Zark Street: Neo Nazi Marries What in the Very Same Sentence?

One more headline that makes me wish dedicated headline-writer jobs still existed:

The Dildo Nazi: Sex Toy-Selling White Supremacist Unmasked

This appeared in The Advocate, though I think HuffPost broke the story and it's been picked up elsewhere, too.

Reading the Advocate's headline, though, made me stop and think: you can't make this stuff up (even though it can seem like someone did). I also don't believe Chat GPT would come up with it. Ha!

In any case, the headline made me want to read this story - and write more headlines, too. These days, if you're looking for work as a headline writer, career reporters say it's far more likely a copy editor will do this work, along with all the other editing needed to get an article in shape for publication.

I do love editing too, so I don't have a problem with that.

At the same time, it's fun to think about working only on headlines, which is what headline writers did once upon a time, "in the heyday of newspapers," according to the unnamed writer on Chegg tasked with explaining this job.

The article talks about two headlines in papers after Pearl Harbor was attacked:

"War!" in the Honolulu Star Bulletin and
"INFAMY" in the Washington Times

Deceptively simple headlines like these only prove that good ones are hard to write. Making me want to do it all the more, of course. Chegg says most headline writers online are versed in SEO, which makes sense, because (the article says,) most headlines aren't read--they're searched.

At this point, I have to say, wait a second. Articles are searched, yes. They are also read, and the better the headline is, the more it makes you want to read the article.

Leading me back to my point: writing headlines is really fascinating work--and one day, I hope I get to do it.

Last but not least - I know I've written on this topic before, but this is not a series. It's more about letting my thoughts spin in different directions, while following a thread where it leads. That's what I like to do--and I'm always interested in your thoughts, too!