Does a Dash in a Headline Affect the Capitalization of the Next Word?

Thank you to the Wall Street Journal’s always-interesting “Style and Substance” column for clarifying an issue I’ve never been sure about:

Which headline is correct (focus on the word “and”)?

1. Dow Ends Unchanged — and That’s News

2. Dow Ends Unchanged — And That’s News

According to the Journal, #1 is correct:

“We lowercase words after a dash if they are normally lowercased in headlines (but uppercase after a colon).”

Which Headline Would You Click?

Headline	Publication
Uber Hires Top Obama Adviser David Plouffe As New “Campaign Manager”	Re/code
David Plouffe Joins Uber As “Campaign Manager”	Politico
Uber Hires Former Obama Advisor (and Shady Telecoms Consultant) David Plouffe to Lead Insurgent War	PandoDaily
Uber Hired David Plouffe When It Realized “Techies” Can’t Do Politics	Wonkblog
Uber Picks Political Insider to Wage Regulatory Fight	The New York Times
Uber Puts Former Obama Campaign Chief in Charge of Its Image	InTheCapital
Uber Snags David Plouffe, DC Heavyweight and Former Obama Campaign Manager	GigaOM
Uber Just Hired Obama’s Political Guru to Battle “Big Taxi Cartel”	Time

Do You Really Write Need to Write 25 Headlines for Each Article?

Yes, sir, says Upworthy’s top curator.

The key is not to make every sentence perfect—20 of the 25 headlines will be junk—but to force you out of the box.

15 Secrets to Make Your Headline Go Viral

From Upworthy’s top curator:

1. Tell a story in your headline, but don’t give it all away. (This is what makes us so successful, though some people really hate it.)
2. If you’ve got some heroes and villains, play them off each other.
3. To optimize shareability you want to make sure everyone can feel comfortable sharing it. Think to yourself, “Would my mom share this headline?” If not, do something different. Unless you are only targeting a subgroup and don’t care about shareability.
4. Don’t depress people so much that they want to give up on humanity. Negative headlines breeds negative shares.
5. Don’t curse in your headlines. Moms hate it—and moms are the biggest sharers on the Internet by a significant margin.
6. Don’t make people take positions they might be uncomfortable with. For example, “I Really Hate All White People” is going to not get shared, whereas “An Open Letter to Pasty People” is far less hostile and more likely to get shared.
7. Don’t use terms that overwhelm, polarize or bore people. I never use Social Security, the Environment, Immigration, Democrats, Republicans, Medicare, Racist, Bigot, etc... You can talk about issues without giving away what they are. Most people aren’t going to want to look at a Immigration video. Once they get to your site and hit play, they may reconsider. (Though immigration is particularly challenging.)
8. Don’t be shrill and judgy; let the facts speak for themselves. Anytime I’ve made that mistake, the content dies a horrible death. An example: when Todd Akin came out with the cartoonishly awful idea that women’s bodies stop them from getting pregnant from rape, I started with the headline, “Meet Todd Akin. He’s a Horrible Human Being. Share This So Everyone Knows.” No one clicked or shared. When I changed it to “A Congressman on a Science Committee Doesn’t Understand How Science Works” it did waaaay better with people across the political spectrum. Because people didn’t have to be afraid of sounding partisan.
9. Don’t oversell. We’ve worked hard to tone ourselves down, as occasionally our headlines would veer toward THE BIGGEST THING EVER, when it was actually THE PRETTY INTERESTING BUT NOT BIGGEST THING EVER. It’s not worth dragging people to your site if they feel ripped off after they get there.
10. Don’t be afraid to talk like a human. People like human conversation.
11. Don’t make obscure pop culture references. 90% of Americans has never seen half the shows you’re referencing. Instead of “Jennifer Lawrence Talks About What It’s Like to Be Judged,” try “That Lady From the Hunger Games.” Nobody knows who your favorite character is played by.
12. Always test. No matter how clever you think your headline is.
13. Speaking of which, don’t be too clever. People won’t get it and they won’t click and then you lose.
14. Have fun. Dry headlines bore people.
15. Always write 25 headlines. Or the terrorists will win.

Can You Guess Which Headline Will Do the Best?

1. It’s Kind Of Awkward When The Commander Of A Starship Makes Me Cry, Yet Here We Are
2. Patrick Stewart’s Passion And Care For His Fans Boils Over Into A Heart-Wrenching And Wonderful Answer
3. A Fan Asked Patrick Stewart A Question He Doesn’t Always Get. His Answer Was One That I’ve Never Seen Anything Like Since.
4. Some Actors Like Talking To Their Fans. Patrick Stewart, However, Goes The Extra Lightyear
5. Patrick Stewart Isn’t Only A Starfleet Commander. He’s Also A Friggin Amazing Human Being.
6. I’ve Never Cried Watching SciFi Actors Answering Fans Questions Before. CURSE YOU, PATRICK STEWART!
7. Patrick Stewart Hears Some Pain In A Fan’s Voice And Takes His Compassion To Warp 10
8. Patrick Stewart Is Space Captain Ever. Nay, The Best Human Being Ever.
9. If You Don’t Like SciFi, This Will Make You Cry. Same If You Do Like SciFi.
10. I Was Unaware Starfleet Captains Could Make Grown Men Openly Weep, Yet Here We Are
11. This Man Commanded A Starship, Was A Member Of The Royal Shakespeare Company, And Just Made Me Cry At A Nerd Convention
12. A Bunch Of SciFi Geeks Went To A Convention To Ask Their Heroes Questions. So Why Am I Crying About It?
13. I’m Not Supposed To Cry Watching SciFi Geeks Ask Actors Questions, Yet Here We Are
14. A Brave Fan Asks Patrick Stewart A Question He Doesn’t Usually Get And Is Given A Beautiful Answer
15. The Time I Really Felt Like Giving Patrick Stewart A Giant Hug For Being A Wonderful Human Being
16. I Don’t Know About You, But I DO NOT CRY Watching Star Trek. Yet Here We Are.
17. I’m Not Crying. That’s Just Space Rain On My Face.
18. That Time You Wished Patrick Stewart Was Your Dad
19. MUST WATCH: Patrick Stewart Is An Incredible Human Being. Seriously.

Answer here.

2 Tactics You’re Neglecting That Will Turbocharge Your Web Writing

Attention New York Times Headline Writers: Don't Sacrifice Grammar for Cuteness

A guest post from Paul Stregevsky.

As a stickler for clear antecedents, I fault this headline, from the New York Times: "Iowa, the Early Decider, Still Hasn't."

I would even fault, "Iowa, the Earliest State to Decide, Still Hasn't." Still hasn't decide? Um, no. There is but one legitimate antecedent: "decided." And since readers would find it awkward to read "Iowa, the Earliest State to Have Decided, Still Hasn't," the headline writer must abandon the conceit and try again.

Mind you, I oppose constructions like this one not because they're illogical (though they are), but because they force readers to mentally correct the grammatical error.

Addendum: Actually, this could work: "Iowa, the Early State to Decide, Still Can't."

Addendum (1/4/2012): I e-mailed this post to Philip Corbett, the Times's associate managing editor for standards who writes the After Deadline blog. He's given me permission to publish his reply:

I agree in general that headlines should be grammatical. But given the constraints of the form, I think it's reasonable on occasion to expect the reader to make a bit more of a syntactical leap than might be demanded in other contexts. (Here, I suspect the headline writer was also alluding to President Bush's famous description of himself as "the decider," another argument for allowing the construction.)

What do you think?