The Hook Rewrite Ladder

The Hook Rewrite Ladder
Never ship the first hook. Run any opener up this five-rung ladder and keep the strongest.
1. State it plainly (your baseline).
2. Add a number or specific stakes.
3. Flip it to a question the reader can't not answer.
4. Front-load the most surprising word in the first three.
5. Cut every word that isn't doing work.
You now have five hooks. Test the top two against each other.
Input: one flat line. Output: two tested openers.
Run it on every post you publish.