Hey Reader,

“Editing isn’t a cutting exercise — it’s a value-adding exercise.”

👆This sentence is a big idea.

Big, foundational ideas often have a point of view.

Points of views are claims.

This means you need to back them up if you want people to believe and agree with you.

So, how can I back up this big idea?

That involves asking myself questions:

1. What do people normally believe is true about editing?
2. Why do I believe this big idea to be true, instead?
3. What’s at stake if people follow common advice instead of my POV?
4. What will happen if they do accept my POV and change their mindset?

(There are tons more questions I can ask myself, but that’ll do for now.)

Here are my answers:

1. People normally believe editing involves only cutting. Why? Because conventional advice preaches this.
2. Editing involves cutting, adding, moving, and reshaping. Conventional advice skims the surface because what editing actually involves is harder to explain.
3. If you only follow common advice, you’ll likely never rise to your writing potential (if that’s your desire).
4. If you dare to explore what editing really is, you’ll unlock a level of writing you didn’t realize was possible.

Cool.

Now, let’s pull out the core ideas from these answers & turn them into social post ideas:

1. People normally believe editing involves only cutting. Here’s why (and what’s wrong with it).
2. Editing is more than cutting. It’s cutting, adding, moving and reshaping. Let me show you what I mean.
3. Conventional editing advice skims the surface because what editing actually involves is harder to explain. Good thing I like explaining hard things.
4. If you only follow common advice, you’ll likely never rise to your writing potential (if that’s your desire). The problem? Good advice is hard to find.
5. Here’s what separates good writers from great writers. (Hint: it has to do with editing.)
6. There are 3 levels of writers. Decent. Good. Great. Very few reach the top level. Curious how to do it?
7. I would’ve never become a great writer if I didn’t learn this one skill:
8. Pay attention to who gives popular editing advice on social. Is it editors or influencers?
9. Even when you cut words from your draft, you’re adding value. This is why editing is always a value-adding exercise.

Pretty cool, huh?

Now, imagine how many big ideas you have in a 1000-word draft.

(And think of all the small details you use to back them up.)

Can you start to see how you can get post ideas from it?

This barelyyyy scratches the surface.

I’d love to show you more.

In my new course, Long to Short, I’ll walk you through exactly how to get dozens (up to hundreds!) of social post ideas from your long-form content.

And how to pick the right social post format for each idea.

​Register your interest here.​

Drops in a few days...

Erica

PS: Hooked on Writing Hooks and Content Editing 101 will be on sale again when Long to Short comes out. So, if you missed them, you don't have to wait much longer.