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Subject:RE: manual vs white paper From:"Sharon Metzger" <sharon -dot- metzger -at- gmail -dot- com> To:"'Gina Jones'" <gina -dot- techwriter -at- gmail -dot- com>, <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Tue, 25 Aug 2015 14:21:04 -0400
Oh, that's different than what I was thinking. Since white papers and user manuals are generally very different audiences, I thought they wanted you to extract the user-relevant bits that happen to be in the white paper and insert them in the manual, as if the white paper were any other SME source. (I'm still finding legacy "marketing-y" verbiage from some of my inherited user doc...) In any case, I would propose adding any relevant-to-the-user (your audience) bits to the user doc and making the white paper available through other channels, potentially cross-referenced from your doc for enrichment reading.
White papers can vary from industry to industry, but they're generally theoretical and/or persuasive, and would contain info that doesn't matter to your reader (because the product is already purchased and/or because they aren't decision makers about purchasing your product). You may be able to point out specific passages and how they don't "fit" in the user manual. But there may still be some useful use case info or other material useful for context, as well as specific user details.
FWIW,
Sharon
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+sharon -dot- metzger=gmail -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+sharon -dot- metzger=gmail -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Gina Jones
Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2015 2:06 PM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: manual vs white paper
I was instructed to insert the content as is, with no revisions, since the content has already been published as a white paper.
On Tue, Aug 25, 2015 at 1:51 PM, Haim Roman <haim -dot- roman -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
> If I understood Gina correctly, her client told her to merge 2
> documents that have different styles (writing, not Word) & functions.
> And she's trying to avoid that.
>
> _______________________________________________________________
> Howard (Haim) Roman -- haim -dot- roman -at- gmail -dot- com -- 052-8-592-599 -- ××××
> ××××
>
>
> On Tue, Aug 25, 2015 at 8:40 PM, Ryan Haber <ryan -dot- haber -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
>
> > Why not just send the client only the text as you want it published?
> > Or maybe send two versions - one for the user manual, and the other
> > clearly labeled as not for the user manual.
> >
> > I'm not sure I follow. If you are looking for the client to edit the
> paper
> > into a final form, that doesn't seem likely to go well.
> >
> >
> > All the best,
> > Ryan
> >
> > [image: --]
> >
> > Ryan Haber
> > [image: http://]5151 Dudley Ln.
> > Bethesda, MD 20814
> > 301-908-3049
> > about.me/ryan.haber
> >
> > <http://about.me/ryan.haber?promo=email_sig>
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Aug 25, 2015 at 1:32 PM, Gina Jones
> > <gina -dot- techwriter -at- gmail -dot- com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Hi all!
> > >
> > > I was recently sent a white paper as is, with instructions to
> > > insert
> the
> > > content as a new topic within the relevant chapter of a user
> > > manual I
> am
> > > working on.
> > >
> > > To maintain writing consistency and keep out pre-sale narrative,
> > > I'm
> > going
> > > to suggest appending the white paper to the manual or including a
> > > cross-reference to the site it's published on. Is there an
> > > alternative
> to
> > > these options? Can you think of additional reasons or have any
> > > advice
> on
> > > persuading my client to go this route?
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > >
> > > Gina
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