Jul
Bertrand Russell, especially in his book, Why I Write, offers great advice on how to move from wordy, verbose, lengthy, purple prose to shorter text without losing any meaning. Here’s the three step formula he provides: Never use a long word if a short word will do. If you want to make a statement with […]
Jul
Q: Where can I find work as a white paper writer? Getting your first project is the hardest. Once you’ve got this under your belt, it becomes easier. I’d suggest the following: Setup a 10 page website. Write about the benefits, sales opportunities, branding development and web traffic that can be made from well written, […]
Rule #1! You can’t describe what you don’t understand. We agree? You can try and fudge it, but the people reviewing the document will see through it. I will. You would. Maybe you can try and cheat by cobbling together material that others have written, but it doesn’t work. Anyway, that’s not writing. It’s just […]
Jun
What are the three documents most potential customers wants to read? I’d say it’s white papers, case studies, and product brochures. The first sets the scene, the second shows you how it works, and the third… this tells you how and why it works. Of the three, product brochures are the least sexy. But they’re […]
Jun
What happens the moment you hear, ‘I’m going to be brutally honest with you’? I tend to filter out the honest part and tense up, wondering about the brutal part. You the same? You sense what’s coming next. It doesn’t feel good. We’re ‘brutally honest’ when someone annoys us but we can’t say it to their […]
Why aren’t you using video to create more content? I took this video when heading to a museum in a Beijing taxi. It won’t win any academy awards but it has a certain charm. For me, shooting videos just makes sense. You can always find five minutes to flip open your phone and press Record. You […]
May
How do you track Change Management tasks? Here’s how I do it using Excel. If you look at a large project as many small tasks chained together, it’s easier to start. Learn more about these excel Change Management templates here We often get stuck with large projects because we can’t find the right place to […]
May
White paper writing: how much can I charge? There are three ways to get paid to write white papers. Daily Rate Agree on a fixed daily rate and the number of days to write the document. If you’re new to the industry and trying to build your portfolio, this is the simplest way to go. […]
The Executive Summary is the sales pitch for your Business Plan. Follow these guidelines to capture the reader’s attention and encourage them to learn more about your product.
May
Summary: Create a preface for technical documents to describe the scope, contents, and materials referenced in the main document. Does a document need a preface? Not always. Short documents are fine without one. However, longer documents, especially those that have changed over releases will benefit from a preface. From one angle, the purpose of the preface is to set […]
