Ernest Hemingway, Jane Austen, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Stephen King all write at a seventh-grade reading level, according to the Flesch-Kincaid index. None of them hit ninth grade. Simple, clear writing is what sells.
Can you write at a seventh grade level? Well, what if I told you that some of the world's most beloved, well known and best selling authors typically write at a grade 7 level or even below that? Yep, everyone from Ernest Hemingway to Jane Austen to JRR Tolkien, and even Stephen King. So take a look at this chart and see how these bestselling fiction books score on the Fleish Kincaid Index, which is designed to indicate how difficult a passage in English is to understand. So notice how none of these authors actually wrote above the ninth grade level. Do you need to have a college vocab write like a genius to be a successful and highly paid copywriter? Nope. Not even a little bit. Follow Copy Posse if you want to be paid to write.
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