Contented #34: News for content authors

Annual subscription to all Contented courses

You have a subscription for a gym or club. Why not for all our online training courses?

We're launching this service with a special offer, making it a great gift for yourself or any job-hunter. This is the ultra-flexible way to improve your business writing, digital content writing, social media and web writing. Just study whatever you fancy, whenever you please, building a personal curriculum. (Employers love a super-skilled digital writer.)

Special holiday offer

An individual subscription to Contented:

includes 18 one-hour courses (3 certificates and 1 diploma)
costs the same as a single 10-course diploma (US$239) if you buy before January 2014
is valid for 12 months

Access to all existing and new courses

includes any new courses we release during 2014 (starting with Creating Mobile Content)
does not automatically renew each year
can be purchased by individuals online.

This special offer is open until 31 January 2014.

Message to HR managers and staff

For minimum admin and maximum convenience, get a group subscription at this special price. You'll be able to:

systematically train new staff in the basics of good business writing
offer new professional development opportunities
provide specialist training in e-newsletters, social media, writing for websites and intranets, and the New Zealand Web Accessibility Standards.

Just estimate how many people you will need to train in 2014, and enrol staff whenever convenient or necessary.

See our group discounts. Until 31 January a group subscription costs the same as a diploma.

Email Alice Hearnshaw to arrange payment by invoice or credit card.

Writing tip: Your or You're?

We could (and we often do) explain the difference. Many, many people trip up on this pair of similar words.

If that includes you, each time you waste a few seconds thinking about it. Or looking it up. Or using a grammar check, and wondering whether to trust it.

And those few seconds annoy you and interrupt your thought processes.

Sometimes it's easier to use a visual cue than to labour through a grammar issue with your over-worked intellect. So we have started providing cartoons that show-don't-tell the difference. We hope that at least some people with a your/you're disability can just flick to that mental picture, get it right, and move on to the important stuff. Like saying exactly what you mean.

P.S. OK, we'll explain.

With pronouns, an apostrophe always represents a missing letter or letters. So 'you're' is always short for 'you are'.

'Your' belongs to the belonging family. This includes 'my', 'his', 'her', 'its', 'our', and 'their' — and none of these has an apostrophe.

More cartoons on our Pinterest writing tips board

Happy holidays to you all

This year we're giving each other flowers for the holiday season. Sunflowers rule.

We wish you lots of fun and relaxation at the end of the year.

We intend to stay happy and carry on saying what we mean.

Christmas flowers for the Contented team

Alice and Rachel

Contented.com
Business writing super skills

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