TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
For some time now I've been thinking of going freelance but never quite built up the impetus to take the final step. Now it looks likely that it may be forced as the company is currently restructuring (downsizing!) and a new exec chairman has been brought in.
On the bright side there is a lot of documentation needed (we have no physical product so the collateral is all that they have to show to customers) and there's a good chance that the work will be outsourced to me (not relying on it though) which, if it happens, will provide a good buffer to get myself up and running. Looking round NI I've found only one TW company so there could be a good market out there.
My question is really on the marketing side. What have you found to be the best approach when going to companies cold:
phone? Contact development manager etc, ask about their documentation etc
flyer? The 'does your docs suck?' approach - they CAN be improved,,,
letter? Similar to phone but by letter stating services provided etc
other?
While doing some research for a college project a survey I did had a question that asked could their documentation be improved by being professionally written/edited. Quite a few answered 'Yes' so I have a few possibly 'not so cold' leads that I'd like to get right.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
A new book on Single Sourcing has been released by William Andrew
Publishing: _Single Sourcing: Building Modular Documentation_
is now available at: http://www.williamandrew.com/titles/1491.html.
Help Authoring Seminar 2003, coming soon to a city near you! Attend this
educational and affordable one-day seminar covering existing and emerging
trends in Help authoring technology. See http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l2.
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
