#65/111: Writing White Papers

What is it about?

How to write a white paper? Michael A. Stelzner, who has written over 130 white papers, explains his procedure of writing a white paper from interviewing experts to offering the solution.

What can I learn?

Interview experts: If you aren’t an expert on a topic you could become one or you could interview some. Firstly, you should identify the experts. Write them an email with the most important information (topic, estimate amount of time and questions) and ask them if they could answer your questions.

State the problem in depth: If you are writing a white paper, you should focus on the problem. If you are writing a 6-12 page white paper, circa 2-3 pages should be on the problem. Some people don’t exactly know what the problem is. Let’s take IPv6 as an example. The biggest problem at the moment with IPv4 is its limited amount of IP addresses. You could write about the implications and how IPv6 solves them. Moreover, you could write about additional features of IPv6.

Offer generic solutions first: If you go to the solution, you shouldn’t try to sell your service/product yet. Firstly, offer a generic solution which everybody could implement on their own. This will maintain your credibility. After that you can talk about your specific solution. Tell your readers how it is different and superior to the generic one.

Conclusion

Writing White Papers is a nice book which shows you the basics of writing white papers. Some chapters are disappointing because they are very short. However, if you are a writer and want to go into writing white papers, this could be a valuable asset.

Your life in bytes

saturated writing by tnarik

Grandma blogs. Your neighbor blogs. A cat blogs. But why should someone blog?
To be hip? Perhaps. To tell wisdoms? Maybe. To make money? Sometimes.
Firstly, there are various kinds of blogs. I distinguish them approximately in private and cooperate blogs. I want to talk about private blogs.

People talk about their pets, work, private life or hobby. But why should they blog about it?
If you go to your local bookshop (or an online one) you’ll find always one book for nearly every topic imaginable.
OK, books aren’t that topical as blogs. But books offers mostly more information.
If it’s not about raw information then it’s maybe about personal stories. Maybe you’re interested in the life of a Second Officer or an marketing specialist. Is this the key to the why?
So, I asked me: “Sure some people are interested in the life of an marketing specialist but not in this of Average Joe.”. Would you buy a book titled “My Life As A Normal Guy“? Maybe not. People want something special, they want things they don’t have or they dreaming about. Remember Hollywood?

Thus, should you blog? Yes, you haven’t to become one a pro bloggers with 250k readers. Tell your story. Even if nobody will read it, it’s your own small biography.