Week One: The Hardest Part is Getting Started

    For this first assignment, I chose to examine an article from the website, Masterclass.com that shared the pros and cons of self-publishing.

First Impressions

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Right off the bat, I noticed the organization of the entire page. Before the article begins, there is a large image of Neil Gaiman with the offer to take his masterclass in storytelling. It catches the eye immediately because of the contrast from the rest of the page. A bright, magenta button offers the reader the opportunity to learn more as if this is the most critical point of the article. Between the contrast, the bright colors, and the language, “learn more” (as opposed to more monetary calls to action like “sign up now” or “purchase now”), I feel as though the article was written more as an entry point to have their readers sign up for that masterclass, their targeted audience clearly being novice authors or authors who are learning about the self-publishing process.

Organization and Contrast

The article itself was organized and grouped into five sections. The first section was the introduction. The second and third were the bulk sections that consisted of the information pertinent to the title: the pros and cons of self-publishing. After, the author posed the question: “want to learn more about writing?” and offered the masterclass membership. The article concluded with the offer to leave an email address to stay up to date on classes. Each section was broken up by advertisements for other courses or articles. The colors and contrast drew my attention more than the actual text. Much like the initial advertisement for Neil Gaiman's lecture, the other promotions were brightly colored and placed so that, had I not been working on this assignment, I definitely would have clicked away.

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Concluding Thoughts

This article was likely a sales funnel to gain more customers, but their methods were interesting. Their use of space and contrast is their most effective point, as they gave minimal information but offered more if they signed up. The choice to place the Neil Gaiman course at the beginning of the article is also interesting as it was what I was more focused on, even as I was reading through the article. It was very subliminal.