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free*lance: n (1820) 1 a. usu free lance: a mercenary soldier esp. of the Middle
Ages: condotierre.
Editor: Michael A. Casano
Publisher: George Giokas/StaffWriters Plus, Inc.
Welcome to -30-, found exclusively at the StaffWriters Plus Web site. One of the most
common challenges faced by freelance writers today is keeping up with the latest trends
within the industry and the changing needs of their customers. This is where -30- will
help. Each installment of -30- will deal with a topic or issue of interest to the freelance
community, from ideas on how to grow your current client base to techniques that can enhance
the quality of your work. We hope you find -30- a useful tool in your pursuit of new business.
We also look forward to hearing from you. Please submit your messages and thoughts for future
articles to (info@staffwriters.com).
ABOUT OUR NAME:
Reporters used the symbol -30- at the end of their typewritten copy to indicate to editors
that they have reached the last word.
IN THIS ISSUE:
In this issue of -30-, our main story looks
at technical writing, and what makes a good manual or white paper. Our Q&A
looks at Gary Lewi, whose work as executive vice president handling public relations for Rubenstein Associates
in Manhattan has led to him representing clients like Kathie Lee Gifford and Fortunoff. And we'll also find
out Melanie Hauser's unique approach to meeting a writing deadline.
INTERVIEW: GARY LEWI
by Michael A. Casano
If Gary Lewi wanted to teach a course in Public Relations or on the media, no one could question his
credentials. An executive vice president at the high profile Rubenstein Associates, a leading PR agency
located in New York City, some of his clients and projects have included Kathie Lee Gifford and the sweat
shop issue, the Woodstock concert revival, ethanol fuel alternatives, Fortunoff, Long Island University
and Genovese.
Lewi also held some very high profile communications positions prior to his work with Rubenstein. He was
a community newspaper reporter, a radio news reporter in the New York market (he has the voice for it),
and the Director of Communications for the Town of Hempstead. And, he worked as Press Secretary to U.S.
Senator Alfonse D'Amato.
Q: What are some of the misconceptions people have regarding the public relations field?
LEWI: "I'm a people person..." is the phrase that sentences a public relations wannabe to death
in our office. Being effective in this field has little to do with "schmoozing" and everything to
do with understanding the dynamics of the media, the projection of news, deadlines, client needs,
the unforgiving nature of the industry and the continuing communications evolution that is reflected
in the very mission of StaffWriters. If, in your desire to be a "people person" , you can avoid calling
someone a profanity you are ahead of the game.
Q: Do you use freelance P.R. writers and specialists? If so, what qualities do you look for in choosing them?
LEWI: When we hire a freelancer it is because the client has a unique need we can't provide in-house.
Those needs may range from a technical writer to a media trainer who has served as an anchor and has
outstanding qualifications, like a graphic designer for instance. Our economics change when we hire a
freelancer so we do so selectively and only if they are truly outstanding. Mediocrity we can always find.
Q: What are the key questions you ask clients as you develop their public relations campaigns?
LEWI: Chain of command is crucial. Good ideas can die inside a memo without a clear, definitive and
comfortable chain of command that allows for quick approval and prompt execution. Objectives need to be
established so that they are realistic and obtainable. Clients who wonder why they aren't above the fold of
The New York Times the second week on the account are already telegraphing where this account is going.
Budgets need to be established since sticker shock for some projects can collapse an account faster than
poor service.
Q: Press releases are tools often used to communicate a client's message (whether it be to announce a product
or service, or to make a position statement). What differentiates an effective release from one that ends up
in a reporter's circular file?
LEWI: Hard news is going to get covered -- whether it is a press release transmitted by modem or written
on a lunch bag. The soft feature press release needs to be issued within specific criteria -- is it relevant?
(i.e., a community newspaper wants the home town touch). Is it timely? (i.e., a consumer alert for June brides
or holiday shoppers). Is it literate? (i.e., releases that take three paragraphs to get to the lead and get
carried away in hyperbole are doomed).
Q: What networking tools do you use to cultivate relationships with the media and further communicate key
messages for your clients?
LEWI: The agency is in a unique position and one that has established our leadership in the New York region.
We enjoy a critical mass of news generating clients. Media reach out to us for insight, guidance and contacts.
Those opportunities are priceless because we are not spending time making calls that shunt into reporter's voice
mail but building relationships with reporters who want to speak to us.
