Cut the Fluff is a weekly newsletter that will help you become a more confident writer & editor. If this was sent to you, subscribe here so you don't miss the next lesson.

Hey Reader,

I held the knife up to the light.

A drop of blood slid to the edge and threatened to jump.

"Do you see it now?!" I screamed.

"I'm bleeding FOR YOU!"

😅 This, my friends, is a purposeful overexaggeration.

But the premise behind it?

Oh, that's very, very real.

(Disclaimer: No writers were harmed in the fictional experience above.)

You see, the other day, my friend John Bonini wrote a hook that caught my attention:

"Hmmm, what is John talking about here?"

I clicked "see more."

He went on to explain that our mutual friend, Nick Bennett, was struggling with his newsletter opening.

So, with his permission, John shared the feedback he gave to Nick, which looked like so:

I LOVE this feedback. I've given similar notes many, many times.

Naturally, I left a comment:

The Big Point: When you show your audience you've been where they are, they're more likely to be receptive to your point of view, argument, or solution.

It shows you respect them.

It shows you get them.

It shows you're not a "faux expert" as John put it.

Writers of all stripes love to talk about poking the pain. I do, too — it's one of my 7 "how to write a good hook" principles I dig into in Hooked on Writing Hooks.

But this conversation made me realize that people think "poke the pain" means only poke their (the audience's) pain.

"Everyone sucks at THING. Here's how to suck less."

Another powerful way to "poke the pain" is to poke your pain.

One way to do this is in the example John gave to Nick above.

Get vulnerable. Admit something you're not good at and share a moment that helped you feel less alone with that discomfort.

Another way is to show how far you've come.

I do this all the time. It's actually my favorite way to lighten the mood when I'm teaching people how to write or edit.

The first time I did it publicly was in 2022, when I was just starting on LinkedIn.

I wrote a post making fun of how bad my writing was when I was a newbie in 2018.

I'd been writing on LinkedIn for less than a month, but this post got 11,940 impressions, 218 likes, 58 comments, and 5 reposts.

People appreciated the advice because it wasn't preachy. I got vulnerable. It was relatable. I know every writer feels shitty about their old writing, and I wanted to bring levity to the situation.

In my experience:

• Newbies are likelier to listen to people ahead of them when they don't feel talked down to.
• Peers are more likely to pay attention to people at their level when they don't feel like they're acting "above" them.
• Potential clients are more likely to pay attention to people who show impressive results.

A post like this ticks all three boxes.

I'm not saying you'll see the same results I did. The algo was a bit nicer back then 😅

But I do want to encourage you to bleed for your audience a bit wherever you write — on social, in your articles, in your newsletters, or on your landing pages.

As RuPaul said in Friday's episode of Drag Race (one of the best shows to stop overthinking and shut up your inner saboteur):

"In terms of marketing, in terms of show business, in terms of life — it’s revealing the soft underbelly that allows people to fall in love with you.”

Give it a try, and let me know how it goes!

Cheers,

Erica

"I don't wanna wait...for my writing to get betterrrrr..."

Check out my 3 courses that 1500+ people have taken, loved, and gotten meaningful results from:

1. Long to Short: Turn one long-form piece into a month's worth of posts. A step-by-step system to repurpose, remix, and remaster your best ideas.

2. Hooked on Writing Hooks: Turn your ideas into content that actually gets consumed. Learn to write scroll-stopping hooks on social without resorting to clickbait nonsense that feels inauthentic.

3. Content Editing 101. Kill decision fatigue and build confidence as a writer and editor. A look inside a professional editor's workflow & best practices. Packed with lessons, examples, and a roadmap so you can stop second-guessing your writing & editing decisions.

Each course is AI-powered 🪄

You can go through them manually or use AI to play, get it done faster, and test your new skills in real-time. My friend & prompt genius Rob Lennon wrote all the prompts and bots for the courses.

What'd you find most interesting about today's email? Reply and lemme know.

Erica Schneider

​​​

​

​