Issues with distribution of technical documents

[SteveFJong -at- aol -dot- com]

[I read TECHWR-L on digest, so before I can add my two cents on the issue of 
copyright law, Napster, et al, Eric has doubtless shut down this thread 8^) 
But I do want to translate copyright issues into terms of immediate interest 
to technical communicators.]

My company sells software products to clients. We write technical documents 
describing the use of our software. My goal is that every user have a copy of 
(typically) the User's Guide and Quick Reference Card, and that every 
supervisor or administrator have a copy of the Supervisor's or 
Administrator's Guide. You probably share these goals.

Now: Should I be happy if a client with 1,000 end users (say) nationwide gets 
*one* (1) copy of the documentation set, and then never asks, or is offered, 
more? No, not at all! But what can we do about it?

Once they've paid for the software, do our clients have the right to demand 
unlimited free copies in perpetuity? Should I give them print-ready PDF files 
and be happy that they're tying up laser printers all across the country, 
then making single-sided photocopies and jamming them into three-ring binders 
until the pages stick together or rip out, because we've saved printing costs 
and because our work (in crappy form) now has wide distribution? 

Should instead I print and distribute the documents myself? Should I charge 
for production costs, or try to recover development (planning, writing, 
review, editing, and management) costs as well? What if clients react by 
refusing to pay for additional copies and leaving their own folks in the 
dark? Won't we end up paying technical support reps $50 a call to answer 
questions that users could have found in their $5 documents if we hadn't all 
been too cheap to give them copies in the first place?

Or should my company just increase the price of the software to cover 
printing and distribution costs? Is, say, $100,000 a year in printer's and 
shipper's bills a good investment in customer goodwill and wide distribution 
of information? Does it become a bad investment the day a vice-president 
fusses over the expenditure?

These issues are important to me, and, I think, to many of us. I don't really 
know a general resolution of any of them.


          -- Steve


Steven Jong, Documentation Team Manager ("Typo?  What tpyo?")
Lightbridge, Inc., 67 S. Bedford St., Burlington, MA 01803 USA
mailto:Jong -at- lightbridge -dot- com -dot- nospam   781.359.4902[V], 781.359.4500[F]
Home Sweet Homepage: http://hometown.aol.com/SteveFJong


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