Smart Brevity

The Power of Saying More with Less

By: Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, Roy Schwartz

Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain

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. In this revised and updated edition, 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 Brevity​: 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.

Critic reviews

A Wall Street Journal and USA Today national bestseller!

“Smart... [it offers] ways to communicate in a short-attention-span world."
—The New York Times' DealBook

"A slick, engaging and…laudable effort to help communicators reach through the verbal haze and grab readers by the lapels."
—The Wall Street Journal

“The writing of Smart Brevity is refreshingly taut and punchy; most of the sentences are finely crafted, short, and to the point, and rip across the page.”
—The New Republic

"The Axios founders’ new book makes the case for condensed communication—in an increasingly complex world."
—The New Yorker

Infomercial teaches writing

1 big thing:
Journalists repackage how to communicate with impactful directness.

Why it matters:
it can help you write if you’re not already familiar with the style. The chapters and examples get you into the rhythms easily.👍

Yes, but:
All examples and case studies are about how their AI saved the day for their client company and sending you to their website. This makes the whole book feel like an infomercial. 😬

Bottom line:
It’s not terrible. Following the recommendations will work. If you have a minimum of 12k laying around, their miraculous AI will make you a copywriting god.🎉

Longer than necessary

Don't get me wrong - this book makes a valuable point. Brevity is a valuable skill (and one I personally struggle with). And this book is half the length of a typical non-fiction book, many of which are guilty of padding a page's worth of useful information into hundreds of published pages.

But there isn't much to it. Basically, rewrite what you write and figure out how you can make it as short as possible without being rude - and most of us have to put focused effort into doing this. Heck, a good chunk of the beginning of the book sounds like an Internet marketer's webinar, trying to convince the listener that the product is awesome, so they should buy now.

The book does get a little more detailed, but it all boils down to the same thing: make it shorter. Edit it down. Put the most important information up first. Think of how busy you are, how you skim, looking for relevant information. Then write in a way that's useful to skimmers like you.

It IS a useful book, mind you. It just isn't a complicated one.

Life altering

Wish I had read years ago. Upped my status in my version of the game of life.

Get to the point

Great guidance for how to communicate effectively without extra fluff. Be brief but informative. Make your words matter so people want to read.

Not audiobook material

Idk what could have been done to improve that but this just is not helpful in audiobook format. I’m a pretty avid non-fiction personal and professional development connoisseur - but I don’t believe you could effectively comprehend or enact this content after listening