Writing for Busy Readers (cit. Todd Rogers)

I recently listened to the “Think Fast, Talk Smart” podcast (one of my favorites), where Stanford Business School Professor Matt Abrahams interviewed Professor Todd Rogers from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Here’s the key point from Todd Rogers:

“The best communicators are not the ones who are the most eloquent or intelligent. They are the best at understanding their audience and tailoring their message to that audience.”

In other words, write with the reader in mind (not yourself). This could easily be called “selfless writing” (as opposed to selfish writing, where you want people who read your work to admire you for your smartness). A lot of academic writing is like this: using big words, excessive sentences, and overly complex syntax.

I love intellectual scholarship. I also love the art of writing. However, Professor Rogers makes a good point: Do I want to write to sound intelligence or to make an impact on my readers?

It is time for authors to adopt a reader-centric mindset in their writing style. What best serves your readers? What makes it easy for them to access your ideas quickly and efficiently? How can you approach your next writing project with more consideration for how the reader will interact with you?

Todd Rogers says:

“…writing well is very different from writing effectively. And we should focus on how we write effectively. And that means we should write in a way that reflects how people actually read. And in the world, busy people are just constantly skimming. No one cares about our writings as much as we do.”

The short of it is that, as authors, we are not in a writing contest. We should no longer be writing with the hope of getting an “A” or being voted “best writer.” While accolades are nice, is that really why you’re writing? Is it not to increase your influence, shape how other people think, and interact with your ideas?

Another key point is that less is more. Too many books today are written for length instead of brevity. The hard choice, Todd says, is to “omit useful but not necessary words.” The trade-off between saying everything you want to is that you lose attention and, hence, connection with your readers. If you can’t connect, you can’t impact or influence.

I'll end this post here in honor of the adage that less is more. But there is much more to come on this subject moving forward.

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