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Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less
Brevity is confidence. Length is fear. This is the guiding principle of Smart Brevity, a communication formula built by Axios journalists to prioritize essential news and information, explain its impact and deliver it in a concise and visual format. Now, the co-founders of Axios have created an essential guide for communicating effectively and efficiently using Smart Brevity—think Strunk and White’s Elements of Style for the digital age.
In SMART The Power of Saying More with Less , Axios co-founders Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz teach readers how to say more with less in virtually any format. They also share communications lessons learned from their decades of experience in media, business and communications.
In SMART The Power of Saying More with Less , Axios co-founders Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz teach readers how to say more with less in virtually any format. They also share communications lessons learned from their decades of experience in media, business and communications.
224 pages, Hardcover
Published September 20, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 770 reviews
August 28, 2022
Write shorter, make your point clear, and ditch words that aren't serving a point, says the crew behind Axios. I found Smart Brevity a valuable, if frustrating book, that -- somewhat amusingly, given the title -- is about 50% longer than it needs to be.
Perhaps paradoxically, I think both that A) most people could improve their communications tremendously if they followed the recommendations of this book, thought about audience, and cut out the fluff to write clearly and B) "Smart Brevity" (gag, of course this style needs a Capital-Lettered Brand Name(TM) ) contributes mightily to the immiseration of language, the death of nuance, and seemingly national allergy to complexity.
Smart Brevity is great at encouraging us to get to the point and recognizing the unceasing competition for attention and focus, but half of the examples the authors give of how to deploy it simply drop nuance, context, and depth in favor of speed. Workman-like writing more than has its place, but this book fails to grapple with what this tradeoff costs. The authors assert facts and figures with little support. I'm sure it's true, but I just have to trust the authors rather than have the opportunity to verify for myself.
Worth your time, especially since I polished this off in about 90 minutes, but give some thought to what you're losing, too, when Smart Brevity comes to dominate communication. Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC.
Perhaps paradoxically, I think both that A) most people could improve their communications tremendously if they followed the recommendations of this book, thought about audience, and cut out the fluff to write clearly and B) "Smart Brevity" (gag, of course this style needs a Capital-Lettered Brand Name(TM) ) contributes mightily to the immiseration of language, the death of nuance, and seemingly national allergy to complexity.
Smart Brevity is great at encouraging us to get to the point and recognizing the unceasing competition for attention and focus, but half of the examples the authors give of how to deploy it simply drop nuance, context, and depth in favor of speed. Workman-like writing more than has its place, but this book fails to grapple with what this tradeoff costs. The authors assert facts and figures with little support. I'm sure it's true, but I just have to trust the authors rather than have the opportunity to verify for myself.
Worth your time, especially since I polished this off in about 90 minutes, but give some thought to what you're losing, too, when Smart Brevity comes to dominate communication. Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC.
October 9, 2022
A three-hour infomercial about how to write for people who don't read, which is now supposedly everybody. Mostly warmed over journalistic principles, yet journalists are presented as egregious violators of the principles. Sure, brevity is good, but here a kind of creepy, corporate bot-speak. You say boldface and bullet points, I say let's call the whole thing off. But don't trust me. I'm the fool who wrote a 700-page book.
March 19, 2023
THE SITUATION: this book looks beautiful but is mostly empty of wisdom and kind of trash in its self-congratulatory tone.
GO DEEPER: I’m being generous and giving this book three stars because you know what, some people could benefit from the tips and tricks here on how to write briefly and clearly. But imho this book jazzes itself up with pretty graphics and fonts — ostensibly to prove how you can use these tools to keep audience attention — to disguise the fact that a lot of its “wisdom” is repetitive and very simple. And then a some of the advice was well-meaning but absolutely garbage, like “don’t use any words you wouldn’t hear in a bar or at the beach” and “use single syllable words because they’re always stronger”. I particularly liked the section on writing inclusively, which repeatedly referenced “blind spots”. Hello??
BIG TAKEAWAY: Listen. We all could be a little more brief and clear with our words. But we don’t need three business bros who think they’ve reinvented short sentences to show us how.
CHERRY ON TOP: As you might expect, the cover features the names of three men while the acknowledgements make it clear that the book would not have been possible without two of their wives, one of whom CAME UP WITH THE IDEA OF SMART BREVITY while the other is credited with being “the true word maestro”, as well as their female chief of staff who, it sounds like, literally keeps the company running while the directors faff around feeling self important and writing a veritable cornucopia of newsletters.
WHOOPS: “veritable” and “cornucopia” have more than one syllable!!! My b!!! I’ll write better in the future. Er. I mean. I’ll write… more good… in the… next part of life…
DOUBLE WHOOPS: changed my mind. Giving this two stars.
GO DEEPER: I’m being generous and giving this book three stars because you know what, some people could benefit from the tips and tricks here on how to write briefly and clearly. But imho this book jazzes itself up with pretty graphics and fonts — ostensibly to prove how you can use these tools to keep audience attention — to disguise the fact that a lot of its “wisdom” is repetitive and very simple. And then a some of the advice was well-meaning but absolutely garbage, like “don’t use any words you wouldn’t hear in a bar or at the beach” and “use single syllable words because they’re always stronger”. I particularly liked the section on writing inclusively, which repeatedly referenced “blind spots”. Hello??
BIG TAKEAWAY: Listen. We all could be a little more brief and clear with our words. But we don’t need three business bros who think they’ve reinvented short sentences to show us how.
CHERRY ON TOP: As you might expect, the cover features the names of three men while the acknowledgements make it clear that the book would not have been possible without two of their wives, one of whom CAME UP WITH THE IDEA OF SMART BREVITY while the other is credited with being “the true word maestro”, as well as their female chief of staff who, it sounds like, literally keeps the company running while the directors faff around feeling self important and writing a veritable cornucopia of newsletters.
WHOOPS: “veritable” and “cornucopia” have more than one syllable!!! My b!!! I’ll write better in the future. Er. I mean. I’ll write… more good… in the… next part of life…
DOUBLE WHOOPS: changed my mind. Giving this two stars.
October 5, 2022
Adding this to the "All-time-favorites" shelf.
HERE'S WHY:
1. I've been a lover and consumer of Axios news for some time now
2. This book offers clear and actionable advice on how to write better and more clearly
3. I'll be using this immediately in work, life, and any time I need to communicate
WHAT I'M SAYING: You should do yourself a favor and read this book.
[Review written in Smart Brevity style :) ]
HERE'S WHY:
1. I've been a lover and consumer of Axios news for some time now
2. This book offers clear and actionable advice on how to write better and more clearly
3. I'll be using this immediately in work, life, and any time I need to communicate
WHAT I'M SAYING: You should do yourself a favor and read this book.
[Review written in Smart Brevity style :) ]
July 31, 2022
Ironically, while useful, this book is overlong.
Once it's done breaking down the helpful information and approaches to implementing it, it sees the need (page length?) to get specific in a really granular way which anyone reading the book would seemingly be able to interpret and extrapolate on their own.
Refer to it, don't read the whole thing.
If you remember one thing from this review, heed the method.
Once it's done breaking down the helpful information and approaches to implementing it, it sees the need (page length?) to get specific in a really granular way which anyone reading the book would seemingly be able to interpret and extrapolate on their own.
Refer to it, don't read the whole thing.
If you remember one thing from this review, heed the method.
March 10, 2023
Someone at work mentioned this book and how interesting it was so I picked it up as I really see changes in how we need to communicate in business and life today as a direct result of social media. And this book was one of the most impactful business books I have read. Very actionable, very precise. It gave me a lot of specific ideas for how to leverage the content in my own day to day life! Highly recommend, especially if you’d like to hone in on how to better communicate in your life! This is one I will buy for my home library so I can reference it in the future!
February 26, 2023
It could have been a blog post :)
But instead, it's an advertisement of Axios you're paying for with both your time and wallet, hehe.
To be (slightly) more serious:
+ good call for action
+ some good examples, some good advice
- definitely over-bloated and repetitive
- in too many cases, brevity gets surprisingly close to click-bait and attention-craving
- it'd be nice to provide more actionable advice: good practices, exercises, "katas"
2.0-2.2 stars. Works only as a good inspiration (to focus on brevity).
But instead, it's an advertisement of Axios you're paying for with both your time and wallet, hehe.
To be (slightly) more serious:
+ good call for action
+ some good examples, some good advice
- definitely over-bloated and repetitive
- in too many cases, brevity gets surprisingly close to click-bait and attention-craving
- it'd be nice to provide more actionable advice: good practices, exercises, "katas"
2.0-2.2 stars. Works only as a good inspiration (to focus on brevity).
January 20, 2023
Well written and good instruction, however, this was clearly written by men. As a woman in the corporate world, I have been scrutinized for being aggressive, assertive and curt when following this style. It has taken years to try and be less straightforward to come across as polite (just as us women are expected to be). Maybe it’s a Canadian thing?
April 10, 2023
200+ pages telling you to write less...
The idea behind "Smart Brevity" can be summed up as follows: People have the attention span of goldfish, can't take in more than one sentence, and here's how to capitalize on that.
Oh, and it's essentially a self-aggrandizing infomercial (and instruction manual on how to sound cold and cool like a robot - perfect for the modern meat grinder).
Honestly, the book might be helpful for some organizations and people wanting to take over the world/benefit their own cause, but the fact that shit like this actually works pisses me off. For humans who care for and of other humans, this is not the future, it's the future we should be fighting against!
It's all about boiling things down to the punch line, whether that's personal emails, news, or anything else. Sure, for kids' birthday party invites, maybe straight forward is helpful for the busy parents trying to puzzle together a weekend. But as a delivery method for news... Seriously, the last thing we need these days are keep-it-simple-stupid news - I mean, hell, hammering down on "just the important" bits is literally the hallmark of extremism and divisiveness.
The authors talk about the brilliance of simple messaging with links to sources and fleshed-out articles... sure... because we all know that goldfish people are so great at fact checking, nothing could possibly go wrong.
The gist of it all?
Yeah, this probably could be handy for some, but I hate it!
The idea behind "Smart Brevity" can be summed up as follows: People have the attention span of goldfish, can't take in more than one sentence, and here's how to capitalize on that.
Oh, and it's essentially a self-aggrandizing infomercial (and instruction manual on how to sound cold and cool like a robot - perfect for the modern meat grinder).
Honestly, the book might be helpful for some organizations and people wanting to take over the world/benefit their own cause, but the fact that shit like this actually works pisses me off. For humans who care for and of other humans, this is not the future, it's the future we should be fighting against!
It's all about boiling things down to the punch line, whether that's personal emails, news, or anything else. Sure, for kids' birthday party invites, maybe straight forward is helpful for the busy parents trying to puzzle together a weekend. But as a delivery method for news... Seriously, the last thing we need these days are keep-it-simple-stupid news - I mean, hell, hammering down on "just the important" bits is literally the hallmark of extremism and divisiveness.
The authors talk about the brilliance of simple messaging with links to sources and fleshed-out articles... sure... because we all know that goldfish people are so great at fact checking, nothing could possibly go wrong.
The gist of it all?
Yeah, this probably could be handy for some, but I hate it!
January 22, 2023
“Why waste time say lot word when few word do trick?”
November 19, 2022
Insightful book or splashy corporate advertisement? Both?
Despite being one long plug for Axios HQ, Smart Brevity contains a lot of very useful information in a quick accessible format. The book practices what it preaches and reinforces the power of its ideas.
It may be cliché but the fact is that brief, clear and scannable information has never been more valuable and yet a great many people insist on drowning us in text and clutter. Who hasn't cliked away from long emails, sat bored in a never ending meeting, or despaired at someone reading text from a PowerPoint deck?
Don't want to sign on to Axios HQ? Don't but I honestly think almost everyone would benefit from spending a few minutes with this book and implementing the ideas into their work and life. Everyone will need to think and explore exactly how applicable it is to their particular role, organization, culture, etc. But more effective communication has some many applications that I think everyone could find at least a few ideas that could make an impact.
So don't be turned off by the sales pitch aspect. The authors have had incredible success. Learn from that even if you don't want to buy the product.
Despite being one long plug for Axios HQ, Smart Brevity contains a lot of very useful information in a quick accessible format. The book practices what it preaches and reinforces the power of its ideas.
It may be cliché but the fact is that brief, clear and scannable information has never been more valuable and yet a great many people insist on drowning us in text and clutter. Who hasn't cliked away from long emails, sat bored in a never ending meeting, or despaired at someone reading text from a PowerPoint deck?
Don't want to sign on to Axios HQ? Don't but I honestly think almost everyone would benefit from spending a few minutes with this book and implementing the ideas into their work and life. Everyone will need to think and explore exactly how applicable it is to their particular role, organization, culture, etc. But more effective communication has some many applications that I think everyone could find at least a few ideas that could make an impact.
So don't be turned off by the sales pitch aspect. The authors have had incredible success. Learn from that even if you don't want to buy the product.
April 17, 2023
Minus a point for misappropriating Cal Newport's A World Without Email:
The author writes "Cal Newport, a Georgetown University expert on workplace efficiency, notes in A World Without Email that the onslaught for the average business user has ballooned from 50 emails per day in 2005 to 126 in 2019. So there is a fierce urgency to getting better at this fast." But improving email with brevity is the exact opposite of what Cal Newport actually suggests in his book, so this author is either sloppy or being intentionally dishonest.
Overall I found the book unfocused and repetitive. Half of the advice is fluff you’d hear in a writing 101 workshop. I think this book would’ve been punchier as a pamphlet half its length, or a YouTube video, but a book probably helps promote their brand more.
The author writes "Cal Newport, a Georgetown University expert on workplace efficiency, notes in A World Without Email that the onslaught for the average business user has ballooned from 50 emails per day in 2005 to 126 in 2019. So there is a fierce urgency to getting better at this fast." But improving email with brevity is the exact opposite of what Cal Newport actually suggests in his book, so this author is either sloppy or being intentionally dishonest.
Overall I found the book unfocused and repetitive. Half of the advice is fluff you’d hear in a writing 101 workshop. I think this book would’ve been punchier as a pamphlet half its length, or a YouTube video, but a book probably helps promote their brand more.
August 13, 2023
Fantastic book.
Why it's worth reading: Actionable ideas on how to write better & more concisely.
It's useful to you if you communicate with others using words.
What makes it different: Unlike the classics (eg, Strunk & White), it's really up to date as it has techniques & examples for texting, emails, and presentations (among others).
Why it's worth reading: Actionable ideas on how to write better & more concisely.
It's useful to you if you communicate with others using words.
What makes it different: Unlike the classics (eg, Strunk & White), it's really up to date as it has techniques & examples for texting, emails, and presentations (among others).
October 9, 2023
Smart. Could have been briefer.
May 15, 2024
Modern people know more, speak more, and say less.
Why it matters: We live in the most information-saturated era of human history with little understanding of how to impart it.
- Mark Twain once said, “I didn't have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one.”
The big picture: Smart Brevity provides tools to improve your communication.
- Smart Brevity improves communication at home and the workplace.
- Smart Brevity improves every means of communication.
What’s next: You need to discern the effectiveness of your communication and likely implement Smart Brevity into your communication toolbelt.
[Grateful to my friend Ike whose use of Smart Brevity pushed me toward reading and reviewing this book :)]
Why it matters: We live in the most information-saturated era of human history with little understanding of how to impart it.
- Mark Twain once said, “I didn't have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one.”
The big picture: Smart Brevity provides tools to improve your communication.
- Smart Brevity improves communication at home and the workplace.
- Smart Brevity improves every means of communication.
What’s next: You need to discern the effectiveness of your communication and likely implement Smart Brevity into your communication toolbelt.
[Grateful to my friend Ike whose use of Smart Brevity pushed me toward reading and reviewing this book :)]
April 5, 2024
Can this please be required reading for the corporate world? True to the title it is brief but impactful.
