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: