How to Write Articles People will Read
And it’s not what you think
I have written a lot in my time.
Long articles, short articles, news articles, analytical articles, interviews, ghost-written pieces, book reviews, op-eds, attack pieces, defences, personal pieces, polemics, lifestyle and culture — you name it, I’ve probably written it.
If this one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you can’t guarantee what people will enjoy.
I’ve had articles in which I have poured my soul onto the page and really given the world a piece of my personal life. I have also written absolute rubbish, humorous pieces, lighthearted nonsense.
The reality is, the things that I am most proud of, that I think have the most penetrating analysis or make the most grave point, have probably, on the whole, been the least successful things that I have written.
On the other hand, the emptiest articles have been the most successful.
It seems that if you want to write something people will read, it needs to be a listicle or a ‘doing’ article (what, how, where, why) — how to’s, what to do’s, why xyz… and so on. (Even this article doesn’t escape it.)
But is that really the writing that we really want to be doing? No, of course not. That’s generally not the kind of writing that fills…
