Ben Peek.. You attention whore
If you're Ben Peek, stop reading right now.
See what I did there? That's a method of grabbing attention. It's called reverse psychology, and it seems to work pretty well (with teenagers, at least). If you were Ben Peek, would you have stopped reading? Probably not, because you would have been intrigued. Right? Right.
A blog isn't anything like a book. Chances are if one part of a book bores you, you're not about to stop reading it. You'll most likely fight through the boredom to get to the meat of the story. A blog is very different, because it's just a collection of fragmented thoughts, none of which are necessarily connected. If you find a blog post that you don't find interesting, you most likely won't read the whole thing.
If it is interesting though, you will read it and you might even tell others about it. You may even frequent the blog for more. Blogs are all about entertainment and holding the attention of a demographic that tends to have the attention span of a small goldfish. Ben Peek knows this better than anyone.
His blog strives to keep the attention of his readers, and to entertain them as well, and his book/blog hybrid concoction is a testament to the most interesting parts of his blog and his recollection of his (or maybe someone else's... or maybe even nobody's) life.
Take the first entry of the book for example. Abortion.
There's no better way to grab your audience's attention than by immediately talking about something so personal and even taboo in the opening phase. In a way, the entire book seems like putting together a puzzle of Peek's life, and the first piece he gives you is so emotionally charged that it sets a very personal mood that helps to veritably break the ice between you and him. The rest of the book almost feels comfortable to read after starting with such a private entry.
Peek succeeded in holding my attention for the entirety of the book, and started up on a really strong note in that way with this entry.
See what I did there? That's a method of grabbing attention. It's called reverse psychology, and it seems to work pretty well (with teenagers, at least). If you were Ben Peek, would you have stopped reading? Probably not, because you would have been intrigued. Right? Right.
A blog isn't anything like a book. Chances are if one part of a book bores you, you're not about to stop reading it. You'll most likely fight through the boredom to get to the meat of the story. A blog is very different, because it's just a collection of fragmented thoughts, none of which are necessarily connected. If you find a blog post that you don't find interesting, you most likely won't read the whole thing.
If it is interesting though, you will read it and you might even tell others about it. You may even frequent the blog for more. Blogs are all about entertainment and holding the attention of a demographic that tends to have the attention span of a small goldfish. Ben Peek knows this better than anyone.
His blog strives to keep the attention of his readers, and to entertain them as well, and his book/blog hybrid concoction is a testament to the most interesting parts of his blog and his recollection of his (or maybe someone else's... or maybe even nobody's) life.
Take the first entry of the book for example. Abortion.
There's no better way to grab your audience's attention than by immediately talking about something so personal and even taboo in the opening phase. In a way, the entire book seems like putting together a puzzle of Peek's life, and the first piece he gives you is so emotionally charged that it sets a very personal mood that helps to veritably break the ice between you and him. The rest of the book almost feels comfortable to read after starting with such a private entry.
Peek succeeded in holding my attention for the entirety of the book, and started up on a really strong note in that way with this entry.
posted by 72ner at
4:50 PM
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