Interlude: Persuasion Consistency, Stealth Corrections, and Book Printing
Persuasion is an important part of scientific and medical writing. You want to write in a way that supports the three pillars of persuasion so that you can motivate readers to publish, fund, cite, and otherwise recognize your work.
But is persuasion about intensity or consistency?
I recently read an Instagram post with the following message:
"You throw a bucket of water on a rock and it doesn't do anything. You let a drop of water fall onto a rock every day and it creates a hole.
Consistency beats intensity.
Although the post was referring to goal setting, I think this same concept applies to persuasion.
When you intensely "pour a bucket" of promotional words into the text, persuasion surges on occasion and feels forced and like hype.
But when you consistently use strong verbs and well-framed arguments, persuasion permeates the entire document and feels natural and real.
I think this consistency is a much stronger way to show confidence without being pretentious, and to gently—but powerfully—motivate readers to take action.
So when it comes to persuasion, I believe that consistency beats intensity.
What do you think?
Now onto this week's round-up...
💌 Round-up
📆 Upcoming in the Redwood Ink Academy
Mastermind Calls
Next week is mastermind week, when you can join a small group of fellow members in your career path for a live Zoom conversation, Q&A, and hot seats. These calls are great opportunities for collectively brainstorming ways to tackle writing challenges. You must be enrolled in Scientific Writing Simplified to join.
...Oh, and if you're not sure if Scientific Writing Simplified is for you, check out this free masterclass.
👓 Reading
The Existence of Stealth Corrections in Scientific Literature—A Threat to Scientific Integrity
"The stealth corrections presented in this paper demonstrate a fundamental and mostly ignored problem in the scientific literature. Correct documentation and transparency are of the utmost importance to uphold scientific integrity and the trustworthiness of science. Post-publication changes need to be clear for readers to understand if, and why, changes have been made."
Author fees and waivers – Committee on Publication Ethics
"Scholarly journals may charge a variety of author fees, such as page charges, colour charges, editing, peer review, or article improvement fees, submission fees, fees for uploading supplementary files, and (open access) article processing charges, also called article publishing (or publication) charges (APCs). Journals should have clear policies in place to deal with direct or indirect conflicts of interest arising from charging author fees, including policies on how and when fees are disclosed, applied, and administered."
🖥️ Watching
How books are printed
Have you ever wondered what the process of book printing looks like? This Instragram post shares an inside look into a machine that prints thousands of books every day.
💬 Quote
“In the short term, you are as good as your intensity. In the long term, you are only as good as your consistency.” – Shane Parrish
💭 Thoughts
Even the best writers need editors. Olympians have coaches. CEOs have mentors. Leaders have advisors. An editor will help you become the best writer you can be.
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
