How to Write an Article Intro

Hi everybody, I am John Grade and I am a professional speaker, trainer and the author of seven books including the Imposter Syndrome.

How do you write a good intro for a magazine article? I have published magazines, I have edited magazines and I have written for hundreds of magazines so I have a lot of familiarity with this subject. Let us just talk about what is the goal of a good intro. I want that intro to just kind of grab the reader and pull them to the article. I want them to immediately continue to read. So in a sense, it is a hook. I am hooking them in to the story. When I write the intro, I want to promise some benefits. What are you going to learn from reading this article? What are the benefits in investing the time to read this article. What I do not want to do in the intro is give away the story. I do not want to give away the benefits. I want you to allude to them, I want to give them a compelling reason to continue to read the article. So sometimes, I will write the intro first and that helps me stay on track. Sometimes, I just outline the benefits that I want in the article, the message that I want to convey, maybe the warning. I will write the article and then I will go back and write the intro at the end. So, I will read all over again and I will say, okay here is the real meaning of this article and I will put that into about a three sentence intro. Writing an intro is not terribly difficult. We just want to make sure that you understand what you are doing when you are writing. Your job is to hook that reader in and get them to finish your article.

I am John Grade and I hope that helps you to write a great intro for your next article. Thanks.


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