I’m not usually one for sappy holiday greetings.
I don’t send out Christmas cards, I barely celebrate Christmas day at all, and it’s rare I actually make it to midnight on any given New Years Eve.
But today, on January 1st of 2010, I feel compelled to send out thanks to everyone who reads this blog, everyone who supports my freelance business, and most of all, every one of my clients. It means a lot to me to hang my shingle, and make a living doing what I like to do, all on my own. You all are what makes it possible.
It’s been a very good 2009, and I’m excited for a great 2010 as well. This year will see me move away from a strict freelance model, and into a larger, but still self-owned corporate structure (much more on that in a few days), and will see me continue to try and serve the great folks I work with, with kickin’ copy.
So, as always, thanks for reading, and employing, for all of 2009. It means a lot. Now stay tuned for all that 2010 has to offer.
I’ve been asked to write more whitepapers for my clients recently. And because they’ve been on my docket, and on my mind, I’ve developed a couple helpful points to pass along. Hopefully, these tips will help you write better whitepapers.
To start, it’s no mystery why my clients are attracted to the idea of creating whitepapers. Like blogs, and like social media profiles, these whitepapers are an opportunity to showcase both the personality and reputability of a company… helping you build your brand, and maintain top-of-mind awareness among potential clients. Additionally, whitepapers, as opposed to blogs or social media, are traditionally more formal and academic in nature, which may lend them more toward a particular kind of company, or a particular kind of company initiative.
Here are three things to keep in mind while writing your own whitepapers:
1. Have something to say. Whitepapers traditionally are used to give a quick summation of research, and/or promote a specific and well-tested idea. While herein lies the strength of whitepapers — the credibility they can lend to the author — there’s a also a risk to those who try to fake it. Save yourself the effort of writing, if you don’t have something to write about, or even worse, if you don’t know what you’re writing about. Be kind to your readers, and have something to say. Then say it.
2. Say it succinctly. While some whitepapers can be long, up to 50 pages in length, I urge you to be succinct. Whitepapers are the medium to communicate your brand through authority, but they’re not the place to brag. Say what you came to say, succinctly if not plainly, and get out. Just like this paragraph.
3. Don’t be intimidated. Whitepapers can be intimidating to write, if for no other reason than they usually remind us of those dreaded college paper-projects. In reality, the worst thing you can do for a whitepaper is to try and revisit those days, fretting about page limits, proper attribution formats, and quoting the “readings.” Instead, write as a knowledgable professional, confident in your subject matter (you have something to say, right?), and don’t be intimidated by the format or feel. At the end of the day, it’s still writing… and the best writing still approximates simple, one-on-one conversation.
The last thing I have to say, though it’s outside my expertise, is to ensure that your writing goes within a functional and fitting design. Content is king, when it comes to whitepapers, but format matters too. Don’t feel the need to go over the top, by any means, but spend some time here at least.
And I think that’s it. follow these three guidelines, put your writing within a functional and fitting design, and you’ll have yourself an authoritative and ultimately effective whitepaper.
The grammar posts I write here seem to be the most popular among them all, and people seem to like the casual, use-based (instead of rules-based) approach I use for things like ellipses and parentheses. However, grammatical notations aren’t the only part of our language with open-to-interpretation subtleties. Individual words in fact, despite sometimes rigid definitions, have the same type of depth and value. Oftentimes, there’s more to a given word than meets the eye, and also more refined uses you can reserve for such a word.
With this in mind, I’m going to start writing posts about the specific usages of specific words. I originally wanted to call it “word of the day,” but it’s unrealistic that I’ll doing this on a regular basis. So instead, I’m going call it “word of the post.” One word each time. And today’s word is…
Amenable is a funny word. Most regard it as a synonym for agreeable. Yeah, I’m up for that. I’m down with that. Sounds good to me. However, the definition tells a slightly different story:
What’s interesting to me is that rather then just meaning agreeable, amenable takes on a real submissive tone. Ready to yield. Ready to be tested, or tried. Open to Influence. Servant-like. It seems to me that the word almost has venom in it, and a certain sharpness that’s unique. As dull as agreeable sounds, amenable is cutting.
Now, I’m not advocating you going off to use amenable to make people your servant. That would just make you a dick. Instead, reserve the word for the situations where it’s warranted, and where 
you want its sharp effect. Remember, a screenplay character who is agreeable to going to get ice cream is way different then one that’s amenable to getting shifted out of their office for a lazier worker.
YOUR INPUT: Does anyone have a different take on the word than me, or does anyone have anything to add? Is anyone going to take up the challenge to write AMENABLE into a sentence this week?
