I rarely write book reviews anymore. And I’ll bet you rarely read them. But this one will be brief, and worthwhile for both of us. Promise.

Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less by Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz is a must-read for communicators generally, and writers specifically. It’s worth a review. Plus, this gives me an opportunity to try writing in Smart Brevity style.

Smart Brevity Count:
762 Words | 3 Minutes

The Big Picture

Most of us write the wrong way. It’s not our fault. We’re victims of bad incentives, such as:

• Professors who ask us to write 10-page papers (when two pages would do).
• Publications that pay contributors by the word.
• SEO articles that say you need 1,500 to 3,000 words on a page to rank.

But what most communicators ultimately want is simply to be effective. Writers want to be read. Speakers want to be listened to.

There is a better way, and Smart Brevity provides the guide. In the highly competitive world of general-news newsletters, success depends on growing a base of subscribers who actively open, read, and click.

The book’s authors developed—over their years of experience—a formula not only for writing successful newsletters (plus local editions like Axios Twin Cities) but one that could be applied to any type of communication.

Who It’s For

This book is a valuable guide for:

• Journalists
• PR professionals
• Marketers
• Bloggers
• Executives
• Speakers
• Non-fiction authors

Basically, it will improve effectiveness for anyone whose job is to communicate to audiences, particularly anyone who writes for a living.

Why It Matters

People are busy. Even if someone actually wanted to read your 500-word email message or 2,000-word blog post (and they don’t), they probably wouldn’t have time.

What’s more, we are all awash in content. The average office professional receives 120 emails per day (personally, that’s closer to 200) and spends nearly a quarter of their work time reading and responding to email messages.

There’s also chat, Slack, text messages, and social media posts—which often include links that point us to more content.

The techniques in this book will help you write content—emails, blog posts, web page copy, pretty much anything—that not only gets read, but that your audience actually looks forward to reading.

That’s because it will be shorter, more direct, and more clear. They’ll more easily understand your most important point(s), and what, if anything, they need to do next.

Go Deeper

Smart Brevity isn’t about simply writing less, but about communicating more using fewer words. Or as the title of chapter one puts it, Short, Not Shallow.

It’s about putting your audience first and respecting their time. It’s about considering what they really need to know, and then conveying that, as briefly and directly as possible.

There is a method to writing this way, and the book explains how.

But it’s not just about writing. The authors also explain how to apply Smart Brevity principles to meetings, speeches, presentations, visuals, social media, even running a company.

To help enterprises use these principles, the authors and their team have also developed an AI-powered newsletter software platform called Axios HQ. It provides “best practice templates, insightful analytics, and productivity-boosting AI features.” Unfortunately, it’s not practical for individuals or small businesses, with an starting price of $15,000 per year according to GetApp.

True Story

Brevity is hard. The most difficult writing assignment I ever had was writing trade show booth signage copy for a developer of software for “native file review.” The software enabled legal professionals to view computer files in virtually any format without actually opening them (risking inadvertent changes to / corruption of the data).

The booth signage provided space for a headline and three bullet points—roughly 40 words max. Short enough for attendees to read while walking by. The end result (37 words):

Native file review—see what’s next.

• Advanced native file review and search—desktop or web.
• View and search all the content—visible and “hidden”—in virtually any type of file.
• Trusted by thousands of litigation support professionals.

The client loved it!

The Bottom Line

If you want to write to be read (and you should), this book is for you. It will teach you how to:

• Write short, direct opening sentences that grab attention;
• Put the reader first;
• Get rid of bad writing habits; and
• Focus on communicating the one thing you want the reader to remember and/or the one thing you want them to do.

In short, it will show you how to be a better communicator. Your audience will appreciate that. And you’ll be more successful.

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