Articulate your message with

clarity and style

GHOST WRITING & EDITING SERVICES

Karen Pryor is one of Australia’s most experienced business editors, with a career spanning more than 25 years as an executive writer and communications consultant in the UK and Australia. She often acts as a ghostwriter for blue-chip executives, turning a quick verbal brief into tight, compelling text. Karen's clients are usually very smart and time poor. They are: thought leaders looking to change the narrative; CEOs seeking to inspire or reassure their employees, stakeholders and investors; or technical experts needing to engage with non-technical audiences.

Exemplary, strategic, high-speed writing and editing

KAREN CAN HELP YOU TO DEVELOP:

Blogs
White Papers
Annual Reports
Regulatory Submissions
Digital Content

EDMs
Speeches
Tender & bids
Government Reports

SHE BRINGS TO YOUR WRITING PROJECT:

An ability to distil compelling key messages out of dry or complex information

Expertise in ‘translating’ technical and bureaucratic language into plain English

Deep knowledge of the Asia Pacific business environment

A background in economics and finance

Extensive experience interviewing CEOs, departmental heads and subject matter experts

Ruthless, high-speed editing skills

In 2014, Karen provided editing services to the Financial System Inquiry Secretariat over nine months.

Thank you for your tremendous contribution to the Report. I am so pleased we engaged you.
In addition to your high calibre core skills — you worked so well with the team, which was crucial.

CREDENTIALS AND SECURITY CLEARANCES

Bachelor of Science
in Economics,
Bristol University, UK

Accredited member of
the Society of Editors
(NSW)

Holds a Commonwealth
Government baseline
security clearance

BUSINESS WRITING TRAINING & COACHING

For two decades, Karen has been teaching her business writing best practice strategies to managers and executives. For the first decade, this included facilitating the Australian Institute of Management’s Strategic Business Writing course. Today, Karen designs business writing courses and executive coaching programs for her own clients including: Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Burson-Marsteller, Finity, BMW Financial Services and PwC Middle East.

SMART PARTICIPANTS

Karen specialises in teaching senior and/or academically well-qualified participants to write more effective strategic commercial documents, especially reports, proposals and business cases. To engage these intelligent participants, she presents writing strategies based on task theory, neuroscience, linguistic theory and psychology.

ENGAGING COURSES

A graduate of the Jensen Institute of brain-based teaching, Karen’s workshops are dynamic and practical. They focus on helping participants to engage with and remember content, through conversation, stories, laughter and practical experience.

TOPICS

Business writing
fundamentals

Emails
emails

Report writing

Proposal / tender
writing

Impressive and thought provoking. Karen knows her audience.

Resources

Interested in business writing best practice? Here are some of our favourite resources.

If they don’t answer your questions, contact Karen and ask – she’s always happy to hear from people who want to write with clarity and precision.

STYLE

Global companies usually have their own style guides. If you’re looking for guidance, try the Economist’s style guide. The introduction is excellent. The alphabetised list of style issues is mostly great. However, beware of its rules on hyphens, which states “there are no rules for using hyphens…”

Actually, there are a few hard and fast hyphen rules, particularly around compound modifiers. Check out Grammar Girl’s excellent explanation.

GRAMMAR AND PUNCTUATION

No one beats the lovely Mignon Fogarty for basic grammar and punctuation. She uses several different dictionaries and style sources and usually tells you if she doesn’t know.

BOOKS AND OTHER WISDOM

This memo from advertising great, David Ogilvy, offers sound advice – all these decades later. The book he mentions is also excellent. Make sure you get the latest updated edition.

Also well worth the read:
Joseph Williams, Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace.