Have you ever noticed how many different kinds of shoes there are in a shoe store? They have shoes of just about every size and color, and for just about every occasion imaginable.
There are shoes for men, women and children.
There are sandals and sneakers, boots and pumps.
And within each category, there are numerous choices - brown, black, white, bronze, gold, pink, or blue sandals.
Sandals with a heel strap and sandals without.
Sandals with high heels, medium heels, and low heels.
There are even sandals with no heels, called flats.
One Style Doesn't Fit All Why are there so many choices?Why don't we just have sandals for men, women and children in various sizes and leave it at that?Why not have all sandals be black flats?While black flats might be appropriate for everyone, people's tastes vary as do the occasion for which they might wear sandals.
Black flats might be appropriate for a lady to wear with shorts, but she may prefer a pair of white, high heeled sandals to wear with a pretty dress.
Just the the shoe example above, people also prefer to receive their information in various ways.
A booklet is one way to receive that information.
There may be many books written about nutrition, but not everyone wants to read an entire book on the subject.
Our Attention Spans Have Diminished Beginning with the invention of the radio, our attention spans have gotten shorter.
It used to be that we would tell our stories to others, who listened patiently.
Then, the radio came along and people became anxious for their favorite program to come on.
They would listen patiently - for a little while.
Television came next, and our attention spans grew even shorter.
As proof, consider the person sitting in the chair in front of the television, t.
v.
clicker in hand ready at a moment's notice to change the channel as soon as a commercial comes on.
And now, we have the internet.
If within the first 3 seconds or so we don't make a connection with a website, as in we don't see anything of interest to us, we move on to the next one.
We have the ability to find, shuffle through, and discard information online practically within the blink of an eye.
Why Short Attention Spans Are Good News For Booklet Authors All of this is very good news for the booklet author.
You don't need to be concerned about stuffing your booklet with every possible bit of information on your topic.
You just need to give the reader the basics, or an overview of the subject.
You can then include more information in a second booklet, or your reader can, if they wish, seek out a more thorough presentation of your topic.
Back To The Shoes Now, getting back to the shoes.
Let's see just how they tie in with booklets.
First, as stated above, just as a sandal is one kind of shoe, a booklet is one way to receive information.
Think of it this way - there are shoes for men, women and children.
There are also many different kinds of manuscripts targeted to men, women and children.
Now, just as there are boots, sandals, pumps, etc.
so there are books, blogs, articles, booklets, and so on.
And, just as there are many different kinds of sandals, boots and so forth, there are many different kinds of booklets and books and articles.
A sandal is still a sandal, and a booklet is still a booklet.
But just like the sandal comes in different styles according to gender, occasion and taste, so can booklets.
Consider The Possibilities The next time you visit the shoe store, consider the possibilities for your writing.
You may write a ladies black, low heeled sandal today, and decide to create a pink and green girl's rain boot tomorrow!In other words, you might write a booklet about a particular topic, such as horses, for a particular audience, such as beginners today.
Then, you may decide to take that information and spin it into another form - such as a book, blog or article.
Just as we have a seemingly endless choice of shoes, so are your choices when it comes to writing a booklet.
Copyright 2009 Kim Hillman