Q: Rubenstein Associates handles some very high-profile clients -- from the New York Islanders to the
Duchess of York. What were some of your more challenging clients and P.R. campaigns? Why were they challenging?
LEWI: The direct answer to the question is proprietary. It goes to the heart of what we do and would cross
the line regarding the confidentiality we must give our clients during the course of providing service. In a
strategic sense, the answer to your question requires us to keep a clear vision of our goals in the middle of
intense media scrutiny. There is a tendency to respond to the urgent and ignore the important and the challenge
is to remain focused. What are our goals and, despite the glare of publicity or the intensity of an issue, how
do we stay on track?
There is also the important issue of paying attention to details. It is not sufficient to say, "We've got you
booked on Good Morning America!" The issues range from staying on message when you have three minutes, to
getting the night number in the event we are canceled at 3 a.m.? What is the travel time to get to the studio
and will you be sufficiently rested and primed when you get there? The devil -- as the cliché goes -- is in
the details. High profile clients mean there are no room for errors because those mistakes are magnified.
Q: What advice do you have for freelance writers looking to work in the public relations field?
LEWI: Freelancers need to be nothing less than outstanding in their field for a PR company or
client to feel comfortable about plugging them into a breaking situation. They need to quickly adapt
to different corporate cultures, be fast learners regarding nuances buried inside their assignment
and they need to project their own competence without dominating the issue. They are, in effect,
gunfighters -- asked to come into town to assist in dealing with an issue and then are expected to
move on. As good as he was, you never saw Paladin put his feet up on the desk and recount how many
op-eds he ghosted for past clients. Quiet competence and proven results will create a reputation for
a freelancer that will be heard far and wide.
Copyright © 1999 Michael Casano
MAKING THE UNKNOWN EASIER TO UNDERSTAND
The Role of an Effective Technical Writer
by Michael A. Casano
Like the software they document, technical writers come in many versions. Sure, they write user
manuals instructing people on how to put together furniture and load the latest computer tools. But
on a larger scale, their clear, concise documentation enables workers to respond to major emergencies,
from handling a power outage to rebooting a company's failed computer system.
"The real challenge is to explain what needs to be explained, yet have it done in almost a light-hearted
manner," says James Yellen, a technical writer who has spent more than 18 years working in the field. "Your
personality must come through to make (the material) something the reader can relate to."
Yellen, who worked full-time for Linotype and Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance, has a varied background in
training, writing and curriculum development. As a freelance writer, he has handled projects for companies
such as the former Long Island Lighting Company (LILCO), and Internet companies BASCOM and Invision.
Yellen believes it is crucial to get people to quickly understand what they need to know in a technical
piece, like a user manual. To do this, he utilizes analogies, and related background material regarding the
subject matter -- basically anything which he feels will keep the reader's interest.
"My style is to sit down with the marketing people and technical people in the company and find out what
exactly the product is about," he said. "I want to know what it does for the company, and more importantly,
what aspects customers need to know. Do they install it? Do they need to configure it? What are the possible
stumbling blocks they are going to have? Once I find these out, I can usually scope out the chapters I will
write."
Because of time, Yellen often has little opportunity to work hands-on with the product. "That's always the
challenge, because you really don't have time to sit down and learn the product for A to Z," he says. "But I
find that when you do this work after awhile, you usually gain intuition on how the product -- like software --
normally works. I don't need to become an expert on it, but I need to know enough about it to at least be able
to explain it. So, when technical people look at my material, I will ask if I've missed a point or two. Then,
they will then go ahead and tell me what I need."
White papers present an interesting challenge to a technical writer. These documents, which usually examine
a specific topic or technology, are often presented at a symposium or meeting, or are even published in trade
journals. Although more complex, white papers also give a technical writer the opportunity to write more freely
and be more creative.
"As a technical writer, you normally want to have everything concise and short, whereas with white papers,
you're really kind of drawing a conclusion to a series of thoughts and paragraphs," Yellen explained. "But for me,
it appeals to both sides of my writing - the creative part and the technical part. That's why I like to do them."
New media is now emerging as an area of expertise for technical writers, from developing web content to writing
on-line help instructions for customers who visit a site. The difference in writing for the Internet, however, is in
the way you can easily present important material.
Yellen said: "If you're producing a manual to be read on paper, you have a lot of license in terms of the way you
can present steps and bring the user to a conclusion. Writing technical information for the web is quite different.
