Your writing: profound
or just badly done?

Take the free Flesch Kincaid Readability Test;
it's probably already installed on your computer.

     My 18-year-old, Leo, has always been smarter than me.
Ask him; he'll tell you.

      So I am always surprised when he likes one of my "old fogey" recommendations, whether it is an author (Carlos Castaneda and Hunter Thompson), a movie (the Great Escape, 2001: A Space Odyssey), an old blues singer (Blind Willie McTell), or an ethnic food (Ethiopian).

      Unfortunately, Leo and I have always differed sharply about Rudolf Flesch. As my son heads off for his freshman year in college, I suspect I might lose the Flesch war entirely.
      The real losers? The readers of your nonprofit's newsletters, annual report, letters, appeals, and whatever else you put before them. Here's what I mean.

He fought the Nazis, American educators, and bad writing

     Rudolf Flesch faced two oppressive regimes in his life. First, as a young man, he fled Vienna just before the Nazis annexed Austria.

      Then, living in the United States, Flesch fought the American education establishment. His 1955 book Why Johnny Can't Read opposed the then-popular teaching of reading by memorizing words by sight rather than through sounding them out. Though his sequel Why Johnny Still Can't Read was also a bestseller 25 years later, Flesch remained such a pariah among educators that he died in 1988 apparently believing he had failed.

     I honor Rudolf Flesch for something entirely different, though. When he wasn't getting under the thin skin of American educators, Flesch was teaching businessmen, lawyers, and government officials how to write in "plain English".

      Among Flesch's 11 books were:

· The Art of Readable Writing
· How to Write Better
· How to Write Plain English: A Book for Lawyers and Consumers

     Based on his studies and theories, Flesch invented an ease-of-readability test based on:

· Word length and the number of syllables

· The number of words in a sentence

· The number of sentences in a paragraph

· The number of passive sentences in the writing sample

     His much-younger disciple J. Peter Kincaid adapted the tests for the U.S. Navy, including a prediction of which grade level the reader must have attained to be able to read the sample.

      The wonderful news is that you almost certainly have the Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test on your computer right now, and it's one of the most fantastic, important, powerful, easy-to-use writing tools you could ever want.

An easy-to-use, free, and oft-ignored writing tool
     The F-K Test comes with every copy of Microsoft Word. Go to "Spelling" under "Preferences" and click "Readability" (on a Mac).  

     Now, every time you do a spell check, you will automatically also get a readability report that shows you what "grade level" your material "reads at".

      This is where my son Leo and I differ. Even when he was in 7th grade, Leo could register a 12th grade readability score, and he would proudly call me over to the computer to show me.

      "No," I'd say, "That's not because you've written brilliantly, dear. It's because you've made it hard to read." (I hope I expressed it better than that, but I probably didn't. I often told him we weren't saving for college, but for his future therapy sessions.)

Writing to move to action, not to impress
      Flesch's - and my - battle is for the easily-measurable and controllable mechanics of writing simple words, simple sentences, and simple paragraphs so people can understand you.

     Yes, sometimes writers need a specialized vocabulary, abstract concepts, and a primary knowledge of other subjects to get complex ideas across to readers.
     But I have never run into a situation when a nonprofit couldn't explain something more simply and more convincingly.
    More often then not, difficult text is a result of the writer's mistaken belief that the harder something is to read, the more intelligent it must be. (The corollary is that people who speak with British accents are always smarter. Of course, that may be true. Note that all Biblical figures and famous Greeks and Romans in the movies have British accents.)
     I argue instead that poor writing techniques are almost always at fault.

My 2nd grade teacher was right? Darn.
There's a science to sentence structure.
     Indeed. Flesch writes in How to Write Plain English:

     "At first blush you may think this is a very crude way of dealing with writing. Writing means conveying ideas from one mind to another. To use a mechanical gadget for this doesn't seem like an intelligent approach.

      "But wait a minute. I spent several years of my life doing the underlying research for this formula...It works because it is based on the way the human mind works.

      "When you read a passage, your eyes and mind focus on successive points on the page. Each time this happens, you form a tentative judgment of what the words mean up to that point. Only when you get to a major punctuation mark - a period, a colon, a paragraph break - does your mind stop for a split second, sum up what it has taken in so far, and arrive at a final meaning of the sentence or paragraph.

