This is great, Paul. As a former journalist and editor in a previous life, I was more or less trained in these practices. I apply them now to "Quoth the Maven." Headline writing is an art, as is layout. Unfortunately, Substack's design tools and layouts are limited. Such is the nature of this beast ...
However I'll confirm ...
* Headlines are probably the most important part of publishing
* Using eye-catching artwork as the lead-in
* Subheads also help enormously to break up the body of your piece
* Like subheads, use photos and artwork to break up the body and enhance a point
* Pull quotes work great, too
* Better to break up body into shorter, more readable paragraphs. Write like it would appear in a newspaper
* Link key words that you think your audience may not know a lot about, or might be interested in further exploring.
Key: Avoid huge blocks of type. I've seen way too many Substack pieces that have 250-word paragraphs. Many readers use their phones. Reading long paragraphs is an instant turnoff
Good stuff. I have a growing collection of Paul Makko bookmarks. -- Jim
So funny, I was just writing about “above the fold” this morning in reflecting on the death of a famous person years ago and the newspaper on that day.
Great, useful metaphor: Above the Fold, combined with clear examples make this a high-payoff post and I look forward to more. I'm on a similar path of putting together examples from Substack and will be following your lead and referring back to your posts. Thanks!
This is great, Paul. As a former journalist and editor in a previous life, I was more or less trained in these practices. I apply them now to "Quoth the Maven." Headline writing is an art, as is layout. Unfortunately, Substack's design tools and layouts are limited. Such is the nature of this beast ...
However I'll confirm ...
* Headlines are probably the most important part of publishing
* Using eye-catching artwork as the lead-in
* Subheads also help enormously to break up the body of your piece
* Like subheads, use photos and artwork to break up the body and enhance a point
* Pull quotes work great, too
* Better to break up body into shorter, more readable paragraphs. Write like it would appear in a newspaper
* Link key words that you think your audience may not know a lot about, or might be interested in further exploring.
Key: Avoid huge blocks of type. I've seen way too many Substack pieces that have 250-word paragraphs. Many readers use their phones. Reading long paragraphs is an instant turnoff
Good stuff. I have a growing collection of Paul Makko bookmarks. -- Jim
Thank you. Such a lot of great information to work through!
So funny, I was just writing about “above the fold” this morning in reflecting on the death of a famous person years ago and the newspaper on that day.
Rich post! Love the ideas and breakdown.
Great, useful metaphor: Above the Fold, combined with clear examples make this a high-payoff post and I look forward to more. I'm on a similar path of putting together examples from Substack and will be following your lead and referring back to your posts. Thanks!
Excellent pointers Paul. Thank you!