Computer

Doh, no brainer.  Check out our upcoming Top 5 Netbooks feature for a portable powerhouse.  But for the desk, something like an iMac or an XP pc will do the job.  Many markets allow writers to submit proposals via email, and it's the easiest way to communicate in the 21st century.

Pens and Pencils and a Pad of Paper

Despite the fact you'll likely do most of your actual writing a your computer, a little pad of paper by your side is great for jotting down little plans for articles, keeping notes that don't merit opening Word, and for sitting on the toilet taking notes while you do your thinking.

Dictionary and various Reference Books

We recommend Fowler's A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, and a good thesaurus.  Strunk and White is also a must if you are submitting work to broadsheets - and even if you're not, your work should meet high standards.

Calendar / Day Planner

Keep track of the tasks you have to accomplish today.  With a computer (and the internet) at your fingertips, it's easy to be distracted.  So write down what you want your goals to be.  Then you know what you'll get done.

In Tray

Desks get out of control with papers, notes, clippings and letters.  With a tray, you can keep your plans organised.  Your documents that are pertinent to your current task are within easy reach, and your train of thought won't be interrupted while you dig around in your drawers looking for that note.

Webcam or Microphone

Quicktime Pro does work with the built-in iSight, because Quicktime Pro supports USB cameras. Quicktime Pro is inexpensive, but inexpensive still isn’t free, and it makes no sense to shell out cash to fix a problem that shouldn’t be a problem to begin with.

If you're posting blogs or podcasts, you'll find these invaluable.  They let your computer be the true workhorse of your business.  Many modern computers, such as the iMac and even many of the netbooks on the market, have these built in so you can record your podcasts on the hoof.

Printer

Even though the internet and email allows you to submit work electronically, there's still a very real requirement to have hard copies of work for your clients. Many will require this to be couriered to them before they will approve your work for publication.

Before you've even written your book, you could save your self a lot of heartbreak and late nights by writing a knock-out proposal. A strong proposal can get your past the first fence, but there are no guarantees.

Look anywhere on Google, and you'll find an outline of what editors are looking for. Research shows that there are a general 4 killer questions that any self-respecting publishing house will measure your proposal against.

1. Is there a large enough audience, with money, who are interested in this book?
A book that you're taking to a major publishing house needs to appeal to a broad audience in the HUNDREDS of thousands. You'll need to do your research. If your topic is in the realm of Commodity Trading, find out the number of dealing members on the world's largest exchanges, such as COMEX and NYMEX, and try to estimate the head-count that may be interested in your topic.

Remember, only a fraction of that audience will actually put their money down and buy your book. A publisher needs to sell between 6,000-7,000 copies of your book to make it viable.

2. Would the idea be more effective as a magazine article?
Your manuscript needs to be a beefy 200 pages minimum, in it's published form. When you've put down all your information on your hot topic - it needs to be 100,000 - 200,000 words. If you're shy of that, either do more digging, or accept that it's perhaps more suited to being a one-off article.

3. What's the Unique Selling Proposition of your book?
The overview of your book must be on the first page of your proposal. What's it about? Who is it for? What's in it?

You must stress to the publishing house why your book is somehow different from any of the other books already in print on your topic (if there are any).

Think how you're going to capture the essence of what makes your book different. Is it organised in a new and fresh way from existing books? Are you reaching a new audience?

4. Why should the publisher let you write it?
Are you the most qualified person available to write this book for this editor? This question can be answered by measuring two different credentials. The 'writing ability' credential and the 'expert experience' credential.

You can sell yourself in the 'About the Author' section of your proposal. If you can, you should include:

• Title, Date of Publication, Publisher, ISBN of previous books
• Names of Magazines which have published you
• Clippings of favourable reviews
• Past sales figures

The expert credentials can help to establish your suitability to write on the subject - to show that you are an authority who can reach your intended audience.

The expert credentials can help to establish your suitability to write on the subject - to show that you are an authority who can reach your intended audience.

In actual fact, you don't have to be that much of an expert to appear to be. The don't really need to be in-depth. For instance, one of our contributers wrote a book on LME Metal Trading, when he wasn't an actual metal trader. He did work for a trader, and knew enough about the business to write his book on the subject with sufficient authority.

If you feel you need some expert experience on a subject that you do not yet have - go out and get it. Want to write a book on how to pay your mortgage with sales on eBay? Well, start paying your mortgage by selling stuff on eBay. That kind of experience is what will get publishers on your side.

