Comments on: Tips on Starting Out With White Paper Writing

By: Shawn - Construction Scheduling Software

Shawn - Construction Scheduling Software — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 22:49:37 +0000

I find it incredibly hard to write about something I don’t know about–even if I research it for some time before writing. If it is a subject I know something about, I write 4 times faster and the writing is far superior.

You’d be surprised about how many things you know about that you can write about. At first, you just think of maybe your line of work and a few hobbies. But there are all kinds of subjects you might be missing. If you are in to non-fiction books, your last book can give you enough information for a writing project.

By: Daniel Escasa

Daniel Escasa — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 13:53:54 +0000

My own take on this is: You spend a lot of effort on the most important part of the white paper — the lead. I suppose you could give that out as a sample?

By: Francis

Francis — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 22:29:31 +0000

Mike could make a white paper on freelancing or the benefits of hiring a freelancer. Since he’s an experienced freelancer already, such a white paper is not ‘mock up’ anymore

By: The Word Wrangler

The Word Wrangler — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 03:12:05 +0000

Good points, Graham. Thanks.

By: Graham Strong

Graham Strong — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 19:45:04 +0000

Ah, okay, I missed that!

That is not something I would recommend. The company may not appreciate you leveraging their name and/or putting their name on a piece of published work they have not approved. (And yes, when you put it on your website or offer it for download, you have “published” it, in my mind, whereas a student paper is not.)

At the very most, do a favour for a client or friend. I also post other writing samples that I have so that although I am new to white paper writing, at least I can show that I have years of corporate copywriting behind me.

~Graham

By: Michael Stelzner

Michael Stelzner — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 18:28:32 +0000

Mike - That was my presumption when I wrote my response. - Mike

By: The Word Wrangler

The Word Wrangler — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 18:16:02 +0000

Thanks for the answer Mike. What I meant by a mock white paper is picking a company’s product or service, researching it and then writing the white paper. Some design students do this while in school. Their instructors might tell them to pick a company or product and then create an eye-catching ad around it. Am I explaining this correctly?

By: Shane

Shane — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 08:20:17 +0000

I think this post is exactly what I need…A friend of mine, suggest me to start lerning how to write. He said that blogging is first writting, second the computer code…He also said to me “start with your hobby or something you like”…Anyway, thank you for sharing.

By: Graham Strong

Graham Strong — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 05:23:21 +0000

You can write a white paper yourself to sell your own services without being worried that it is “only a mock up”. Mike (Stelzner) has done this himself, and apparently generated great response. By selling your own services in a white paper, you can show your abilities AND take advantage of the white paper as your own marketing tool.

~Graham

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:46:23 +0000

I’m not certain what the Mike had in mind as a mock white paper. I agree that it is a rather significant undertaking to throw out there unless he is a speed demon of type and thought.

But, I am not so sure that writing about kites or hobbies is the answer either.

(I confess that I haven’t read your book. But I did sign up for the newsletter poked around on your past posts some.)

My thinking is that a sample whitepaper for Mke, the guest, should be somewhat targeted to the client prospect. Also the whitepaper does not have to be huge, in fact I would recommend keeping it 10 pages or less.

I do like the idea of doing one for free and making the whitepaper even shorter. The client should be able to get a pretty good flavor of Mike’s style.

Just my 2 cents worth