More time spent on our computers watching or reading easy-to-assimilate stuff means less time being actually productive. As a result, not many people reach out for books these days when the internet can divert your mind in so many ways. 

The Wild Detectives bookstore cum bar in Texas with a mission to make more people read, has come up with a deviously clever way to prod people into reading. It uses cleverly-worded, clickbait headlines or litbaits to get people to click on them and leads them to copyright-free full classics. The headline is worded in a way, so as to capture the synopsis of the book in a few words. So a litbait with the headline “When it’s okay to slut shame single mothers” actually leads you to the full version of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. 

A cheeky tagline accompanies the book, “You fell for the bait, now fall for the book.”

Here are some more of these litbaits found on the internet in an attempt to make more read. These links lead to books like The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde, William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. 

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift

The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

The Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli

Literally like leading the horse to the water.