THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2007

Writer: White papers are 'where the money is'

by Jeremy Schnitker

Stelzner

Chances are most freelance writers don't even know what they are, but Michael A. Stelzner says white papers are a potential gold mine.

Stelzner, the white paper expert who wrote Writing White Papers: How to Capture Readers and Keep Them Engaged in 2006, said the market for such writing is both financially lucrative and growing rapidly.

"I am biased here, but I do feel that white papers are where the money is," he said. "This is a trend that is growing more important as businesses seek new ways to cut through the noise and engage prospects."

Described by Stelzner, a whilte paper is a "crossbreed of a magazine article and a brochure. It takes the objective and educational approach of an article and weaves in persuasive corporate messages typically found in brochures." White papers are often used in politics to outline policies and in general terms, they are persuasive documents that help people make decisions.

Stelzner has made himself one of the go-to guys for white paper knowledge. His WritingWhitePapers.com site has a trove of infoformation and resources for not only writing white papers, but freelancing in general, which is how he started his career. He said he learned quickly that you want to be selective about who and what you're working with early in your career.

"For example, I decided to avoid manufacturers of components because they placed very little value on marketing messages," he said. "Turned out they rely on the larger original equipment manufacturer to do the marketing. I also decided to only focus on high-tech and work with companies that were beyond the startup phase."

He was writing typical promotion and marketing material like brochures and case studies before he got into white papers full-time.

"I went on to write annual reports, competitive attack pieces and advertisements," he said. "I shifted my focus totally to white papers in 2003."

And it's an industry that's grown immensely since he started writing them full time. He said that in 2001 a Google search for "white papers" registered roughly one million hits but by 2006 the number went over 300 million. He pointed this growth to the fact that companies are looking for more and more innovative ways to "get their message in front of prospects," and that studies are beginning to show more and more companies are relying on white papers to be the medium that helps them do so.

Now it's up to the writers to cash in on the craze.

"It represents one of the most profitable forms of writing, word for word. Some of the most experienced white paper writers charge up to $1,000 per page."

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Filed Under: Writing