Okay, so that title is a blatant attempt to get your attention, but isn’t that the purpose and reason of a title: to get your attention?

“Hey, read this, it is important to you!” or “Don’t read this and you will be sorry later!” or “Don’t you want to know!”

The title is the key in the lock, the spark plug of peoples’ interest and exactly how you are going to entice them to read what follows. It is the foundation on which your words are built. If you are expecting people to read your work just because you put it in front of them, then you need to think again.

Finishing your work comes at the beginning of the process. Unless you are writing for academic tomes or college textbooks, you need to capture the reader’s eye, and you must do so in a flash because you will lose them in a blink of that very same eye.

I write on business topics for organizations, trade publications, and online blogs. I also author materials that are more personal to me. In terms of fiction, chapter headings are equally important. In all cases, I expend a lot of energy crafting the best headline or title, so the reader is enticed to continue. Titles should be bold, not meek. Don’t be afraid to ring the bell. Shout – Holler – Yell – Cry – Sing or Bitch. Titles I dislike the most are the “intellectual” types. If people think you are going to preach to them, they will not be interested. If you talk directly to them, they may participate. But if your title does its job very well, they will engage with your words. You have the opportunity you were hoping for — an audience who values what you have to say because they came inside.

My process always starts with the title. It starts my creative juices flowing, my motor running, and my fingers typing. That is not to say that the original title makes the final cut. Don’t be afraid to scrap the headline if your words shape and finesse differently. Many times, a phrase or word has an impact that strongly influences the title. I do believe, however, that if you start with a strong title, the final one will be very similar to the original, only better.

And now on to another topic with its own title…THE END.