The Hard Facts about EditingWritten by Jennifer Minar
The Hard Facts about Editing by Jennifer Minar Whether you're interviewing for a new job, trying to woo a love interest on a first date, selling your work on Internet, or submitting a query to an editor, you can never make a second first impression. It's true. It's just one of life's hard facts. To sell your article, novel, product, or yourself, you need to work on that very critical first impression--and a surefire way to make a bad impression is to present poorly edited work. All hours of researching, outlining, and writing are squandered if final version of your manuscript is not tightly written and error-free. How can you possibly convince an editor, agent, or customer that you can produce a great product when there are errors in your queries, on your web site, or in your marketing materials? I don't know about you, but I lose trust in what I'm reading once I've seen more than one error. In some cases (e.g., a web site for an editing service) even that one error is enough. I think it's careless and it leads me to wonder if creator is as careless with quality of his products or services. Okay, now that we've made it clear that you will be judged harshly by your errors, let's work on ways to error-proof your work. Editing Cures More than Typos. Proper editing cures not only typographical errors, but also inconsistent statements, ambiguities, poorly written sentences, and weak word choices. Appropriate attention to these aspects of writing make all difference between a mediocre piece of work and an excellent one. Spelling and Grammar Checks. Standard spelling and grammar checks are available to you, so use them! Remember, however, they won't catch everything. Print Your Work. Print a copy of your manuscript and whip out red pen. Generally, you will find mistakes you weren't able to detect when reading on monitor. Let It Simmer. Put your manuscript away for a period of time so that you can look at it later with fresh eyes. After established time period, print another copy of your work and again, pull out red pen. Tighten your sentences, examine your word choices, and hunt down any errors you couldn't find before. I find this step to be invaluable!
| | How Can a White Paper Support Sales and Marketing?Written by Christine Taylor
How Can a White Paper Support Sales and Marketing?A white paper supports PR, marketing and sales because it works for all levels of decision makers. Engineers and executives may not be too impressed by brochures, but they are impressed by well-written white papers. (The same thing goes for trade journal articles – more about that in a subsequent piece.) Good white papers sell products because they pack a lot of useful information into a clear and readable structure. Warning -- don’t take any old brochure or product brief, print it on 8-1/2x11" paper and call it a white paper. Decision-makers hate that, don’t let this be you! Good marketing white papers contain both technical and marketing sections in a balanced format, and then throw in some other great stuff. A good white paper may start with an executive summary – my general rule is a 5+ page paper needs one – but it will follow same structure as below, abbreviated to one page. White papers should include: 1)Throw down challenge glove. Describe pain prospect is experiencing. (That you can help with, anyway!) Describe problem from their standpoint, and be sure you know what that problem is. 2)Talk about how your technology will solve their problem. Bore in on technology behind product and how it will make their lives easier. Be sure to include some technical detail for engineers and technology journalists who are sure to read it. (And who are sure to be annoyed if it lacks detail.) Many marketing white papers fail because they don’t include technical sections, usually due to one of two reasons: a)Extreme paranoia regarding proprietary knowledge. Shoot, no one is asking you to include blueprints. But if you won’t tell your customers what you’re selling because you’re afraid your competitors will find out, I suggest that you are not ready for marketplace. b)Uncertain writer. If writer doesn’t know background technology, they can’t write about it. Find an experienced technology writer and give them information they need. (If necessary, professionals will understand need for signing an NDA. Just don’t try to get them to dump their other clients.)
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