Self-Editing Tip #2: Make Headlines By Capitalizing on Your Title
How to Format your title and your subtitle correctly.
Your title is the first thing anyone sees of your post.
Your title needs to be in the largest font offered. Make that happen by highlighting it and clicking on the big letter ‘T’ in the box that pops up.
Not only do you want it as clear and enticing as possible, it’s a good idea if it’s correctly formatted. Using something called ‘title case.’
That means that all the major words are capitalized. If you’re not sure, use this headline checker, which also analyzes the content of your headline.
For more information about how to create your title, here you go:
Your subtitle is the second thing people see of your post.
Assuming it’s there.
You get to have one, so by all means, create it. Please.
While your main title should tell potential readers what your post is about, your subtitle can be more creative and descriptive.
When I first started, I wanted my titles to be creative, and my subtitles, informative. Like you see in book titles. For example: Peter Pan’s subtitle is The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up.
My mentor, Shaunta Grimes, had to keep telling me to switch the two. Make the informative one the main title and the clever one the subtitle. So I would have a better chance of being read.
And isn’t that the point, after all? To be read?
If so we have to help our readers find us. This is how we do that.
The subtitle is formatted with the lowercase ‘t’ in the menu box. Highlight your subtitle and click on the small ‘t’. We receive lots of submissions where the title is formatted correctly, but the writer forgot or didn’t know to format their subtitle as well.
If your title is still in Georgia font’ — -which is this font — it’s not yet formatted with the small ‘t.’ It’s faster for me to just do it for you than write a note. But now that you know, you can do.
It also needs to be in what’s called sentence case. That means you treat it like a sentence, whether it actually is one or not, capitalizing the first letter of the first word and ending it with a period.
Which is how I’ll end this.
Except to say, for more information about how I approach editing your stories, read my article:
What are you ‘too old’ or ‘too scared’ to do? Let me show you how!
Marilyn Flower is a sacred fool who writes every day — fiction, poetry, and blogs — inspired by a process called SoulCollage®. She’s the author of Creative Blogging: Ninja Writers Guide to Character Development and Bucket Listers, Get Your Brave On. Follow her Sacred Foolishness or SoulCollage® for Writers, and Stay in touch!
