This topic reminded me of a post I published on this blog in 2014 – way back when I was writing informative articles instead of what I’m writing now – stories and more stories. That post was titled Title and Hook – ways to capture readers’ attention.

Looking back at it, I may had written it like a speech because I was a Toastmaster member back then. I quit at the end of 2021 because the club members were aging, there was less and less people were attending, and the organization was hiking the fees. I no longer saw the point.

The first ten seconds is the reader’s first impression of the article, book, etc. During those ten seconds, they usually scan through two things: title and hook.  Once they get through those two thing, then they will determine whether to pass or keep reading.

Title and Hook – Ways to Capture Readers’ Attention

I really like this paragraph from this post because it’s a great summary of what the post is about. We, humans, have short attention span. I heard someone say our attention span is approximately 10 minutes for videos and about 10 seconds for articles. I think it’s what made me go with 10 seconds in the post.

I’ll end this week’s Wednesdays Quotes with this graphic I found on Pinterest. What can be more effective at capturing readers’ attention than cliffhangers? I, for one, am a huge fan of those.