Letter # 6: Writing with brevity
Expert interview on writing crisp content minus the fluff.
Hey, hey!
How’s your week been?
I’m having a great start considering I’ve been smiling (admittedly: TOO MUCH) looking at videos and pictures of my nephew who we welcomed last Tuesday.
In the work world, I’m only just coming back from a week-long off and thinking about how keeping content to the point while engaging readers is almost always easier said than done.
Of course, there are tons of ways to go about writing succinctly (my favorite being rewriting sentences to get to the smartest ones), but I thought why not ask for an editor’s secret tip?
So we’ve Content Strategist and Editor, Matilda Schieren with us today — currently Sprout Social’s Managing Editor.
I asked her:
A mistake she’s made that you can learn from.
An actionable tip to get you one step closer to writing succinctly.
And, a secret tip to write with brevity today.
Here’s what she’s got to share:
👉 Learn from Matilda’s mistake: “Early in my content career, I often confused flowery, verbose copy for a sign of experience.”
I’ve been in this boat myself. And a lot of others I talk to say the same.
Luckily though “Working in B2B marketing quickly put a pin in that philosophy,” shares Matilda.
👉Do this today: “Cut 30 words from anywhere in the draft.” This is after your draft is ready, that is: you’ve edited it already and are ready to hit publish.
Remember:
“Writing concise copy is an act of empathy. It proves that you respect your readers’ time and intelligence. What better way to earn their trust?”
👉The secret tip you need to know to write with brevity: “‘Succinct’” writing doesn’t mean sparse. It’s not about communicating in the fewest words—it’s about communicating with the strongest ones.”
This is gold, isn’t it? 😄
So today’s takeaways:
Respect your readers’ time.
Don’t obsess over word count. Work on selecting the right words instead.
Nothing beats simple language. Fancy words aren’t a measure of your expertise — how clearly and simply you can explain the topic at hand is.
🎁 Resource: YouTube series featuring 2 journalists and their former editor from the LA Times sharing writing tips. Matilda calls the videos “the best-kept content secret on the internet.”
Aaand that’s a wrap for this week, folks.
Have a great day,
Masooma
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"It’s not about communicating in the fewest words—it’s about communicating with the strongest ones."
This is really gold! 🙌
Fantastic tips!