      "The longer the sentence, the more ideas your mind has to hold in suspense until its final decision on what all the words mean together. That means more mental work for the reader. So the longer a sentence, the harder it is to read."

Are you insulted? Flesch just talked to you like a 7th grader
     By the way, according to the Flesch-Kincaid test on my Microsoft Word, the above four paragraphs read at a Grade 7.1 level with no passive sentences and 4.2 characters per word.
     This entire eBlast from top to bottom reads at Grade 8.6. Did you feel "talked down to"? Here are the Flesch-Kincaid results:

Take these three easy steps

      I'm not talking about insider language (jargon), poor choice of topics, no understanding of the audience, or little grasp of the subject matter (although I will take up those topics someday). I'm just discussing word length and choice, sentence structure, and when to end the darn paragraph.

      Fix those alone and you'll improve your readability by half or more. Just follow these three simple rules:

1.       Conduct the Flesch-Kincaid test after EVERY piece you write: articles, direct mail, letters, web copy, even ads. Shoot for an 8th grade reading level.

2.       No passive sentences. Even if you must use complex language or profound concepts (and you usually don't have to, unless you're showing off), passive sentences are usually just bad writing.

3.       Use readable words. Here's a link to a free downloadable guide from the Group Health Research Institute that tries to teach medical personnel how to write in English (good luck with that):

      Here are some of the simple (non-medical) word substitutions the Institute suggests under 'a':

abdomen             stomach

abrasion              scrape, scratch

abstain from        don't, don't use, don't have, go without

accompany          go (along) with, come with

accomplish          carry out, do

accordingly          so, as a result

accrue                 add, gain, build up

accumulate          add, build up, collect, gather

activate               begin, start

administer           give

advantageous      helpful, useful

adverse               harmful, bad

affirmative           yes, positive

aggregate            all together, added together, combined

alleviate              ease, decrease, lessen

ambulatory          able to walk

amend                change

ameliorate           improve

anticipate            expect

apparent             clear, plain, show up

apprise                inform, tell

articulate             say, state, tell

assessment          review, rating, report, test

Most of your readers have no incentive,
so make it as easy as possible on them

      Hey, I love language, but your audiences are volunteer readers, not captives. Make it hard on them with poor writing and you'll lose fans quickly.

My ace in the hole: Flesch has a degree from Columbia

      Truth is, Leo is a wonderful writer, as are most people when they write from their hearts. A Stanford study reports that college students are writing plenty, and the content written out of class, about 38% of the total, is more powerful than ever. I'll write about the Stanford study in my next eBlast.

      In the meantime, I'm hoping that Flesch's alma mater, Columbia, heard him loud and clear, because that's where Leo is headed next month.

Other news

I'm a traveling man

      I'll be on the Internet or the actual road giving workshops, classes, or advice over the next few months. Maybe I'll see you.

• Wednesday, July 14, in the ether. Webinar. Donor-Centered Newsletters: What You Need to Do to Increase Donations. Progressive Business Audio Conferences. Alas, it's not free, but it should be useful.
• September 13-15, Charlotte, NC. Council on Foundations Community Foundations Conference. I expect to be an exhibitionist again with the great crowd from Embolden Inc. More in-person free advice than you can stand.
• October 6-7, Norfolk, VA. Branding Facts of Life: The tagline and logo just don't matter (two-day class).Tidewater Community College's Academy for Nonprofit Excellence. ANE is underwritten by the Hampton Roads Community Foundation (hello, good folks!) and run by the wonderfully-kind Program Coordinator Lillian Bailey.
• October 21, Erie, PA. The 5 Communications Tools You Can't Live Without and Making Friends with People Who Matter: Your Strategic Communications Plan. Even if you can't make it to The Nonprofit Partnership's annual conference, check out the website for another stellar collaboration (with the Erie Community Foundation).

The usual unusual stories of philanthropy

      Check out Philanthropy Tidbits on my website for:

• Shutting up for charity
• Philanthropic women singing near you
• Will the winner wear a mask to lunch?
• Where do you get 2 million butterflies anyway?
• Offbeat charities
• Bidding for a Johnny Depp bandana
• Hooters and the Humane Society?

Until next time! Your comments always welcome.

Rick