A Cautionary Tale: The Lonely “White Paper”
By Michael StelznerThis is a story of solitude.
In a well-lit cubicle, somewhere inside a big business, a project was assigned.
Over a period of months, words were documented, erased and refined until…
A white paper was born.
The paper was the pride of its creator.
It was long, filled with letters and called, “Any Company’s Acme Widget, Model B White Paper.”
The corporate hope for a bright future was riding on the paper.
However, there was one serious problem—no one was reading it.
Despite the glorious content inside this white paper (and it’s amazing call to action), it was collecting digital dust.
The paper was never to be seen by anyone—except the occasional spam bot.
Even the search engines—the friends of all content—did not seem to care.
Why such a lonely destiny?
It turned out this white paper shared a similar fate with literally thousands of others.
It never gave anyone a reason to look or motivation to care.
Its fate was determined by the name it was assigned at birth.
It patiently awaits a day when it can live its dream.
Until that day, rest well white paper.
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April 5th, 2007 at 6:18 am
I used to write my own poetry, but never showed anyone.
Lone gone are those days, along with any notebooks I used to keep.
*a moment of thought*
April 5th, 2007 at 6:25 am
Hey David - I might classify this more along the lines of a story than poetry. You are very creative. How about some creative writing? - Mike
April 5th, 2007 at 7:43 am
I was getting all teary there for a minute; I thought you’d broken into my diary and had excerpted entries describing my early attempts at dating…
April 5th, 2007 at 8:05 am
Tom - That might be called, “You Can’t Find a Date in a Boat.”
For those of you who do not know it, Tom likes fishing.
Mike
April 6th, 2007 at 6:46 am
You made me cry. However, what steps have to be taken each time a whitepaper is born to avoid such fate?
-publication on company’s website (obviously)
-submission to knowlegestorm and such
-viral marketing through blogs?
have i missed something?
April 6th, 2007 at 6:53 am
Alexey;
Well, most importantly… pick a good title.
If the title is not engaging, no one has a reason to read.
Read this post called “Banish the Selfish Title.” http://www.writingwhitepapers.com/blog/2007/01/29/banish-the-selfish-title/
Mike