Writing and editing for your customers
We're consumers, not techies.
So we write from the customer's point of view.
And we like learning technology, so we can pass along our enthusiasm for your new tools, new techniques, new ideas.
We have written hundreds of articles for Web sites such as those from America Online, Hewlett-Packard, Disney, Intuit, and KBKids.com.
And as editors, we have cleaned up more than a thousand technical and marketing articles by Web writers, so that their text works for ordinary folks.
A friendly approach
We learned a popular style back when we wrote for magazines such as Esquire, Family Fun, Family PC, Harper's, Reader's Digest, and TV Guide.
As journalists, we had to adjust our prose to address a variety of audiences when we were introducing and explaining a wide range of technological subjects.
Book length--no problem
For major publishers, we've written more than two dozen books showing consumers how to use technologies such as
- BASIC programming (from the first line of code through arrays)
- Word processing and desktop publishing
- Designing and using personal databases
- Using integrated applications (AppleWorks, ClarisWorks, Microsoft Works)
- Digital imaging (cameras, photo software, printers)
- Online shopping (where to go, how to guard your privacy, and how to get a good deal)
In these books, we've focused on consumer products such as those from Adobe, America Online, Apple, Claris, FileMaker, Hewlett-Packard, and Microsoft.
Along the way, we've written a lot of user guides, help systems, and Web pages for high-tech companies selling to consumers.
Our list of clients is an A-to-Z of firms selling software, hardware, cameras, and consumer electronics.
We know how to write instructions that almost anyone can follow.
Coaching and training your writers
In fact, we have often coached professional writers. We show them how to talk to your customers, not just the folks in the back room, or other members of your team.
When working at Apple, Jonathan wrote How to Write an Apple Manual, a styleguide for new writers learning the user-friendly style. He expanded that as How to Write a Computer Manual (Benjamin/Cummings, 1984), and co-authored an update with Linda Urban, Mick Renner, Adam Rochmes, and Henry Korman, How to Communicate Technical Information (Benjamin/Cummings, 1993).
Lisa and Jonathan wrote Hot Text: Web Writing that Works (New Riders, 2002).
We also coach non-professional writers who have to produce content for the Web. For instance, Jonathan has taught writing at
- New Mexico Tech
- New York University
- Rutgers
- University of New Mexico
- Extension programs of the University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Santa Cruz, and Stanford.
And as a Web editor, Lisa has trained dozens of writers to adapt their prose so it works onscreen, in complex sites.
Crisis? Call us.
Through our years writing, editing, training, and managing in the high-tech industry and in the Web world, we have become familiar with most of the crises you may face.
If you have a serious problem with text, call us.
(505) 898-4912.
Find out what we've done for these clients