Biz journalism stylebook launches Web site

The Financial Writer’s Stylebook, which was published last year by Marion Street Press, is now available online at www.fiwords.com.

A subscription to the site is $12 a year compared to the $19.95 cost of the printed book. Newsroom rates are also available here.

The site allows journalists to search for words alphabetically and by industry, or for words pertaining to the economy and Wall Street. The site will tell you what the terms mean, when they should or shouldn’t be used and defined for readers (check the rating system) and how to use them. The site also gives guidance on what all those abbreviations (APR, CUSIP, LLC, TARP) mean and when they are acceptable. It provides an up-to-date roll call of tricky company names and trademarks as well and guidance on their punctuation and capitalization.

The site includes about 300 more words than what was published in the book, including an emphasis on health care, insurance and restaurant industry terms. An advisory board of business journalists and communications experts has also been created to review new entries.

Some of the entries also have links to outside sites for more information or story examples. For example, the entry for “redlining” contains a link to a series of redlining stories written by Atlanta Journal-Constitution business reporter Bill Dedman that won a Pulitzer Prize in 1989. The entry for “bank holding company” has a link to a list of the top bank holding companies based on assets.

Fiwords.com also has a word of the day, and it has a function where users can ask the book’s authors questions about how to properly use a business term or phrase in a story. Coming later this year to the site will be business style quizzes where users can access their ability to properly use business terms and phrases.

Lastly, there are also entries on the site for tricky business journalism situations, such as handling sources, writing earnings stories and the correct adjectives to use when describing stock market movements.

What’s not included online that is included in the book are the sections on business journalism ethics, and mass communication law related to business journalism.

DISCLOSURE: I am one of the authors of the Financial Writer’s Stylebook.