Comments on: Before You Start Your White Paper Project, Ask These Questions (Part 4 of 4)

By: famous laptop batteries

famous laptop batteries — Tue, 04 May 2010 04:41:38 +0000

good article.
I will do it before start my paper project

By: John White

John White — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:28:01 +0000

Jun: Nobody knows all of the factors from the start. Live and learn.

By: John White

John White — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:25:21 +0000

Andy: It's an important detail to work out early on. Some of us are nimble enough in InDesign and Quark Xpress to not require outside talent, but whether we lay it out ourselves or subcontract it, it's separate work.

By: John White

John White — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:22:53 +0000

Will: Yes. Our hurdle is to get the hiring manager to see it the way we do. S/He is in the middle between our writing talent and the exec's technical expertise.

By: John White

John White — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:20:24 +0000

Right. I suspect I'm not the only “technical marketing communications writer” who gets asked, “Oh, so you write user manuals?”

Marketing communications writers concern themselves with the product BEFORE it has been sold; technical writers concern themselves with the product AFTER it has been sold.

The difference lies in the element of persuasion.

By: John White

John White — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:16:42 +0000

Yes, and if you're not on the same page, then you had better be ready to do a lot of rework.

By: junblumongsod

junblumongsod — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 21:39:27 +0000

This article is very useful for some writer like me, it is true that is not very easy being a writer it is most important that you know certain factors before you start on writing about something. This is in which to make your work effective. Yes and i agree that before you go on hiring a writer you should really see to it that both sides are in the same understanding. Nicely Done! travelpackages.com

By: andymorgann

andymorgann — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 16:52:10 +0000

A very interesting post, what I like the most is the content part where you have mentioned that do you want the content to stand alone or you want it with layout. Mostly people ignore the fact the layout also plays a vital role. But again content and layout depends upon the nature of white paper you are writing.

By: Will Kenny

Will Kenny — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 12:15:37 +0000

“if you can’t have both, buy skill and let the writer learn your industry.” Exactly, but the challenge in getting your team to understand this is that the decision makers are more comfortable talking about data and facts and features than they are about writing and communication, so they lean toward hiring (redundant) knowledge. Keep faith in your original decision that you needed complementary skills to get the results you desire, something that is easily forgotten when you meet the first writer candidate who talks your talk very well . . . but not better than you do, which is what you are really after.

(And thanks for the nod!)

By: Mark McClure

Mark McClure — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 02:08:55 +0000

The final sentence in John's 'technical writers' post (see note 2 above) is worth memorizing:

“When hiring a white paper writer remember to check that the writer knows the difference.”