as the striking heads on the front page of a newspaper increase its
sales, so, also, attractive titles on the cover of a magazine lead
people to buy it, and so, too, a good headline in an advertisement
arouses interest in what the advertiser is trying to sell.

A good title adds greatly to the attractiveness of an article. In the
first place, the title is the one thing that catches the eye of the
editor or manuscript reader, as he glances over the copy, and if the
title is good, he carries over this favorable impression to the first
page or two of the article itself. To secure such favorable
consideration for a manuscript among the hundreds that are examined in
editorial offices, is no slight advantage. In the second place, what is
true of the editor and the manuscript is equally true of the reader and
the printed article. No writer can afford to neglect his titles.

VARIETY IN FORM AND STYLE. Because newspapers and magazines differ in
the size and the "make-up" of their pages, there is considerable variety
in the style of headlines and titles given to special feature articles.
Some magazine sections of newspapers have the full-size page of the
regular edition; others have pages only half as large. Some newspapers
use large eight-column display heads on their special articles, while
others confine their headlines for feature stories to a column or two.
Some papers regularly employ sub-titles in their magazine sections,
corresponding to the "lines," "banks," and "decks" in their news
headlines. This variety in newspapers is matched by that in magazines.
Despite these differences, however, there are a few general principles
that apply to all kinds of titles and headlines for special feature
articles.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD TITLE. To accomplish their purpose most
effectively titles should be (1) attractive, (2) accurate, (3) concise,
and (4) concrete.

The attractiveness of a title is measured by its power to arrest
attention and to lead to a reading of the article. As a statement of the
subject, the title makes essentially the same appeal that the subject
itself does; that is, it may interest the reader because the idea it
expresses has timeliness, novelty, elements of mystery or romance, human
interest, relation to the reader's life and success, or connection with
familiar or prominent persons or things. Not only the idea expressed,
but the way in which it is expressed, may catch the eye. By a
figurative, paradox