Measuring the ‘ethical’ quality of writing

The quality of writing is not measured by how much time your reader spends reading. Neither on reader engagement metrics. To be clear, I am talking about ‘non-fiction’ writings.

It is in how much time the reader spends in thinking about the idea you shared in your writing. How many thoughts do your words trigger in his/her mind? More importantly how many changes it may or might bring to them.

While reading, the reader may nod their heads agreeing with your idea, shake when they couldn’t agree with you and they can even take time to chew (what they just read) in their mind. Finally, they can come up with an understanding or decision after a thought process. In my opinion, that’s a good quality writing.

Some considerations for ethically responsible writing…

Write your ideas and then bring them to the right audience. Not the other way around. This piece of advice looks counter-intuitive. But in the long run, your reader base increases as more and more relevant readers find your content.

In the end, they should forget you (the messenger, the writer) but take away the idea (message) with them. Ideas should be the core of your writing. Not gimmicks. Aim for perpetuation of your ideas.

It’s not how much they retain or remember the exact words. It’s all about how much they built a new ‘thing’ in their mind with it.