Resources

How we do what we do

Here are some good things to know about working with us, including a bit of our philosophy on what makes for effective writing and good client relations. Sorry; we could go on about this stuff for days. No, there won't be a test.

Experience and Versatility
Cyrano founder and principal George Taylor has 30 years’ experience as a writer, editor, and communications consultant for businesses, arts organizations, and government agencies. Prior to founding Cyrano, he was a partner and vice president/creative at a Portland marketing communications agency, where he led strategy and campaign development for regional and national clients. In Los Angeles, he served as a copywriter on national accounts, communications specialist for a multinational corporation, and contributing editor for a monthly magazine. His work has been recognized by a host of national and regional advertising industry awards and the trade magazines Advertising Age and Adweek.

Here’s a quick overview of what we do:

Communications and editorial services
• Publications consultation, development, and planning
• Report writing
• Copy editing
• Grant writing
• Speechwriting
• Scriptwriting
• Magazine and newspaper articles
• Corporate communications
• Interpretive planning, research, and writing
• Nonprofit consultation, including fundraising
• Writing and grammar training

Marketing communications
• Creative direction and consultation
• Strategic and creative planning
• Concept and campaign development for all media
• Copywriting for all media
• Radio, television, and video producer services
• Proposal development and presentation
• Web strategy and content development
• Budgeting and production management
• Arts and social issues marketing

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Reasonable Rates, No Surprises
You can hire us by the project or by the hour, day, or week. We’ll work with you to develop a quote you can live with. If you already have a budget, we’re flexible enough to adjust the scope of work in a way that gives excellent value for every dollar. Our philosophy goes something like this: If you want to work with us and we want to work with you, we can make the budget work for both of us. The time allocation may change; the quality won’t. You will never be invoiced for more than you expect.

We believe that agreement at every key stage of development is critical to a good working relationship, and we regard each client approval meeting as one more opportunity to improve the work. Our production schedules include numerous client approval stops, allowing you to assess direction, progress, and quality at regular intervals.

The Writer as Tour Guide
We practice something we call “market-driven writing.” It starts from the radical idea that good writing is all about the reader, and it’s about as basic as Marketing 101: The reader is the customer, and the writer's job is to craft the message in such a way that the customer buys it — whether it’s a product, a service, a fact, or an idea. To be effective, the writer has to be part tour guide, giving readers a clear idea of where they are in the material and showing them a clear path in the desired direction.

After working with hundreds of documents over the years, we’ve developed five quick guidelines that can help writers create a reader-friendly manuscript:

Know exactly what you want the reader to take away from the material. What action you want to motivate, what ideas or facts to remember.
Understand your material and what it means. That requires understanding what's truly important. Prioritize and rank by significance.
Lead your readers, make it easy for them to learn what you know. Provide signposts. Don’t drop them into the middle without some indication of where you’re going.
Assume that readers have an interest in the material, but a limited amount of time and attention.
Above all, make it interesting. Use language that will compel your audience to read and will put the emphasis where it best serves to get your points across. Apply grace notes that are appropriate to the medium, the message, and the audience. Such ornaments are the spice that can enliven an otherwise bland diet. They please your readers and, sometimes, wake them up.

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On Readability
Readability is not an aspect of effective writing; it is the very essence of it. It is therefore not something to be imposed on a composition, but a fundamental element that grows organically from every decision a writer makes. Those decisions start with a clear assessment of the audiences to be reached — including, whenever possible, their current attitudes about the subject at hand. Goals and objectives for the publication should be clearly defined, in actionable terms. Why is this important to the reader? What points should the reader take away from the content? Finally, what do we want the reader to do with this information?

This understanding will help define other decisions that must be made on such matters as organization of the material; vocabulary; paragraph length and sentence structure; physical layout; number and type of graphics; tone or personality of the writing. If these decisions are carefully made and supported by writing that is fluid, clear, well-organized, rhythmic in a way that carries the reader forward, and interesting, then readability will flow naturally.

Flesch-Kincaid Readability Tests, like computerized spell-checks, are useful tools, but they only work once a passage has been written and, again like spell-checks, have their limitations. They can provide a false reading, for instance, in documents that must contain many technical or medical terms. More important, they do not accurately measure the cohesion or coherence of a text, which can contribute more to readability than pure measurements of word length and words per sentence. We use these tests, but advisedly, in the conviction that it’s more effective to base readability on careful planning and smart writing from the outset.

Nobody’s Perfect
But a good copy editor can make a writer look that way. Download this stuff for more information. Or simply contact us.
Why use a copy editor
How much copy editing do you need?
Checklist of editorial preferences

C Y R A N O Writing and editorial services for business, nonprofits, and government	cyrano@europa.com
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How we do what we do Here are some good things to know about working with us, including a bit of our philosophy on what makes for effective writing and good client relations. Sorry; we could go on about this stuff for days. No, there won't be a test. *Experience and Versatility* Cyrano founder and principal George Taylor has 30 years’ experience as a writer, editor, and communications consultant for businesses, arts organizations, and government agencies. Prior to founding Cyrano, he was a partner and vice president/creative at a Portland marketing communications agency, where he led strategy and campaign development for regional and national clients. In Los Angeles, he served as a copywriter on national accounts, communications specialist for a multinational corporation, and contributing editor for a monthly magazine. His work has been recognized by a host of national and regional advertising industry awards and the trade magazines Advertising Age and Adweek. Here’s a quick overview of what we do: Communications and editorial services • Publications consultation, development, and planning • Report writing • Copy editing • Grant writing • Speechwriting • Scriptwriting • Magazine and newspaper articles • Corporate communications • Interpretive planning, research, and writing • Nonprofit consultation, including fundraising • Writing and grammar training Marketing communications • Creative direction and consultation • Strategic and creative planning • Concept and campaign development for all media • Copywriting for all media • Radio, television, and video producer services • Proposal development and presentation • Web strategy and content development • Budgeting and production management • Arts and social issues marketing Return to top Reasonable Rates, No Surprises You can hire us by the project or by the hour, day, or week. We’ll work with you to develop a quote you can live with. If you already have a budget, we’re flexible enough to adjust the scope of work in a way that gives excellent value for every dollar. Our philosophy goes something like this: If you want to work with us and we want to work with you, we can make the budget work for both of us. The time allocation may change; the quality won’t. You will never be invoiced for more than you expect. We believe that agreement at every key stage of development is critical to a good working relationship, and we regard each client approval meeting as one more opportunity to improve the work. Our production schedules include numerous client approval stops, allowing you to assess direction, progress, and quality at regular intervals. The Writer as Tour Guide We practice something we call “market-driven writing.” It starts from the radical idea that good writing is all about the reader, and it’s about as basic as Marketing 101: The reader is the customer, and the writer's job is to craft the message in such a way that the customer buys it — whether it’s a product, a service, a fact, or an idea. To be effective, the writer has to be part tour guide, giving readers a clear idea of where they are in the material and showing them a clear path in the desired direction. After working with hundreds of documents over the years, we’ve developed five quick guidelines that can help writers create a reader-friendly manuscript: Know exactly what you want the reader to take away from the material. What action you want to motivate, what ideas or facts to remember. Understand your material and what it means. That requires understanding what's truly important. Prioritize and rank by significance. Lead your readers, make it easy for them to learn what you know. Provide signposts. Don’t drop them into the middle without some indication of where you’re going. Assume that readers have an interest in the material, but a limited amount of time and attention. Above all, make it interesting. Use language that will compel your audience to read and will put the emphasis where it best serves to get your points across. Apply grace notes that are appropriate to the medium, the message, and the audience. Such ornaments are the spice that can enliven an otherwise bland diet. They please your readers and, sometimes, wake them up. Return to top On Readability Readability is not an aspect of effective writing; it is the very essence of it. It is therefore not something to be imposed on a composition, but a fundamental element that grows organically from every decision a writer makes. Those decisions start with a clear assessment of the audiences to be reached — including, whenever possible, their current attitudes about the subject at hand. Goals and objectives for the publication should be clearly defined, in actionable terms. Why is this important to the reader? What points should the reader take away from the content? Finally, what do we want the reader to do with this information? This understanding will help define other decisions that must be made on such matters as organization of the material; vocabulary; paragraph length and sentence structure; physical layout; number and type of graphics; tone or personality of the writing. If these decisions are carefully made and supported by writing that is fluid, clear, well-organized, rhythmic in a way that carries the reader forward, and interesting, then readability will flow naturally. Flesch-Kincaid Readability Tests, like computerized spell-checks, are useful tools, but they only work once a passage has been written and, again like spell-checks, have their limitations. They can provide a false reading, for instance, in documents that must contain many technical or medical terms. More important, they do not accurately measure the cohesion or coherence of a text, which can contribute more to readability than pure measurements of word length and words per sentence. We use these tests, but advisedly, in the conviction that it’s more effective to base readability on careful planning and smart writing from the outset. Nobody’s Perfect But a good copy editor can make a writer look that way. Download this stuff for more information. Or simply contact us. Why use a copy editor How much copy editing do you need? Checklist of editorial preferences Return to top
CYRANO Communications	cyrano@europa.com