Tina Hay, editor, The Penn Stater, Penn State Alumni Association,
presented Magazine On-Ramps: Engage Your Readers at the Association
Media & Publishing 2009 Conference. Here she explains the importance of headlines and decks to draw your readers in.
Great points, Tina! You're right; headlines, decks, pull quotes and captions are crucial to getting readers to pick up a story.
Editing a magazine for Army National Guard recruits taught me that, without compelling entry to grab teenage readers, they might flip past a story altogether. Captions, especially, can be an afterthought.We tried to think of captions as teasers; using a question or an interesting fact from the story to give readers just enough to want to read more. Editors often try to cram so much information into captions, but short and succinct is best, especially for a younger audience.