Hooked On You: The Genius Way to Make Anybody Read Anything

87 Pages·2014·3.58 MB·English

by  Ian Harris

Hooked On You: The Genius Way
to Make Anybody Read Anything
Ian Harris
Thisbookisforsaleathttp://leanpub.com/anyone
Thisversionwaspublishedon2014-12-18
ThisisaLeanpubbook.Leanpubempowersauthorsand
publisherswiththeLeanPublishingprocess.LeanPublishingis
theactofpublishinganin-progressebookusinglightweighttools
andmanyiterationstogetreaderfeedback,pivotuntilyouhave
therightbookandbuildtractiononceyoudo.
©2014IanHarris
Contents
LegalNotice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Aboutme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
”Nobodyhastoreadthiscrap.” . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
WhyGoodStoriesAreGreatForBusiness . . . . . . . . . 8
Storytellingisoneofthemostreliablewaystobecomea
celebrityinyourindustry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Strongstoriescanmakeyoualeader . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Entertainingwritingcanmakecustomerschaseyou . . . 12
Chapter3:TheHook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Howtomakepeoplereadwhatyouwriteusingshortstories 15
Trytostarteverythingwithastory-drivenhook . . . . . 17
Let’sdemystifystorytelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
WheretoFindStoriestoHookYourReader . . . . . . . . 20
Non-fictionbooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Sometimesyouhavetolookdeeper . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Often,thebestanecdoteswillbementionedinpassing. . 29
Feelingclever?Targetbooksthatseemfullofstories . . . 32
KindlePopularHighlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
HowtoFindHooks–Reddit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
HowtoFindHooks–Quora . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
CONTENTS
HowtoFindHooks–Listening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Chapter5:TheBridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Wheretoputyourbridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Yourstorymightbemoreimportantthanyourcontent . 54
HowtoWriteGood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
5badwritinghabitsyouneedtobreak . . . . . . . . . . 64
HowtoWrite,EvenWhenYouDon’tWantTo . . . . . . 67
1.Stalkthedesk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
2.Startanywhere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3.“Writewiththedoorclosed,editwiththedooropen” . 70
4.Writewhereveryoucan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
10WaystoMakeYourWritingLookEasytoRead . . . . 74
HowtoMeasureYourWriting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Finalword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Thankyou . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Legal Notice
You’re on the bus one morning when a stranger sits down next to
you.Heopenshisbriefcase,takesoutsomepapersandmotionsfor
youtoremoveyourheadphones:
“While all attempts have been made to verify infor-
mationprovidedinthispublicationneithertheAuthor
northePublisherassumesanyresponsibilityforerrors,
omissions, or contrary interpretation of the subject
matterherein.”
What? You stare back. Sensing that you’re puzzled, the man tries
again,moreslowlythistime:
“The suggestions outlined within this guide are given
in good faith. Neither the Author nor the Publisher
assumes any responsibility, financial or otherwise for
the way you interpret or use this information and no
guaranteeisofferedonthecontentherein.”
Pleased now, he pauses. But before you can say anything, he
discoversasecondsheethe’doverlooked.Witha‘sillyme’gesture,
hecontinues:
“In no event will Gatehouse Consulting Limited, Ian
Harris or his related Partnerships, Corporations, Lim-
itedCompaniesorotherEntities,orthePartners,Agents
or Employees thereof be liable to you or anyone else
for any decision made or action taken in reliance on
theinformationinthisbookorforanyconsequential,
LegalNotice 2
special or similar damages, even if advised of the
possibilityofsuchdamages.”
By now some of the other passengers on the bus are staring. You
mumblesomethingaboutyourstop,andheadtowardsthedoor.
As you step off the bus, you can see a figure pressing a document
againstthewindowasitpullsaway.Abovethetrafficyoucanjust
makeoutthewords:
“Permissiontoreproduceortransmitinanyformorby
anymeans,electronicormechanical,includingphoto-
copying or recording, or by any information storage
retrievalsystem,mustbeobtainedfromtheauthorIan
Harris.”
About me
• Ian Harris is associate director of Gatehouse¹, the go-to
communicationagency
• Ianhas(okaylook,it’sme)I’vebeeninvitedtospeakatLon-
don’sGoogleCampusonstorytellingandcontentmarketing.
I’ve spoken at Forward Partners on building an audience
throughcontentmarketing
• I’mthecreatorofRockstarCopy,alive1-dayworkshopthat
showsyouhowtomakepeoplereadyourwriting
I hope you find this book useful. If you have any questions I’m
[email protected]
• Gatehouse²helpspeopletoengage,motivateandinspire.
¹http://www.gatehouse.co.uk
²http://www.gatehouse.co.uk
Aboutme 4
• WepublishtheJournalofInternalCommunication³,andthe
popularblogICWorld⁴
• Since 2006, we’ve worked with 25% of FTSE 100 companies.
Wouldyouliketojointhem?
³http://www.internal-communication.com/joic
⁴http://www.internal-communication.com
Introduction
Iwrotethisbooktohelpyoumakepeoplereadwhatyouwrite.
Actually, there’s more to it than that: I wrote this book because
you’renotnormal.You’renotnormalbecauseyouliketoread.
Considerthis:
• 58% of the US adult population never reads another
bookafterhighschool
• 80%ofUSfamiliesdidnotbuyorreadabooklastyear
• Mostpeoplewhobuyabookdon’tgetpastpage18
..
Mostpeoplefindreadingachore.
Dragging their eyes across text is work to be avoided if possible.
That’s why most of what you write never gets read. At best it’s
skipped,scannedandskimmed,butit’sneverabsorbed,takeninor
understood.
The best writers are supremely aware of this.
You know how Caesar supposedly paid somebody to follow him
aroundwhispering:“Remember,youareonlymortal”?Well,inthe
samespiritawriterfriendofminehasasignaboveherdesk:
”Nobody has to read this crap.”
She keeps it there to remind herself that, at some point in the last
few years, it became okay for readers to ignore the majority of
Introduction 6
words that cross their path. There’s no longer any shame in not
readingeveryemailyou’resent,orfailingtoreadtheagendabefore
ameeting.“Tutticolpevoli,nessunocolpevole,”astheItaliansaying
goes:“Ifeveryoneisguilty,nooneisguilty.”
Why this has happened isn’t beyond the scope of this little book.
If you’re looking for a convenient scapegoat you could blame
information overload, or our increasingly busy lives. You could
blame social media, iPhone addiction, Elvis Presley or fluoride in
thewater.Itdoesn’tmakeanydifference.
AllIknowisthatintheA.D.D.age,ifyouwanttogetyourwriting
read - if you want to place your thoughts into another’s mind so
youcaninfluencethem,informthemorgetthemtobuysomething
–you’dbewisetoapplysomeofthetacticsinthisbook.
Youdothat,you’llstickoutlikeatoadinatutu.
Justremember,nobodyhastoreadthiscrap.
Before we begin, one more thing…
I’vespent15yearsworkinginthemediaand–inmyexperience–
mostwritersnevergrasphowharditistogettheirwritingread.
Most writers will never use the methods you’re about to learn in
thisbook.Yousee,writingislong-rangewarfare.Youlaunchyour
missiles from 100 miles out at sea, and you never get to really see
theimpactyoumakeontherecipient.
Most writers prefer it this way. They write their copy and lob it
into the world without watching to see how big the crater is – or
whetheritlandsatall.Theygetpaidallthesame.
Youhavetoobsessovertheimpactyourwritingmakes.Whenyou
dialinyourmissile,you’regoingforthekill.
In this book, I show you how to make anybody read anything. It
reallyboilsdowntotwothings: