2 builders who never spoke to each other · contested
Read it aloud and cut it in half
Run a loop before publishing: read the draft out loud, delete every sentence that feels unnecessary, read it again, and restore a line only if losing it genuinely cost context. Edit by asking whether removing a part would hurt rather than whether it adds, and use hard length limits per format as a creative aid rather than a constraint. Padding pushes readers away from the ask.
Where this splits
Most members cut hard before publishing, while Jakob Greenfeld argues each editing pass rounds off the passages that made the piece worth reading and publishes his unedited.
side 01 · 6 claims
Cut the draft hard before you publish it
Corey Haines · Greg Kogan · Harry Dry · Katelyn Bourgoin
- 1Before publishing, cut your copy to half its length with this loop: read it out loud, delete every sentence that feels unnecessary, read it again, and only restore a deleted line if removing it genuinely lost context.
- 2Edit by asking whether removing a part would hurt anything, rather than whether it adds anything, and prune until only the essential remains.
- 3Force clarity with hard length limits on each format - a 30-second pitch, a 300-word article, a 15-word marketing email - and treat the constraint as a creative aid.
- 4Edit titles by deletion; treat every word you can remove as money earned.
- 5Read the draft out loud to your partner at home and rewrite whatever makes them wince.
side 02 · 2 claims
Publish unedited, every pass rounds off what mattered
Jakob Greenfeld
- 1Publish the piece unedited, because every editing pass rounds off the corners and the passages you hesitate over are the ones that make it worth reading.
- 2Start writing without knowing where the piece will end up, since a reader can see the shape of a carefully mapped out argument coming and there is nothing left to surprise them.
What it returned
- 30
30 seconds, 300 words, 15 words.
Bourgoin's position is that padding actively pushes readers away from the call to action, and that saying less usually communicates more.
He pairs Grammarly, which is free as a browser extension, with the Hemingway Editor for making copy easier to read.
His essays are single-sitting journal entries with no outline, notes, draft or edit, a habit he took from the exercise Matthew Dicks calls Crash & Burn in Storyworthy.
Sources
- SaaS Marketing Tools | Corey HainesCorey Haines · corey.co · Copywriting · 2018-09-01
- Bikeshedding - Why We Buy 🧠Katelyn Bourgoin · customercamp.co · Try to tell your story in half the time · undated
- 🧠 Write raw – Jakob GreenfeldJakob Greenfeld · jakobgreenfeld.com · 🧠 Write raw · 2021-05-23 · dissenting
- My guide to conversational copywritingHarry Dry · Marketing Examples · 14/ Read it aloud at the kitchen table · undated
- 17 tips for great copywritingHarry Dry · Marketing Examples · 1) Write with your eraser · undated
- Clarity is UnderratedGreg Kogan · gkogan.co · How to Be More Clear · 2017-12-03
the second source
Three plays a week, for the phase you are in
No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.
More in copy
- Keep the personality that drives some people off7 unconnected
- Interview buyers and write the page in their sentences6 unconnected
- Re-aim one durable claim at today's worry5 unconnected
- Answer the predictable objection with a specific4 unconnected
- Say the thing only you could have said4 unconnected
- Tighten the headline until only your segment fits4 unconnected