This is the 12th edition of The Essence.
What gets you to read something? Whatever; a book, an article, a short story.
Usually, the writing is good enough. But how?
In a near-perfect writing piece, the first line compels you to read the second line. The second line then compels you to read the third line, the third compels you to read the fourth, and so on. Until you find yourself at the end of this well-written piece as if it is some sort of slippery slide.
“Your readers should be so compelled to read your copy that they cannot stop reading until they read all of it as if sliding down a slippery slide.”
This line is from renowned copywriter Joe Sugarman’s book Advertising Secrets of the Written Word. In his copywriting classic, Sugarman laid the secret of really good writing.
The simple secret? The first sentence: The first line: The single line.
“All the elements of an ad are primarily designed to do one thing and one thing only, get you to read the first sentence of the copy.”
I emphasized in one of my articles for The Writing Cooperative that this rule can apply to other forms of writing as well. For example, all the elements of a blog post—the headline, the sub-headline, the cover image—should be primarily designed to get the reader to read the first sentence of the post.
This shows the importance of not only the first line but also the opening and introduction. For if they don’t grab the reader’s attention, the reader would usually leave. That’s why you should bring the best of your writing up-front and show the reader what he’s going to get from your piece.
Don’t hide the gems. Bring them to the surface, or hint that gems exist in your piece from the intro.
Let’s get back to my article:
“The first line… prime purpose of the second line should be to get readers to the third line. And on and on until readers find themselves at the bottom of your slide, bamboozled by how invested they were with what you wrote.”
I later found one of Ali Mese’s articles echoing the same idea. In the article, he quoted Charles Bukowski:
“The secret is in the line.”
Ali wrote that “The Single Line approach” changed his writing, and eventually, his life.
“Writing and thinking well, line by line, isn’t easy. But if you remember The Single Line mentality as you work, you might bring together something so good that it connects with people in exactly the ways they need.”
Charles Bukowski himself, as Robert Bruce wrote in his Copyblogger article, placed his faith in the power of the written word alone:
“He didn’t have a 10-point PR plan. No elaborate marketing structure. No budget. No reader polls. No blog.”
With nothing but his focus on the line, he managed to sell endless books of poetry. Robert ended his article with:
“Do you possess this kind of love for your words? Do you respect your craft enough to narrow your focus to the attention of a single line?”
The more you respect the words you write, the more readers will do. The less you do, the fewer readers do. Respect your craft if you want readers to respect and read your written words.
How to apply
Focus on the single line. There is a note I keep beside me and read it before writing or line editing:
“The secret is in the line (every line must compel readers to read the second).”
As Ali Mese emphasized, you won’t probably get this right most of the time. But with practice, as with most skills and techniques, you will get it right a lot.
Focus on the line. The secret is in the line. Keep that in mind while writing and copy-editing.
So simple to understand, so difficult to apply.
Until next time,
Mohammed