Write Less. Accomplish More.

“A successful book is not made of what is in it, but what is left out of it.” So said Mark Twain, one of my favorite writers.

His point was that although brevity and concision are much harder to achieve in writing, ultimately it will tell your story more successfully. That’s right. Tell your story more successfully.

The more substance you can pack into fewer words, the more quickly you will get your readers to take action, whether its feeling something, or doing something. Or both.

It’s much harder to write less than to write more. It’s one thing to write your product or company’s mission statement or value prop in 5 sentences. Now try to get that down to a tweet. 140 characters. But you must. In this day of 5 second attention spans (and even, apparently, back when Mark Twain was writing) if you can’t simplify your message, you’ll lose your readers’ attention quickly. And they’ll move on to read someone else’s message.

It’s one of the things I really love about Twitter. As a social media marketer, it prompts me everyday to write less and say more.

Imagine the utility of being able to shout to your neighbor over the fence, what your company does, or what you do, or what your product does, in one or two concise sentences. That neighbor might turn out to be the CEO who hires you next, or an investor who backs your idea.

You get the point. Now go do it. Write less. Do more.

And for a little help, read David Ogilvy’s 10 Tips on Writing. And then go break open a fortune cookie and see what’s inside.