White Paper Questions

[jaf4white]

Michael Stelzner suggested I repost my introductory letter here, so here it is.

Hello, Forum:

I'm J.A. Fludd and I'm interested in writing for a living. My primary goal has been in writing for comics, film, and television; my principal interest is in the entertainment fields. I tried a direct-sales copywriting course, but couldn't motivate myself to finish it because I found I don't enjoy that kind of writing which is so strongly geared to hard-selling, hustling, and emotional manipulation. (I hope I'm not offending anyone by saying that.) I was attracted to White Paper writing because it is about writing to inform and instruct rather than to push and hustle and manipulate. I have an excellent writing style and am most interested in entertaining a reader. If you'll visit my Blog as I hope you will (the address is in my Profile), I think you'll find that my writing is highly engaging, readable, and FUN. That last part--fun--is especially important to me. If people enjoy what they're reading, they're most likely to keep reading it! What I'd like to accomplish is to tailor my existing writing style into work that will engage, inform, and instruct readers in a way that they'll WANT to read, and serve the needs of clients in the best way.

There are some questions I'd like to ask at the outset. One: How long, as a rule, does it take to get started as a working, paid writer of White Papers? That is, how long is someone usually at it before getting his first paid assignment? Two: If you're going to be involved in the design of a paper (I hope to concentrate on the pure writing, but sometimes a given project may require something a bit extra), what softwares do you generally use? I have Open Office, an equivalent of Microsoft Word; and Pages, the proprietary word processor for Apple users. I hope I wouldn't have to use anything beyond these. Three: The audio course mentions that people often get paying work through the use of this forum. I'd be most especially interested in knowing how that works. Exactly what do you do to use this forum to connect yourself with paying clients and do the work they need?

Please talk to me here about anything you think I may need to know about any of the above issues, and any directions in which you may want to point me. I'm new at this, but I think I can do excellent work and make a great living at it if I simply have the kind of opportunities I need. So talk to me; I'll be here. And please, again, visit my Profile, get the address of my Blog, and surf on over there and see if you don't agree about my writing. People enjoy what I do, and I really want to put it to good and profitable work.

Thanks and regards,

J.A. Fludd