Are you the best editor you can be?

Corporate editors struggle for their very breath in the tight-grip fear that one of their publications will be seized upon and disposed of as so much C.R.A.P. by columnist Steve Crescenzo.

Well, Steve was my boss a number of years ago, and he was a much kinder and gentler boss than the tyrannical C.R.A.P. persona would suggest. But Steve did know the difference between passable stuff and good stuff and after reading my Ragan Report galleys he’d sometimes say, fully aware of the obnoxiousness, “Dave, good issue. But if you want to be the best editor you can be, you know you ought to … .”

Well, some days I did, and some days Steve and I went to the bar early. But I always knew that I should at the very least:

Avoid repeating a phrase from the kicker, the head, the subhead or the lead. Each one of these elements should lead to the next, each should add to what the previous one has suggested. Repeating a phrase in any one of these elements leaves the reader feeling like his wheels are spinning—and worrying that you’re running out of gas.