One of the best exercises you can do as a copywriter is synthesize longer writing into shorter writing. 

Because — and this is almost always true — if you can rewrite something to say the same thing in fewer words, you’ve made the work better.

Actually, a great place to practice is Wikipedia…

Try this:

Rewrite a Wikipedia paragraph to a third of its original length (e.g., edit ~150 words down to ~50 words) without sacrificing the meaning.

It’s an ultra-effective exercise because concision is already baked into Wikipedia’s publication rules, which state: 

“Articles should use only necessary words. This does not mean using fewer words is always better; rather, when considering equivalent expressions, choose the more concise.”

In other words, the platform already has a strict no-fluff policy — and that’s what makes this exercise so good.

Editing an already-concise paragraph for brevity demands hypersensitivity to syntax, to sentence structure, to the weight of each word.

It puts your ‘Editor Brain’ into overdrive, forcing a mindset so unnatural, you’ll walk away from every exercise a markedly more concise writer.

Need an example? 

Here’s a paragraph I synthesized from HubSpot’s Wikipedia page:

Try it.

Do it once a day, five days a week for a month, and your writing will drastically improve.

Do it once a day, five days a week for a year, and the quality of your writing will surpass that of most professional copywriters.

LEARN TO PERSUADE

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Hey there, thanks for reading. :)

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Enjoy!

Eddie Shleyner
VeryGoodCopy, founder

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