March 5, 2023
Fast read, valuable examples, and actionable information. Highly recommend!
November 6, 2023
Great book for those looking for tips on how to write great newsletters, emails, or anything else that benefits from being shorter and more engaging.
January 22, 2023
This is a short book (of course), and it’s about how to write in an attention-grabbing, impactful way while also keeping it short. This was written by the founders of Axios, and I loved it. I was already familiar with a lot of the writing strategies they discuss in this because I’ve worked in content marketing for years now, but there were some great refreshers.
If you’re long-winded like myself or struggle to get through to people in this digital age, definitely grab this book.
If you’re long-winded like myself or struggle to get through to people in this digital age, definitely grab this book.
February 8, 2023
Lots of practical, actionable advice in here. Sort of like "The Elements of Style for the Very Online". I imagine I'll be using this somewhat like a writing coach every time I need to write something important.
That said, it could have been even shorter if it didn't do a thing that business books often do (and which very much annoys me): Spend the first third of the book trying to convince me to read the book I am already reading! It ends up feeling like marketing filler and directly violates a big piece of their advice: Get to the point immediately and don't repeat yourself.
That said, it could have been even shorter if it didn't do a thing that business books often do (and which very much annoys me): Spend the first third of the book trying to convince me to read the book I am already reading! It ends up feeling like marketing filler and directly violates a big piece of their advice: Get to the point immediately and don't repeat yourself.
August 5, 2024
Some notes:
- Bullet points seemingly deployed at random
- Espouses brevity, but uses 5+ item lists constantly
- Sales pitch "hidden" in a book, complete with testimonials and URL to product page dropped in regularly
- Excited for my next Little Free Library trade-in without any sense of loss on my part, but can rest easy knowing that lots of people in this area will absolutely love this. Win-win!
- Bullet points seemingly deployed at random
- Espouses brevity, but uses 5+ item lists constantly
- Sales pitch "hidden" in a book, complete with testimonials and URL to product page dropped in regularly
- Excited for my next Little Free Library trade-in without any sense of loss on my part, but can rest easy knowing that lots of people in this area will absolutely love this. Win-win!
October 8, 2022
Some very good points and ideas to ponder here but it reads like an Axios commercial. While not a bad idea when the authors are also owners it just takes away from the main point after a bit. If you write any at all this is worth the read.
October 2, 2022
I read this in an afternoon. Anyone working in communications or leading a team should read it as it provides practical tips to be a more effective communicator that serves your audience well.
March 25, 2024
There are important nuggets of wisdom in here, but nothing that I didn’t already learn in my corporate communications class in university: keep things simple, clear, concise, and write from an “audience-first” perspective. The examples in here are helpful, but this book mostly reads as an ad for Axios and AxiosHQ more than anything else.
February 2, 2023
i live in the world of words & communication. this book is both challenging & accessible. it would be an overstatement to say i “needed” it but it will certainly help my writing & preaching & podcasting
🚨am i doing this right🚨
🚨am i doing this right🚨
June 26, 2024
A decent enough book with some useful tips for business writing. It basically boils down to cutting down the word count, using simple words and explaining why your message matters.
The authors spruik their writing business a bit too much which can become annoying sometimes.
The authors spruik their writing business a bit too much which can become annoying sometimes.
December 31, 2022
Worth reading, with lots of good advice to get your point across in the workplace. I draw the line at their recommendation to use this for personal communication in addition to business! Felt a little salesy in the end (to buy their software tools), but they offer plenty to experiment with.
April 12, 2024
Excellent book with iron clad process for making your personal and professional writing better. I read Axios everyday and it's the best format I've seen in years.
September 12, 2023
Quick read for a short flight. I feel inspired to improve communication among my team and my organization. Less (words) is more! Newsletters rule the world! What are your axioms?
April 4, 2024
Game changer. Read this for work and it has already completely transformed the way I communicate via email, in meetings, and in presentations.
Ironically, though, it could have been half the length. :)
Ironically, though, it could have been half the length. :)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 770 reviews