Writers and Editors

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Page Content • Copywriting, speechwriting, marketing,corporate and technical communications, training, and consulting
• Helpful links
• What's the difference between a technical writer and a technical communicator?
• Helpful books on e-learning, distance education, and online training

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Copywriting, speechwriting, marketing,
corporate and technical communications, training, and consulting
Here's the part of the website for people who think writing is a good way to make a lot of money (one that doesn't involve writing a bestselling book or movie). If you want to earn a freelance living doing corporate or technical writing or training, or providing e-Learning, you might start with books by a couple of writers who can explain the business end of things: Secrets of a Freelance Writer: How to Make $100,000 a Year or More by Bob Bly (now in its 3rd edition) and The Well-Fed Writer by Peter Bowerman. Be realistic about whether you are capable of doing this kind of writing, which ranges from technical writing to marketing copy — that is, whether you have the skills and whether you have the temperament for it. Personally, I am grateful to Bob Bly for letting me know years ago that I was undercharging for my services, but it takes time and experience to learn whether you are good enough to charge and earn the big bucks. Packaging seems to be important. "Independent consultant" may sound more professional than "freelance writer-editor-coach-teacher-whatever." However you get your foot in the door, the best way to succeed as a writing or editing consultant is to do a good job, so that word of mouth brings you new clients while the old ones help you pay the mortgage.

Writers tend to be introverts, happily alone with their computers, but if you are good at working with people you might consider training. If you can write a how-to manual and also play well with others, consider training, which pays well and can be satisfying. There are organizations that train trainers, including ASTD.

If you're good with technology and can think through the learning process (which is at least as important as knowing how to work the technology), you might want to investigate may want to check out Instructional Design and Learning (IDL). If you want to design programs for distance learning (eLearning), swap ideas with others in the field. On the STC's IDL "sig" (special interest group), members swap stories about their experiences with Lectora, FlashForm, Captivate, PowerPoint, ToolBook, and Authorware (for content creation, including simulations) and eLeap, MindFlash, and RapideL (as hosting solutions).

To create names for use in writing training manuals, mosey over to the Fiction department and check out sites that provide fake and random name generators.

Better User Experience with Storytelling (Part 1, Francisco Inchauste, Smashing Magazine). How user experience professionals and designers are using storytelling to create compelling experiences that build human connections. Read more about the UX Storytellers Project here. Then you will probably want to buy the book: Storytelling for User Experience: Crafting Stories for Better Design by Whitney Quesenbery and Kevin Brooks (foreword by Ginny Redish), about the power of storytelling to improve the user experience. Check it out a bit through Frequently Asked Questions.

Five Truths I've Learned in My Role as Writing Coach, one of several helpful entries on the blog
Writing Matters (by e-write's Leslie O'Flahavan and Marilynne Rudick). Others include: Customer Satisfaction Surveys: It's All in the Writing and Four Professional Ways to Close an E-Mail. This two-woman firm offers a good Web-writing course.

Policies and procedures. A key source of guidance on this specialty (emphasizing the systems thinking aspect of communications) is Raymond E. Urgo & Associates, whose articles, white papers, and presentations may be helpful, as well as Urgo's quarterly e-newsletter: The Policy & Procedures Authority . Past issues are available on the website.

PowerPoint. Edward R. Tufte, The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within ($7), and you can read a sample here of why understanding PowerPoint is particularly important with technical material: PowerPoint Does Rocket Science--and Better Techniques for Technical Reports (Tufte analyzes one incident of flawed PowerPoint, in a Boeing analysis of launch damage to the space shuttle Columbia, arguing that poor PowerPoint design led to grave misinterpretations of Columbia's vulnerability and to Columbia blowing up on re-entry). Go here for links to many more Tufte essays by the author of the classic The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (now in its second edition).

Secrets of a Freelance Writer:How to Make $100,000 a Year or More by Robert Bly (third edition), how to make the big bucks writing ads, annual reports, brochures, catalogs, newsletters, direct mail, Web pages, CD-ROMs, press releases, and other projects for corporations, small businesses, associations, nonprofit organizations, the government, and other commercial clients.

We Have Met the Enemy and He Is PowerPoint by Elisabeth Bumiller (NY Times 4-26-10). U.S. military spending too much time on a program some believe "stifles discussion, critical thinking and thoughtful decision-making," creating the illusion of understanding and control.

The Well-Fed Writer: Financial Self-Sufficiency as a Commercial Freelancer in Six Months or Less, by Peter Bowerman

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WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A TECHNICAL WRITER AND A TECHNICAL COMMUNICATOR?

The Society for Technical Communications is trying to get the Department of Labor to update its definition, which so far is here for what a technical communicator does:

"Develop and design instructional and informational tools needed to assure safe, appropriate, and effective use of science and technology, intellectual property, and manufactured products and services. Combine multimedia knowledge and strong communication skills with technical expertise to educate across the entire spectrum of users’ abilities, technical experience,
and visual and auditory capabilities."

According to Maurice Martin and Richard O'Sullivan, who wrote "The Case for 'Technical Communicator,' "Technical writing is static and one-way. Technical communication is dynamic and interactive." Check out their article, a PDF file:
http:/​/​www.stc.org/​PDF_Files/​caseTC.pdf

“Technical writers produce content for users," says STC's Larry Kunz. "Technical communicators manage content and relationships with users.”

Why does it matter? Guess who get paid more!

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Books on
E-learning, distance education, online training

Check out the eLearning Guild (a practice community for the design, development, and management of web-based educational or instructional content). The following books may also be helpful—especially the Clark & Meyer.
• e-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning by Ruth Clark and Richard E. Mayer (a solid research-based primer on how students learn and therefore how best to use technology)
• Michael Allen's Guide to E-Learning
• E-Learning by Design and Designing Web-Based Training: How to Teach Anyone Anything Anywhere Anytime , both by William Horton
• Creating Learning-Centered Courses for the World Wide Web by William B. Sanders (see especially good chapter on JavaScript for enabling student interactivity—e.g., with pop-up windows and brief quizzes)
• Instructional and Cognitive Impacts of Web-Based Education by Beverly Abbey
• Multimedia for Learning by Stephen Alessi and Stanley Trollip
• Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology by Robert Reiser and John V. Dempsey
• Learning-Centered Assessment on College Campuses: Shifting the Focus from Teaching to Learning by Mary E. Huba
• The In's and Out's of Online Instruction: Transitioning from Brick and Mortar to Online Teaching by Danan Myers-Wylie
And then, if you are designing the instructional software, you will want to look at workshops and books on tools such as JavaScript and Flash and such authoring tools as LMSand LCMS.

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