This Explains Why The Subtitle of Your Story is Just as Important as The Headline

Sometimes it takes a captivating subtitle to convince the unconvinced.

We talk so much about the headline of a story that we sometimes forget to acknowledge the importance of the subtitle of a story. Clearly, the headline of your piece is overly important. It is the first part of the story that could either convince the reader to click and read on — or not click at all. But a captivating headline doesn’t always guarantee that you’re going to get more people to consume your story.

And that’s because the headline alone doesn’t always do the entire job of capturing, and convincing a reader to read your story.

That brings me to the subtitle of your story

The subtitle of your story is likewise very important. And this is so because the subtitle complements the headline. Therefore your main task while writing the subtitle of your story is to provide more details about your story. And being able to always write a gripping subtitle will guarantee that you’ll get more people to read your story.

Because a gripping subtitle would engender a skimmer to read your story and not to scroll down and then click on the next post.

Personally I can’t remember how many stories I’ve read here on medium because of the subtitle. When I click on a post I’ll carefully read the subtitle to understand a bit more about the story. To decide whether it’d be worth it to invest my time on it. Thereafter I may start to read the piece.

The subtitle is there to make a good case for your post. A captivating subtitle means that you’ve done what the headline might have failed to do very well for your piece. It’s your second chance to clue your readers in on what your post is all about. To show them that they’re going to benefit from reading the story.

So, if your headline is great. Your subtitle should also be great. But if your headline is unconvincing, then your subtitle really must be captivating. Because no one would want to know what your piece is all about if you don’t know how to write a good headline — and a subtitle that grips a skimmer and turn him or her into a reader.

What you should remember each time you want to write a subtitle

Don’t give the same information that you’ve already given in your headline. Rather try to say a little bit more about your post without revealing the juicy part of it.

You can take a leaf from those writers that prefer to sometimes write a lengthy subtitle. Their aim is to win your attention immediately. To drag your attention right into the body of the story. So they’d carefully craft a subtitle that’ll not only pique your curiosity, but also very engaging that you will have no choice but to start reading the post. And this works because at times it takes a lengthy — and a gripping subtitle to win the attention of skimmers.

Conclusion

Your subtitle is meant to halt skimmers from leaving without going into the story to read it. It tells the skimmer to relax and read on. That the story is going to end with a worthwhile takeaway.

Therefore whether you want to write a snappy subtitle or a lengthy one, always ensure that it says more about the post without revealing a lot. The key is to write a subtitle that’ll convince folks that it’d worth their while to read your story.