If you feel you need some expert experience on a subject that you do not yet have - go out and get it. Want to write a book on how to pay your mortgage with sales on eBay? Well, start paying your mortgage by selling stuff on eBay. That kind of experience is what will get publishers on your side.

Individual publishers may also request extra information - you can generally find this on their websites. For instance, Wiley and Sons often put out 'Calls for Book Proposals' in specific areas, and ask for your proposal to include at least:

• A Table of Contents and detailed discussion of the book, its scope and length
• A discussion of the competing books if any and a discussion of how yours is superior
• A sample chapter or two if available
• Your curriculum vitae
• Estimated completion time

With all the above, and covering the 4 killer questions, you should have a good idea of how to improve an existing proposal that was rejected and to understand how your prospective publisher needs to be impressed.

With many subjects, the writer may consider themselves the 'expert, imparting their knowledge to the lucky reader'. However, that's a trap that even the most experienced writer can easily jump into feet first. As a the writer, your point of view may be limited, restricted, biased even. The value you bring to the article is in including information from outwith your immediate knowledge, and filtering it through your experience, to the benefit of your audience. This will also increase your own knowledge on the subject - a bonus. As the saying goes, if you want to learn something well, teach it.

So do your research. Check trade journals you may have missed. Research at the library or online. And once you've filled a folder with cuttings and articles, take notes on them so you have new and important facts in bite-sized chunks, but it also makes you more comfortable with any 'new' material you may have uncovered.

Also, backing up any of your claims with solid background information will provide the credibility that will help your audience take your article seriously.

Now you've got all the grunt work done, you can make an outline of your piece. Get a basic template together - a simple street map to guide your way.

How Do I Get Better at Technical Writing?

For instance, the 'Hedging on the LME' article may cover 'what is hedging?', 'how does it apply to the LME', 'blah blah'.

Now all the facts have been pulled together from reliable sources, you can get down to writing. BUT! You must remember that the key to successful writing is to rewrite. To draft and cut and re-draft and pare it down until it's bulletproof.

Maybe 3 or 4 drafts will do you. Allow for that amount of rewriting. It will show.

One the first draft, just batter out the words onto the page. Don't stop to question what you're putting down, or edit or move it around the page. Relax and let all you've learned during the research and organisation stages to go down onto the page. The rewrites are for fixing.

On the next draft, when you take what you just dumped on the page, edit it brutally. Take out all the extraneous words, the 'this' and 'that's and cliches and the like. All the lazy structures you used just so you could get the ideas out. This should be relatively painless if you're using a word processor.

In the final stage, check your figures, punctuation, spelling, grammar - all the nuts and bolts. It wouldn't be the first time I've been present during a management meeting when one particularly asinine Director poo-pooed a business presentation by a colleague because they had spelt 'collateral' incorrectly.

If with the above strategy, you experience writer's block - just an inability to get your finger out and get it done - break it up. Break each article up into small accessible pieces, and work on each of them separately. You'll find that achieving little goals along the way make it easier to keep on track to get the full article completed.
[This is the second part of this article. Read the first part here]

Write abstracts, introductions and summaries when you're all done.

Now go to bed. When you take your article out the drawer a couple of days later, you may find it needs another re-write. That's fine, that's healthy. Do it.

Keep the above in mind, or follow it as a guide, but it should make it easier and less stressful for a non-technical person to write a good accessible article for a variety of audiences.

The hurdles are:
1. Poor planning
2. Poor execution
3. Poor time management and procrastination

As with any project (not just writing!), the optimum outcome begins with a clear and concise definition of the subject you are writing about. Following a lead from the marketing world, ensure your topic is not overly broad. Instead, target your writing on a specific niche. Tackling a smaller niche allows for more effective research. So instead of trying to write on 'Metal Trading', pinpoint your scope with an article on 'Hedging on the London Metal Exchange'.

As well as topic, you should have a good idea who your audience are. You do have an audience in mind already, yes? If you know who will read your article, you will have a better idea what language to use. Knowing how much background info and jargon to use can have a large impact on the time it can take to produce the article.

To avoid (or at least reduce) the amount of time spent faffing around, you should also know the specific purpose of your article. Is it for a reader of your monthly sales brochure? Or is it for your end-of-year management report? Have a think about what underlying message you might want to communicate to the audience, as well as simple facts.

In step 2 you'll learn the importance of research.

Sub-Headlines
After you've got their attention with your rewarding headline you'll want to lock them in to reading the rest of your ad.

