Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style" is a good model for both copywriters and technical writers. Of course, the differences in the audience and content will lead to management changes, but they are subtle compared with the basic management job, which I see as making sure writers are focused on the right content, for the right audience, on a schedule that will yield aĪre there any writing tips that port to or apply to blogging? But, I still want good writers, and once hired, I would work with both kinds of writers on a personal level in the same way. How does that change or impact the way a manager works with a writer?įor example, when hiring I might look for more technical background and expertise from technical writers and be more concerned about writing style and visual design in a copywriter. Technical writers are getting involved with Social Media (see: Conversation and Community: The Social Web for Documentation ), and marketers and copywriters realize that their social media presence must include technical content to attract and maintain an audience. In many places the same people are doing both jobs. Their challenge is to describe what the product/service actually does without making reality unappetizing. Technical writers have to accentuate reality, even if the reality reveals weaknesses in the product. Their challenge is to make the product/service attractive to potential buyers without over-promising. I would expect a copywriter to accentuate the positive and if not eliminate the negative, at least make sure that the strong points are the focus. Good copywriters need to be able to deal with technical content, and good technical writers need to be able to write promotional material. While I think there is some validity in those definitions that distinction is blurring. I started writing this response with the following distinction in mind: Copywriters primarily write promotional material, while technical writers primarily write informational or instructional material. How are technical writers different from, say, copywriters? You wrote Managing Writers: A Real World Guide to Managing Technical Documen tation.
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