Why James Clear's Writing Has Attracted Over 10 Million Readers
Forget about habits. How did James Clear write himself to success?
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If I said James Clear, you’d probably think of one word - Habits.
It’s because he’s written the most popular book on planet Earth in the last ten years - Atomic Habits. Even animals are trying to read this book to improve their habits.
But I don’t want to talk about habits. I want to discuss James Clear's writing style in all his articles. I mean, over 10 million website visitors come to his site!
Sure, his book helps. But he already had a massive audience before that.
Breaking Down the Writing Style of James Clear
Mr. Clear has written over 200 articles on productivity, habits, thinking, and habits (did I mention he’s the habits guy?).
But what was his writing style that made it so effective? He has 10 million website visitors and 3 million newsletter subscribers.
Let’s put on our thinking caps and find out.
How to Write Headlines That Get People to Read
James Clear’s articles avoid a few things that modern internet articles always do:
You have no idea how long the article will be (no word count or how long to read time count).
There is no social proof, comments, or indication that the article is popular. You have to choose based on your interest.
His secret to getting readers to click is through powerful promises.
Make a Promise. Add Strong Adjectives to Make It Stronger
Clear’s articles nearly all have a promise to the reader. He tells the reader what they are going to glean from it.
The key to making it more compelling is adding adjectives. It’s not just the path. It’s the proven path.
Here are a few examples. He describes what kind of productivity hacks and ideas, making the title more compelling.
It’s no BuzzFeed headline, but it’s compelling to the reader. You don’t need clickbait titles.
You need to make a promise and describe that promise with clarity.
How to Write Compelling Headlines
If you want to write compelling headlines, you should follow a similar framework that James Clear employs:
The [Strategy] to Achieving [Strong Adjective] [Outcome] The Proven Path to Doing Unique and Meaningful Work
How [Strong Adjective] [Outcome] [Process] - How Innovative Ideas Arise,
How [Authority] Achieve [Outcome] How Experts Figure What to Focus On
The Surprising Benefits of [Simple Process] The Surprising Benefits of Journaling One Sentence Every Day
Every James Clear Article Begins With a Compelling Hook
After the headline, we have the introduction of an article, where James Clear does nearly the same thing in every article.
He hooks the reader with either:
An anecdote (story)
A surprising fact
A thought-provoking question or opinion on a problem
These are a great way to hook the reader’s attention because people are naturally and psychologically drawn to stories, surprising facts, and strong opinions.
In this example, we see how he hooks the reader with an anecdote or story that leads to the topic he’s writing about.
He begins with a story of a character and where they are at.
“Bronnie Ware is a nurse in Australia.”
Here’s another example. In this instance, he leads with a problem and then a story.
Problem 👉 Solution 👉 Story to Reinforce Solution.
Here’s another example of an article where he leads with a problem and then transitions into the solution with a story.
Again the same pattern - Problem 👉 Solution 👉 Story to Reinforce Solution
Here’s one last example of how he dives into the story.
All the reader needs to know is the scene and how it relates to his explanation of the Helsinki Bus Station Theory.
How to Write a Powerful Introduction In Your Essays
Essay introductions are your chance to hook the reader. If you want to follow James Clear’s approach, do this:
Introduce the problem in the first sentence.
Lead with a date and a character in your stories
Make sure the reader understands the point of your story early on
How to Structure Your Articles
How you structure your articles is everything to your readers. It’s not random. There’s a method to every madness.
For James Clear, he structures his articles differently. But in many of his articles and my personal favorite approach, is to do it this way.
Hook (story, opinion, question or fact) that focuses on a problem
State the old way
State the new way
Reinforce the position of the new way
Here’s an example of how he does it in this article.
The Structure of His Sentences
I get tired of the same old writing advice, “Your writing should be simple. Your writing should be clear.” That age-old wisdom is like telling someone that they cook better.
Telling is not showing.
James Clear’s writing follows an approach that makes reading his work feel effortless. He not only has short sentences, but very rarely is there multiple commas. It always follows this pattern:
Subject-verb-object
Subject-verb -complement
There are no passive sentences. There are no wordy sentences. It’s clean as a whistle in a sentency kind of way.
Here’s one more example of this paragraph and how it’s broken down. It’s conversational. It’s easy to understand.
The Goal Is to Write So the Reader Understands Your Ideas
Writing with style and clarity takes practice and effort. You have to know what you’re trying to say and how you will say it.
James Clear is known as the habit guy, but he’s also a writer who makes everything digestible without making you feel like you’re reading another boring productivity article.
Also, it’s worth noting that you don’t need to study grammar to be a better writer - Hint: it actually makes you a worse writer.
You only need to read and write a lot.
More importantly, find a subject you care about. Go to war with that subject because you want your readers to see how victorious you are with it. When you do that, your writing is so much easier. Everything is easier.
James Clear knows a lot about habits. But he also knows a lot about writing because he’s done a lot of it.
When you're ready, here are a few ways I can help you 👇
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Thanks for reading!
Ben Watkins
A brilliant post thank you