What's in a Swale brief
A Swale brief is a plan for one piece of content: what to write, why it should work and the evidence behind it. It gives you the angle, a hook, title options, an outline and a confidence score. Think of it as a decision with the homework attached.
What is a content brief?
A content brief is the plan a writer works from: the topic, the angle, who it's for and the outline. A Swale brief adds the research behind the idea and a score for how much evidence supports it.
Inside a Swale brief
| Part | What you get |
|---|---|
| The angle | What to write and why it should work |
| Hook | A first line to open with |
| Title options | A short list of titles, not one guess |
| Outline | The beats of the piece, start to finish |
| Visual idea | A written idea for the thumbnail or cover. Swale doesn't make images. |
| Post copy | Draft post text, on X briefs |
| Confidence score | How much evidence sits behind the idea, with its reasons |
| Sources | The saved evidence behind the brief, on a paid plan |
Briefs are shaped for YouTube or X, so a few parts depend on where you'll publish: YouTube briefs carry a thumbnail idea, X briefs a cover idea and post copy.
What does the confidence score mean?
The confidence score measures how much evidence supports an idea, not how the post will perform. It has three parts, each shown on the brief:
- Coverage: how much evidence backs it
- Diversity: how many kinds of sources
- Completeness: how fully Swale could assess it
Swale keeps the run, the evidence and the scoring version behind every score.
Where does the evidence in a brief come from?
From the research run behind it: public YouTube videos, X posts and pages from your website, sampled within fixed limits (see How Swale works). On a paid plan you can open the saved sources behind any brief, and past briefs stay in your account.
How do you go from a brief to a finished post?
Attach a story to the brief, from your story bank or a new voice interview (beta). Then ask Swale for a draft: an article, an X thread, a LinkedIn post or a short video script (beta). Review it, edit it and post it yourself. Newsletter articles can go straight into beehiiv as drafts (beta).
Are Swale briefs for video or for written posts?
Both. Each brief is shaped for YouTube or X, and from any brief with your story attached, Swale can write an article, an X thread, a LinkedIn post or a short video script (beta). LinkedIn is a format Swale writes, not a source it researches.
Can you see a real Swale brief?
The first real brief we show here will be one of our own, dated, next to the post it became. Until then, the quickest way to see one is on your own business.
See a brief for your own business.
Try Swale free →Start free. Story interviews, drafts and beehiiv publishing come with a paid plan.