Re: Two Professional Questions

[Bill Swallow <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com>]

> 1. A friend has asked me to edit and rewrite a 200-page biography of a
> family member. From the posts I have read so far, the recommendations are to
> charge by the hour. I wonder what other members would feel is a fair rate.
> This is a good friend and I want to charge a fair but modest rate. Does
> anyone have any recommendations?

Did the good friend indicate they wanted to pay you for this? For a
good friend, I would ask them what they'd feel comfortable paying and
go from there. But in general, for a good friend's need of something
rather personal like this, I'd barter for favors. What skills do they
have that you could make use of?

> 2. I am on a contract job and using Word to document an application. My
> manager has asked to outline the benefits of going with FrameMaker instead
> of Word. I have a draft in Word and my idea is to show a mock up of a
> FrameMaker document to visually display the quality difference.
>
> My question is, does anyone know of a website or blog that specifically
> shows Frame's superiority? I have found a few but nothing with a strong
> compare/contrast. I just thought someone might have found an informative
> blog.

There are power users out there for either tool, and they will stand
by their choice. You're attacking the tank's shell from the side with
a baseball bat. You need to take it out from the inside. Show the
client's needs and your ability to satisfy them (or inability to)
using both tools. Show them the money. Then when they open the hatch,
jump in and start swinging. ;-)

Yeah, bad analogy.

But, questions:

* Do they have staff writers or are you it?
* Who works on the docs if/when your contract engagement ends, and
what are their abilities with the tools?
* What else, aside from the content development, might be impacted by
your tool switch? Do you author Help? Do others leverage your content
for their needs (training, marketing, support, other)?

-- 
Bill Swallow

Twitter: @techcommdood
Blog: http://techcommdood.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/techcommdood
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