Writing for business.
Questions about writing for business. Emails, brochures, catalogs. Correspondence with clients, coworkers, subordinates, bosses. Technical papers. Instructional manuals.
Questions tagged [business-writing]
98 questions
22
votes
6 answers
When editing for a person, how much can be changed?
The context is a technical document that is written by one person and then sent out for review by others. The reviewers change word tense, change from active to passive voice, and make other style changes. Is that a valid job for an editor, or am…
thursdaysgeek
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11
votes
3 answers
Should freelance writers keep their online business separate from offline?
Freelance writers have a lot of opportunity to write online, but in some cases the rates are less than the same writing project might command offline. Assuming that there are enough advantages in taking online writing gigs to offset the disadvantage…
ArcticLlama
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10
votes
1 answer
What is the correct way to write a fractional number in a formal letter?
If I'm talking about a length of time in a cover letter, let's say 5.5 years, what would be the correct way to write this?
five-and-a-half years
5-1/2 years
5.5 years
bernk
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10
votes
2 answers
When should I use punctuation with bullets?
When writing bulleted items, what are the rules for placing periods?
Presumably bulleted items that aren't sentences wouldn't require punctuation:
Orange
Apple
Banana
But how about sentence bullets?
I am happy
She was happy
He is happy…
el2iot2
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9
votes
4 answers
How do I find a suitable copywriter?
I am in the process of creating a web application. I will need some copy written for various pages in the site and some of the marketing marketing material. I am contemplating hiring a copywriter to handle these task for me. What is the best way…
Mark S.
- 191
- 2
8
votes
1 answer
How to determine rates to charge as a freelance writer
While I have a few articles published, they were easy fixed rates. Today, however, I've received this email (identifying details removed):
We need a writer to put together descriptions of --------------
------------------ for our --------------…
Mark Mayo
- 183
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8
votes
2 answers
Does this FAQ accurately convey the mission of DIY.SE?
The DIY stack exchange is currently trying to make our FAQ more useful to new users, and I wondered if some folks from this community could take a look and help us to define ourselves better.
This is the suggested rewrite of the FAQ. Here is the…
Tester101
- 183
- 3
7
votes
6 answers
Book recommendations for writing better technical papers
My employer has presented me with two books to read to help me write better technical papers and emails. Essentials of English Grammar and Handbook of English Grammar and Usage. I have read through roughly 30% of the first book and have to say it…
Adam Lewis
- 173
- 5
7
votes
2 answers
How to write recommendation documentation?
I was asked to prepare an overview of an existing IT architechture and provide a document that consists of weaknesses analysis and suggestions on how each of the weak spots can be improved.
How to make this document simple to read, not overloaded…
user40
- 173
- 3
7
votes
10 answers
What's a good title to a presentations' table of contents?
This is a professional presentation, I'm looking for a good title for the ToC page (some humor allowed).
What I have so far is "What am I going to talk about", which frankly kind of sucks.
Your suggestions?
chaoticdawn
- 71
- 1
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7
votes
8 answers
Verbosity: when's enough enough?
In corporate life I've come across two general styles of writing: terse and cryptic or long and complete.
In my own writing I tend to go too much in the "explain all possible interpretations" direction rather than the "leave as much out as…
James
- 171
- 2
6
votes
1 answer
Metrics for assessing the persuasiveness of a paper?
Are there any known variables to measure, or questions to ask in survey, in order to asses the persuasiveness of a paper?
For example, I'm not sure if omitting a section from my paper might actually improve it. It's good writing and a good point.…
Dingredient
- 195
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6
votes
1 answer
Avoiding unintended rudeness or accusatory tones in reminder emails
I am in one of the newsletter teams of my company. Last week, I had mailed the Vice-President of our company to write an article for our newsletter, to which he replied in affirmative and mailed me back that he would send that article by the end of…
bengaluriga
- 163
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6
votes
1 answer
Materials to promote my book in person
Say I have a book...or a comic series...or a podcast...or another published work.
Marketing written or scripted works is perfectly on topic here, and most of the promotional materials are also written materials in themselves. Every author who sells…
Cyn
- 32,483
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- 145
6
votes
4 answers
What are proper ways to end a business letter?
How should you end a business letter?
If you are writing a letter to your grandparents, I would use
With Love from 'name'
However, if you are writing a professional letter to someone important that isn't your family, how would you end the letter?…
Sweet_Cherry
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