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Editor's Pick of 2010: Barbara Dunlap
Each year the editorial team at Demand Media takes time to recognize our favorite article, writers and/or filmmakers. Each editor will reveal their pick(s) every day of December in the blog, and explain why it stood out to them.
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As 2010 comes to a close, the editorial team here is tasked yet again to pick our favorite article of the last year. In the past 12 months, our writers have made great strides in improving quality, and each year, picking a favorite article becomes a little harder.
At Demand Media Studios, our goal with each article is pretty simple: to inform and entertain. Accomplishing this is not always easy, especially given the niche titles our writers tackle. Informing means you not only have to establish credibility with the audience, but you have to follow through by providing useful information that speaks to the title in its entirety. Credibility — while crucial — means nothing if you don’t follow it with valuable, practical information. And entertaining is just as important as informing. You must hook your reader from the get-go and continue to engage him throughout the entire article. The introduction is not enough. Compelling the reader from beginning to end is vital. A lot of people call this voice. It’s not easy to successfully accomplish, but you know it when you see it.
Barbara Dunlap’s article, Ways to Care for a Parent With Memory Loss, is both informing and entertaining. Admittedly, I don’t have a parent with memory loss, so I can’t personally relate, but as a reader, I’m engaged in this article — not because I have to be, but because it’s well-written. She takes a very sensitive subject and provides useful information that delicately speaks to the title in an uplifting manner. It’s not dry. It’s not weak. It’s not boring. And it does its job. Barbara immediately establishes rapport with the audience. She speaks to the reader, recognizing the challenges — both for the parent and the child — that come with caring for a parent with memory loss. Dunlap doesn’t idyllically dance around the subject, nor does she provide a meager outlook either. The introduction is carefully crafted to provide context behind the topic and create a relationship with the audience, however niche it may be.
As she transitions into the meat of the article, Barbara provides real-world, useful advice. She establishes credibility early on with authoritative references, and she effectively balances these references with original reporting. Instead of merely listing a handful of ways to care for a parent with memory loss solely to complete the article — as some writers tend to do — she goes one step further, structuring the article into categories, each replete with concrete, applicable advice. Instead of simply advising “deal with difficult behaviors,” Dunlap offers numerous hands-on explanations of how to deal with it.
And finally, Barbara rounds the article off with advice on how the child can take care of herself — something that, while essential in caring for a parent with memory loss, is easy to overlook. In caring for a parent with memory loss, it’s imperative the child also take care of his owns needs as well. And instead of neglecting this very important piece of information, like some articles on the topic do, Barbara offers the reader something to walk away with: suggestions on how to care for a parent, and in doing that, how to simultaneously care for oneself.
As I alluded to earlier, picking a favorite article this year was no easy task. There are many other articles just like Barbara’s. As writers, it is your job to inform and entertain with each and every article you write. And as editors, it’s your job to ensure each article accomplishes this. Think like a reader, and get into the reader’s mind. Hook him. And educate him. As long as you carry these two principles with you in each and every article you publish, you’ll continue to successfully build a lasting readership.
-----
As 2010 comes to a close, the editorial team here is tasked yet again to pick our favorite article of the last year. In the past 12 months, our writers have made great strides in improving quality, and each year, picking a favorite article becomes a little harder.
At Demand Media Studios, our goal with each article is pretty simple: to inform and entertain. Accomplishing this is not always easy, especially given the niche titles our writers tackle. Informing means you not only have to establish credibility with the audience, but you have to follow through by providing useful information that speaks to the title in its entirety. Credibility — while crucial — means nothing if you don’t follow it with valuable, practical information. And entertaining is just as important as informing. You must hook your reader from the get-go and continue to engage him throughout the entire article. The introduction is not enough. Compelling the reader from beginning to end is vital. A lot of people call this voice. It’s not easy to successfully accomplish, but you know it when you see it.
Barbara Dunlap’s article, Ways to Care for a Parent With Memory Loss, is both informing and entertaining. Admittedly, I don’t have a parent with memory loss, so I can’t personally relate, but as a reader, I’m engaged in this article — not because I have to be, but because it’s well-written. She takes a very sensitive subject and provides useful information that delicately speaks to the title in an uplifting manner. It’s not dry. It’s not weak. It’s not boring. And it does its job. Barbara immediately establishes rapport with the audience. She speaks to the reader, recognizing the challenges — both for the parent and the child — that come with caring for a parent with memory loss. Dunlap doesn’t idyllically dance around the subject, nor does she provide a meager outlook either. The introduction is carefully crafted to provide context behind the topic and create a relationship with the audience, however niche it may be.
As she transitions into the meat of the article, Barbara provides real-world, useful advice. She establishes credibility early on with authoritative references, and she effectively balances these references with original reporting. Instead of merely listing a handful of ways to care for a parent with memory loss solely to complete the article — as some writers tend to do — she goes one step further, structuring the article into categories, each replete with concrete, applicable advice. Instead of simply advising “deal with difficult behaviors,” Dunlap offers numerous hands-on explanations of how to deal with it.
And finally, Barbara rounds the article off with advice on how the child can take care of herself — something that, while essential in caring for a parent with memory loss, is easy to overlook. In caring for a parent with memory loss, it’s imperative the child also take care of his owns needs as well. And instead of neglecting this very important piece of information, like some articles on the topic do, Barbara offers the reader something to walk away with: suggestions on how to care for a parent, and in doing that, how to simultaneously care for oneself.
As I alluded to earlier, picking a favorite article this year was no easy task. There are many other articles just like Barbara’s. As writers, it is your job to inform and entertain with each and every article you write. And as editors, it’s your job to ensure each article accomplishes this. Think like a reader, and get into the reader’s mind. Hook him. And educate him. As long as you carry these two principles with you in each and every article you publish, you’ll continue to successfully build a lasting readership.
