Using Smaller Paragraphs to Keep the Attention of the Reader

I am not a professional writer, yet. Therefore, I have to be my own copyeditor. This is actually good in some ways because, though it requires more work on my end, it means I am learning a valuable skill. Of course while I was attending college I had to write on an academic level, but learning copyediting takes editing another step. One of the important concepts in copyediting is writing clearly.  

I am sure many can remember trying to read a book and finding it difficult to get through even a paragraph without needing to reread it. This is not necessarily a sign of being a bad reader. On the contrary, many would argue it is a good writers responsibility to convey even complex subjects to the reader clearly. I think of a book like Cosmos by Carl Sagan. It is about astronomy but is written in a readable manner and this surely helped the book become a bestseller. There certainly is a place for technical writing and more esoteric literature but these writing styles have a specific audience more than a general appeal.  

One easy way to keep the reader's attention is by simply breaking up your text into several smaller paragraphs rather than one or two large paragraphs. It is mainly a trick for making information appear less daunting to the eyes, but it is effective. If it looks like the text is long and complicated to read, many will simply stop reading, thus missing what you are trying to say. If your writing looks more manageable, more readers will actually read and understand your content and this is the ultimate goal of good writing.