Sub-headlines can give you (at least) three benefits.
1. They split the ad up so it makes it easier for the potential client to read your advert. One massive chunk of text can be a little off-putting if the client is in a hurry.
2. You can outline the important points of your product or service without taking up too much of your potential client's time.
3. You get a second-chance to get the reader interested if you then outline, e.g., those "6 reasons to buy our hand-made stationary". Don't make the client work too hard - and give them the reward to make them happy they are reading your advert.

Main Body Copy
You get one chance in Yellow Pages. So make the main content of your advert convert potential clients into paying. Don't waffle. Just give the reader enough information to be interested enough to call you instead of your competitors. Tell them as much as they need, but don't over-egg your pudding.

Only make one offer in your advert, but make it enticing enough to pull in your customer.

Keywords
In addition to the above components, Yellow Pages readers are often also looking for keywords. They want these to be prominent in the advert they select.

For example, you're looking to get your car resprayed. The keywords you need to see in an ad are "car" and "respray". But if the advert just says "bodywork repairs and car renovation", you're likely to skip over it.

Think like your market. Think of the adjectives that are foremost in their mind when they pick up the Yellow Pages. You can't expect to hit every potential client, but you should be targeting a specific cross-section of potential clients. It's easier to hit 100% of the 20 people looking for fish tank repairs rather than 0.00005% of people looking at pet supplies.

Use of Pictures
Readers see pictures before they see words. A meaningful picture in your advert should help your response increase. If your benefit is friendly customer service, a photograph of a smiling receptionist may be attractive. If you are in pest control - a rat in a cross-hair would demonstrate your effectiveness.

But please, as is often the case with 'home-made' Yellow Pages ads, don't try to be clever or funny in your advert. No one buys from clowns.

If you are a sole trader, it can also be useful to put a picture of yourself in the advert. Essentially, you are saying to the client "I am willing to be judged on my workmanship". This can be a powerful magnet to those readers who like the personal approach. But know your customer before going ahead with this.

Call To Action
A principle that is true for all forms of advertising, you have to spell out to your client WHAT YOU WANT THEM TO DO. There is no shame in printing at the foot of your advert "Call Stacey right now for an over-the-phone quotation". Don't mess about.

Again, in common with other forms of advertising, the client needs three things to make the call to action have an effect on them.
1. When: Right now is preferable. "Call Now!", "Contact Us Immediately" etc.
2. How: How should they contact you? "Email us at...", "Fax your requirement to 020...","Freephone 0800..."
3. What are they contacting you for?: "...to arrange an appointment", "...to get our best locksmith to your door in 60 minutes".

4: How Large Should Your Advert Be?

Who knows. Only by testing will you find the optimal size for your ad. It can depend on the type of business you're advertising. Testing can prove that buying an ad that's twice as big can double your response rate.

Obviously the bigger your ad, the more likely it is to get seen, and the bigger ads usually (not always) get displayed at the start of the section.

You have to think like your customer when they open the Yellow Pages. They'll generally call round maybe 6 to 10 providers so they get an idea of who's offering the bestvalue /prices/response/whatever. So you have to ensure you're at least in this initial set of likely providers. Some shoppers will be looking for something specific, and not call you unless you're display that thing they are specifically looking for. But in general, bigger is better.

But - you have to balance the likely cost of a large ad with the likely response and the amount of cash those responses will put in your bank account. Do your sums before shelling out on the biggies.

The question you might ask yourself when trying to decide how big to make your advert is "How much do I want to make?" then calculate if it costs £12,000 for a quarter-page ad for one year and that is very likely to bring in £15,000 in 6 months...

5: Anything else?

Just to round up here a little bit (as there's plenty of information in the preceding paragraphs), you might not have thought of:

How to produce the ad. Do you need extra photographs of your product, or service in action? Go professional for your photographs - it will reflect well on you.

What to say when customers call. If your Yellow Pages advert starts an earthquake and your telephone shakes itself off your desk, you'll need to know what you're going to say to convert those hot leads into paying customers. You only need a few lines to get things rolling and to hook the customers in. There's acres of pages on how to put together a decent 'phone script'. I should get round to writing a quick page on it soon.

