Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

Titles and headlines are extremely important in getting ones message across.
What should a title or headline say and not say to grab one’s interest to read further? I’m asking this thinking I know as a reader what grabs my attention. But I’m curious to hear your suggestions on this a press release headline I’m planning on releasing next week.

I was awarded a sports technical patent and it issues on 2/22/2022. In the sports and technology fields I have 2,000 contact to send this press release to. I’m thinking this headline along with the details of what my new parent will do and how it will Benifits the Game of football. US PATENT ISSUED TODAY REVEALS AN ADVANCEMENT IN SPORTS TECHNOLOGY

Your thoughts and suggestions.
Alan

Hi Alan,

Personally, I think the title is interesting enough. It creates curiosity in me: what kind of technology? How does it advance sport? Is it a new development of something that has been around for a while or am I looking at something that is totally new?

However, on the other hand, there have been a lot of trends with click baits, juicy titles and so on, but when I click on the actual article it's actually lame and doesn't live up to the title at all.

While I agree that titles should contain some mystery so that reader would want to read further, my question is, does the article worth it? Will readers get some satisfying answers and news when they read it? Because after all, that is the impression they'll bring home with, and to my personal experience, there is nothing more disappointing than a promising title without the meat to back it up.

Interested to hear others' opinions.
Hope that helps.

A title or a headline should be one that is brief and that will raise questions or curiosity to read further. This is one of the ways I, as an author, try to keep readers reading for answers to narrative questions in my stories.

When searching for a book to purchase or borrow from the local public library, the title is the first thing that catches my eye. If the cover arouses my curiosity, I will read the first few paragraphs of the first chapter. The combination of the above determines whether I purchase, borrow, or reject the book and continue my search.

Regarding the suggestion for brevity recommended in message 3, the title of my one and only published novel is Levels (goodreads.com/book/show/12205585-levels). How's that for brevity?