What Makes Readers Read?

Feature-style writing, according to a new study

by Ann Wylie, president, Wylie Communications Inc.

Feature-style writing increases reader satisfaction and, therefore, the chance that readers will spend more time with a publication, read it more completely and read it more often.

That was "one of the most thought-provoking discoveries" of "Impact," a 2003 study by The Readership Institute. "Impact," which studied 100 daily newspapers and 37,000 consumers, seeks ways to reverse declining newspaper readership. The Institute is sponsored by the Newspaper Association of America and the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

Feature-style writing is also easier to read than the traditional inverted-pyramid news approach, the study found. And feature-style writing improves a publication's brand image, making it seem more honest, fun, neighborly, intelligent, in the know and in touch with the values of its readers.

So how do you get more feature-style writing into your own publication?

1. Understand the difference between feature-style writing and fluff.

Feature-style writing isn't "John Smith has transformed his garage into a toy-train wonderland" or other soft news or human-interest fluff, according to the Institute.

"We're not describing a story type but a writing style," said researchers. Feature-style writing is:

More narrative, with a beginning, middle and end
Often told through characters or using anecdotes to help illustrate points
Likely to use more colorful language and a more playful writing style
More engaging to the reader than a traditional news story

2. Look for ways to apply feature-style writing to your hard news.

"Writers can use feature-style writing to cover hard news stories without compromising the stories' informational value or focus," wrote the researchers.

Newspapers with more feature-style political stories, for example, have readers who express higher satisfaction with their political coverage. Yet only 5 percent of all political stories are written in the feature style, according to the study.

"It's the papers that incorporate feature-style writing in a broad range of topics that see the most benefit in brand perception," said the Impact researchers.

3. Increase the percentage of feature-style pieces you run.

Newspapers in the United States in 2003 use:

The inverted pyramid for 69 percent of stories
Feature-style writing for 18 percent
Commentary for 12 percent

"There is strong evidence that an increase in the amount of feature-style stories has wide-ranging benefits," the researchers report.

4. Master feature-style writing.

The inverted pyramid is a staple of journalism classes and training grounds; the feature-style story is not. For more than a decade, Ann has been training writers to use feature style through workshops and other resources on:

The Readership Institute: http://www.readership.org/index.htm

About the author

Ann Wylie runs a company called Wylie Communications Inc. Ann works with communicators who want to reach more readers and with organizations that want to get the word out. To learn more about her training, consulting or writing and editing services, call Ann at 816/997-8753 or e-mail her at ann@wyliecomm.com. Get a FREE subscription to Ann's e-mail newsletter at http://www.wyliecomm.com/newsletter_signup.shtml.

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