What to say when customers call. If your Yellow Pages advert starts an earthquake and your telephone shakes itself off your desk, you'll need to know what you're going to say to convert those hot leads into paying customers

In the meantime, remember the last time you called a company from the Yellow Pages?
"Hi, VHL Air Conditioning"
"Hello, I'm just calling to find out the price of a portable air-condition unit".
"£200 to £800 for the larger ones".
"Thanks, I'll telephone some other suppliers and call you back".
*clunk*

Did you call back? Maybe if it was the best price, and that was all you were interested in. But instead of just blankly reciting your price list, try and give your prospective customer some *immediate value* by taking an interest in their problem. They're not looking for an air-conditioning unit, they want a cool comfortable environment.
"Hi, VHL Air Conditioning"
"Hello, I'm just calling to find out the price of a portable air-condition unit".
"Thanks for calling us. So we can help you with the most suitable product for your needs, can I ask a couple of questions first please?"
"Yes, go ahead" (no one will ever refuse to be asked a few questions that will help them get what they want)
"Is the unit for a domestic or business premises?"
"Domestic"
"So you need your home to be cool and comfortable. Is this for the main living area? It is? How large is that room?"
"10 by 24 feet"
"Well in that case, that's a very reasonable size, so we'd recommend Model ZC300..."
"That sounds excellent"
"And how about your bedroom area, is that comfortable enough for you? We could recommend the smaller companion model the ZC100 for silent night use".

You get the idea. You've learned something about the customer's needs, and you can better fit your product or service to fulfill their needs. You also have more scope for selling them a combination of products, or services.

Do you have enough stock if the ad goes through the roof? There's nothing quite as disheartening in business as hitting a rich seam of customers, and finding you cannot satisfy them. Be this distribution, time constraints, whatever. At least have some kind of idea what you will do if 30 people need their Chiropractic appointments this week - you might be able to sub-contract them to approved practitioners. And you're on your way to getting paid while someone else does the work...

For further reading, I'll put together a few ideas for writing headlines that will draw in the Yellow Pages customers and have them calling you, desperate to give you their money.

[photo: Andy Hargraves]

Here are 5 Straightforward Tips for Better Technical Product Brochures.

In a previous incarnation in the world of professional associations, one responsibility I took pleasure in was to act as a "business-knowledge" go-between from the marketing department that was writing our product brochures, and our technical staff who were developing the product.

Coming from a technical background, I could help review the marketing brochure drafts that the marketers had submitted to our developers.

As guilty of the same as I have been in the past, many of the technical staff would grumble that the marketing department didn't understand the product that they were developing - or that they had misjudged the intended audience of the product.

To their credit, the marketing department would often come to meetings with us, and suggest that it was in fact the engineers who didn't know their onions on the advertising side.  The marketers wanted to keep the brochure high-level and not confuse prospects with the minutia of a technical product.

It was all very polite, but there was obvious conflict as to who knew best.

With a foot in both camps, it is reasonably easy to see that both sides had some merit to their argument.

WHO KNOWNS BEST

The single most common concern from the technicians was that the brochure was far too breezy and light-weight, and didn't do justice to the no doubt highly-involved product.  The brochures were often dazzling in their execution - glossy, full-colour, and with (more often than not) a defiantly creative brain doing the writing/design.  No bad thing, but do we really need to include a spongy stress-ball in the shape of an zinc ingot as a gimmick in the mailing package?

But the key to the technician's argument was normally boiled down to this: the writer hadn't dug far enough into the product.  They were lazy in their research, or they'd not been given (or asked for) all the materials available to inform themselves with.  Usually, a reader with even an intermediate knowledge of the product's marketplace would think "this writer has no idea what this product does".  In short, it was flannel.

Now, many of the marketing departments I worked with were fantastic.  They weren't overly 'clever clever' for the sake of it, and didn't go in for puns or petty word play.  That is a good thing.  Even at the arguably stuffy level of technical brochures where light relief may have been welcomed, writers usually remembered the Claude Hopkins mantra of "no ones buys from clowns".

BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

And to be fair, the technicians were usually down-to-earth people, who didn't callously set out to baffle the marketers or their audience, but sometimes it's difficult to avoid jargon when discussing "Fix-Gateway Online Non-Ferrous Metal Trading Systems" or a "Certified Account Technician Scheme - Recording Financial Transactions" program.

So, assuming you're coming at this article from the position of a technician or manager (i.e. a non-marketing staffer) who has to write, approve or edit the copy from a marketing department - how can you ensure the finished brochure is the one most likely to hit its target?

Let's keep it simple, with 5 Straightforward Tips for Better Technical Product Brochures.

1. Clarity
Sit down and clearly define what your topic is for this brochure.  Not for some other strategy, not for some global solution. For this brochure.  Be specific.  Is the brochure about an all-in-one solution?  Or a learning system? Is it a new range of drainage pumps? Your newest state-of-the-art top-of-the-range drainage pump perhaps? An after-sales service for your new accountancy students?

