Powerful Leads

I’ve been writing for newspapers and magazines for over 15 years. I’ll never forget a painful lesson I learned on leads – the first paragraph whose main job is to entice the reader to read on.

Early in my career I used this lead: “Have you ever thought about homeschooling your child?”

Pleased with the lead and the article I sent it off and then sat down to review the writer’s guidelines from that same publication that had just arrived in the mail. I turned seven shades of purple when I got to the section on leads. “Question leads are weak. Never use them when writing for our publication.”

Fortunately I had enough good articles under my belt with this editor that my mistake was forgiven and I still write for her today. In fact, she sent me an email after my last submission with the glowing accolade, “I loved the lead!”

What was the lead that drew such praise? “Joe Clahassey wanted two things in life: to serve God and a camel.”

Would that sentence pique your curiosity enough to read on? If so, it did its job.

The moral of the story? Good writers not only know the different types of leads for articles that sell – they also know which leads to use for which publication.

You can learn about leads, as well as many other topics you’ll need to get and stay published in my course, Write Magazine Articles That Sell! I hope you’ll check it out! ~Carol