By Debbie Weil [April 23, 2003 issue]

Phil Jamieson is a quirky kinda guy. It shows in his e-newsletter. In February 2003, he began publishing a weekly Grammar Tip as a way to promote ProofreadNOW.com, his online proofreading business. [Full disclosure: Phil advertised in WordBiz Report in 2002. Perhaps you remember his "winking" logo.]

Does the newsletter title grab you? Maybe not. But Jamieson, CEO of ProofreadNOW, claims subscribers are growing at a rate of 30 percent a month. People love this stuff: is it complement or compliment? Comprise or compose? What's a syllogism? A kakistocracy?

Where do you put the apostrophe for possessives? Should you hyphenate? Does the word "smoothe" have an "e" in it. (No)

Using input from Harvard English professor Jim Engell (yes, really) and ProofreadNOW's virtual team of sharp-eyed proofers, Jamieson uses a different theme for each week of the month to keep his readers begging for more, um, grammar tips...

What are his qualifications as a grammarian? Jamieson says he "loves good writing." He's an MIS (information systems) major with a minor in forestry.

Why weekly

Jamieson decided to publish weekly because "it's memorable, cyclical and not out of the norm. Daily would be obnoxious." You get the complete text in one page of HTML (no need to click through for more). Still, it's an ambitious undertaking as a weekly pub.


Week 1 - Welcome or welcome back

Jamieson publishes on a Tuesday, figuring that if something goes wrong he'll get the newsletter out on Wednesday at the latest. He tries to send at 11 AM U.S. Eastern, "so it doesn't get swept into the trash can." That way, he figures ProofreadNOW will be top of mind on Thursday or Friday, should his subscribers need last minute proofreading services.

The first Tuesday of the month is always the "Welcome" or "Welcome back" message. He writes it so that it doesn't matter whether you've just signed up or have been reading for a while. (Clever, huh?) Here's the copy he used for the April 1, 2003 issue:

The week 1 issue is the only one that includes a clearly promotional description of ProofreadNOW's services. Of course, every issue has a Word of the Week.

Week 2 - Update

This seems to be a catchall theme for "other stuff." On March 11, 2003 it was on trademark symbols: when to use the superscripted 'R' inside a circle and when to use the simple TM. (Use the latter if you haven't yet trademarked but are claiming the mark as your own.)

Week 3 - Contest

Here's an example from a recent week 3 issue (April 15, 2003).

Answer the following correctly and win a ProofreadNOW T-shirt:

What is the only common English word that sports three consecutive lower-case dotted letters. Bonus: identify two places whose names fit this category. (I told you Phil was quirky. See below for the answer.)

Week 4 and 5 - Writing Tips

He quotes Mark Twain and Winston Churchill and offers up advice on usage we all mangle. For example: Everyone is often misused for every one, as in Everyone of them is going and There are five options, and everyone is unacceptable. In the examples, every does not combine with one but merely modifies it, as does each in each one.

Subject Lines

Jamieson writes good ones. Here's one from a March issue: "Appear intelligent this week!"

Rate It

Finally, Jamieson includes a ten-point rating scale for each newsletter. Lowest is "oh no;" highest is a 10 or "great." No fancy programming here. Click on one through 10 and up pops a blank email that goes straight to Phil's inbox. He says he responds to each message (he gets about 40 each issue) and asks for suggestions on how to improve the newsletter.

Another newsletter that just instituted a rating system for each article is MarketingProfs.com. It's a pop up box. Makes me wish WordBiz Report had some cool features like this.

Will Jamieson run out of tips by publishing every week? "Nope," he says. "We could run four years of issues on exceptions to the rules." Jamieson says. English is the most difficult language.

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