recognize the readership of my work will be largely American so I have adopted the American way. Whether you do too is purely a matter of choice.

The final tip is on formatting. Keep your paragraphs short and punchy with two or three sentences and always have a line space between them. When rating articles on Helium it is easy to be negatively swayed by great blocks of unbroken text with inconsistent spacing and incorrect grammar. I don't want to be prejudiced against article in the first two seconds but if there's a spelling error on the first line I very well might be.

We all want the recognition of seeing our work published and rated so take care not to be too eager to press send prematurely. Take pride in what you do and you won't go far wrong. Remember it is your personal representative in the on-line world.

Learn more about this author, Jeremy Orbell.
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