Yes, you can hook your readers from page one. This book is based on a workshop I gave a while ago. Even as I was preparing the workshop, trying to distill the essence of crafting hooky stories in simple, easy-to-understand concepts, I was amazed. Nobody had ever explained this to me. Most of the books and courses on writing and structure don’t really touch on that. Truly. You could do all the steps in Save the Cat and totally miss how to hook readers because this information simply isn’t there. I realized I had found something special; an easy way to help writers identify what works and doesn’t for their beginning paragraphs, and how to get the readers hooked in their stories. And that’s why I’m putting it in this book; because I think my explanation can help writers. When I say help, I truly mean help, I don’t mean tying writers down with another concept that might stifle their creativity. This book is not about sticking your writing into a box or following rigid rules. While it provides tips and techniques to help you craft stories that readers won’t quit, the advice is simple, easy, and flexible enough not to hinder your writing style or dampen your inspiration. Still, it should quench many of your doubts on whether your writing is hooky or not, so that you can spend more time creating and less time worrying. I’ll also provide you with advice for beginnings and examples of efficient first paragraphs so that you’ll never again freak out wondering how to start your book. Instead, you’ll feel confident that you can hook your reader from page one.

Revised and Updated, Featuring a New Case Study How do successful companies create products people can’t put down? Why do some products capture widespread attention while others flop? What makes us engage with certain products out of sheer habit? Is there a pattern underlying how technologies hook us? Nir Eyal answers these questions (and many more) by explaining the Hook Model—a four-step process embedded into the products of many successful companies to subtly encourage customer behavior. Through consecutive “hook cycles,” these products reach their ultimate goal of bringing users back again and again without depending on costly advertising or aggressive messaging. Hooked is based on Eyal’s years of research, consulting, and practical experience. He wrote the book he wished had been available to him as a start-up founder—not abstract theory, but a how-to guide for building better products. Hooked is written for product managers, designers, marketers, start-up founders, and anyone who seeks to understand how products influence our behavior. Eyal provides readers with: • Practical insights to create user habits that stick. • Actionable steps for building products people love. • Fascinating examples from the iPhone to Twitter, Pinterest to the Bible App, and many other habit-forming products.

At the age of ten, Clyde Landon's world revolved around slingshots, marbles, and talking his way out of trouble. But that all changed the day he met Guck, a motley colored shepherd dog. The bond between them was immediate, and when Guck needed a new home, it was Clyde who quickly assumed responsibility, convincing his parents to allow him a pet, despite the family already having too many mouths to feed. Guck was ours. I could hardly believe it. There wasn't another dog in the whole wide world like him...'You're ours!' I told him. 'You're mine. Mom said I could keep you.' For some strange reason, I felt as though I was telling him something he already knew, but he listened intently while I carried on...'Guck Landon.' It sounded perfect, just perfect. In His Name is Guck: A Story of a Boy and His Dog author Clyde Landon recounts his unforgettable memories with this special dog, one who displayed the ultimate in love, courage, and devotion. Landon uses his knack for description to transport readers to 1940s Colorado, where a boy and his dog roamed the mountainside together, sharing incredible adventures and an undying bond of friendship. A lovely read...a unique and wonderful story, written from the heart. a "Bernie R. Diamond, actor and former business and White House executive"

The authoritative book on nymphs. Step-by-step instructions for 112 useful nymph flies. More than 900 photos of natural nymphs, their imitations, and steps in tying those flies.

Brought up in the Depression, Johnny DaSilva is leader of a fun and imaginative gang that lives out their dreams in the Big Tree in which each has a branch that serves as the Lone Ranger’s Silver, the race car of Morey Amsterdam, the rocket ship of Buck Rogers, the crow’s nest for Black Bart the Pirate. When World War II broke out, they tried every ruse their young imaginations could think of to get into the marines, army, and navy but had to settle for the Boy Scouts. But the faux pas war to end all wars came too soon for the Big Tree Gang. Johnny is best described by an aunt as having the millstone around the neck of having a strict English Episcopalian conscience and bucking bronco Portuguese sexual proclivities. Two girls are in love with him, one wealthy and popular, the other sexually abused and who considered herself a worthless toy, until she met Johnny. Whatever they knew about the facts of life, male and female, were learned pretty much by trial and error.