That's it.  Simple.  Define what the brochure is about.  Now, as odd as it may seem, being more focused, specific and narrow on this point can in fact make it a more successful brochure.  The brochure doesn't have to cover everything.  That's what the manual is for.  If you try and hit every target audience with one brochure, you're more than likely to miss everyone.

What is a more attractive premise for a product brochure?
"Accountancy Qualifications for Recent Graduates" or "Failed University? - A Career In Accountancy Can Still Be Yours".  They're not great I grant you, but you're going to catch the eye of EVERYONE who flunked university with the latter, rather than a passing interest from graduates with the former.  That's because you're being specific.    And everyone loves to be address specifically.  You can cover much of the same ground, even offer the exact same product to both parties in the brochure, just angle it at a specific group.  You still get paid for your product.

2.  Know Your Target
For technical software products, is your brochure being mailed to software developers, or their managers who control the purse strings?  The developers might want to know how fast the software will compile their code, or automate test scripts.  The manager will probably want to know more about the license costs, upgrades, and possible ROI.

Whoever is your target, it is unsurprising that people seldom complain that there was "too much explanation" in the brochure (once you of course have followed Tip 1 and are being specific).  Don't leave to chance that the software developer reading your brochure knows that your testing software provides  "a rich set of assertions as static methods of the Assert class".  Or whatever.  You get the point.  Give them the details of what's on offer.  "Tell to sell", as Dan Kennedy might say. Spell out your specific message.  Don't leave it to chance that the reader will think "uh...I'm not sure if this does what I need it to do", and bin your brochure.

3.  Write with the end in mind
What is the ultimate objective of this brochure that you've spent time and not inconsiderable expense producing?  Is it a puff-piece to get your name onto the coffee table in an industry leader's office?  Is it to show that you provide more features on your gaskets than your nearest competitor?  Or that you can cut lawns and hedges quicker because you have invested in superior equipment from Sweden?

You must have an idea that you want to communicate to the reader, and so you should write with that in mind.  It can be simple like "Child-Friendly Dentistry", or "Risk-free business consultancy".  Whatever it is, keep it in mind, and write around it in a comfortable way and don't lay it on too thick.  Everyone likes a little bit of sugar, but not too much.  Once you have a theme for your brochure, writing it will become more automatic.

4.  Know the world in which you sell
Well, if you can't "know" it inside out (there's often no need to), at least understand it enough to hold your own.  Like all marketing, it comes down in some form to three basic things.  Argue against this if you wish, but I haven't found anything that describes the various selling environments as clearly as the following:

The buyer didn't know they had a problem.  This can be the software developers who didn't know they were taking 40% longer than the industry average to develop their website.  Or maybe it wasn't much of a priority.  In this case, you want to show in some dramatic or at least noticeable way the severity of their problem - and how your product or service can fix it!  As soon as you show the prospect that they have problem, and that you are the solution, they can join the dots themselves and buy your product or service.

The buyer knows they have a problem, but need convincing that your service is their best solution.  Maybe you have to offer your consultancy service as a no-obligation trial for one hour.  Once convinced by this no-risk offer, they'll be more likely to buy.  There are of course issues with offering something "for free", but there are creative ways around this if you're not too pushy.

The buyer knows they have a problem, they know the kind of widget they need to fix it, but are unconvinced that yours is the widget they should choose.

Something as mind-numbingly straight-forward as a comparison table can work its magic for you if included in your brochure.  It's not rocket science, it's not hypnotism, it's just giving the prospect some excuse to buy your product.  Not to advocate mis-selling - and we always want to provide valuable services or products - but many prospects are looking for a standard widget out of twenty standard widgets.  Give them the backup they need - the comparison table will take the decision out of their hands and you will make it for them.  Simple.

5.  At the very least - include just these two things

1. What the customer needs to know about your product to make them buy it
2. What you should say to persuade them that yours is the best product or service in the market place.

Just get into the guts of it.  Be your customer.  Don't dilly dally.  If your prospect's project, or next career move, was depended on what was in your brochure, what would they be thinking?

If your marketplace is over-populated, other aspects you can go into are the uniqueness of an aspect of your product.  Or get personal testimonials from respected industry figures. Or print an excerpt from a favourable review.

There are many copywriting techniques available for you to produce an effective brochure that will bring in the business you want.  But to get a basic bootstrap brochure out there, you can't go far from success with these 5 bullets.

[photo: http://www.govicinity.com]