You're really constrained by the formatting, length and the technology of the web. Now, the benefit is that you're
bring the information immediately which is great, but the drawback is that you're limited in HTML specifically in
how you present that information."
For people who want to pursue more technical writing assignments, Yellen suggests that they find out more about
the field through sources like the Society for Technical Communication (www.stc.org). But he also advises aspiring
freelance technical writers to realize that there is a big difference between writing promotional material about a
company, and writing technical material about a company's emerging technologies or products.
"Technical writing is not promotional writing," he said. "You have to step back think of the facts you need to
present and focus on what your reader really needs to know. You need to be more thorough. Technical writing is
simply a different mindset."
Copyright © 1999 Michael Casano
Scribbler's Scrapbook
by Melanie Hauser
Yesterday, after shooting a quick glance through the illegible scraps of paper crammed into my
patented coffee can/desk organizer, I realized I had a deadline to meet. Now a looming deadline with
not even the first sentence formed might send lesser scribes into a panic. But not cool, calm,
works-her-best-under-pressure Melanie.
With the luxury of time upon me (the deadline being a whole 24 hours away, after all), I leisurely
poured a cup of coffee and sat myself down at my desk. As my spoon mixed in some glucose, I pondered my
great good fortune at being a scribe in the technological age.
Think of the obstacles an author like Jane Austen had to overcome: straining to scratch her pen by
candlelight, writing copies out by hand, sporting fingers permanently stained by India ink. For me,
barring a power outage, all I have to do is sit at my halogen-lit desk, type my usual 70 wpm, select
spell-check, and then hit "send" - voila! Another column is complete.
As I congratulated myself for my "soon-to-be-finished" masterpiece, the sight of a new prompt on
my desktop distracted me. Games, it said.
The icon immediately intrigued me. Some electronic husband-elf must have downloaded new software
into my computer. A test drive was in order (and I knew full well that my deadline was still 23 hours
away.)
"Let's see what you've got," I murmured, as little alien ships danced merrily across the computer
screen. I reached for the joy stick, flexing my thumb with the grace of an adolescent boy who has trained
many hours in a video arcade.
Six hours later, raindrops of multi-colored spaceships still dancing before my eyes, I massaged that
thumb and suddenly realized my children would soon be home from school. But I had reached level two in
Space Invaders, and discovered a nifty way of eluding the largest enemy ship.
I still had time, I told myself. Peering out the window, retreating slightly from the glare of natural
light, I saw that the sky was clear, and no power outage seemed likely. "17 hours? You call that a deadline?"
I scoffed. "After dinner and everyone goes to bed, no problemo."
It was tough waking up early the next morning (genius doesn't burn too brightly after only two hours sleep).
After sneaking downstairs at 1:00 a.m., I was ready to put my prose on file -- and with seven hours to spare.
But I had a consuming need to try and duplicate my earlier success against the mother ship.
"Die, you pagan," I cursed as I was blown into oblivion time and time again. But around 3:00 a.m., I
prevailed, successfully blowing up the menacing monster with a cry of "Out, damned spot!"
Now, I could begin my column with a clear and righteous conscience.
Or so I thought. As my computer screen burned brightly with the prospect of still more annihilation,
adrenaline raced through me and I started salivating like a Republican meeting with a Special Prosecutor.
I simply had to keep obliterating little alien ships. Just one more game, to get me started, I whispered.
Just one more.
Three hours later, after promising to stop when I reached level three, and then, upon reaching it,
desperately vowing to quit after doing so just one more time, I broke free and ran to the sink. Splashing
cold water on my face, I glanced at the clock. Panic set in. Deadline time was nigh.
The computer screen glowed tauntingly from across the room. I made a decision.
Grabbing paper and a pen, I turned my back to the siren's song and resolutely started to pen my column
the old fashioned way, desperately jotting down an incoherent stream of thoughts.
After one paragraph, shooting pains radiated through my lower arm. Still, I scribbled on.
Sunrise now beamed through an adjacent window. The glare threw strange shadows across my paper, turning
my already puerile penmanship into a joke. I burst into tears as I realized I would have to type it over,
but the last time I owned a typewriter Woody Allen was still making funny movies.
I had no stamps, not even the old-fashioned lick-'em-yourself kind, nor envelopes, nor even an actual
address. I had no option but to - gasp - return to the computer.
Hanging my head, I crawled back. "Hello Dave," I swear it said as I heard strains of "A Bicycle Built
For Two" in the background.
"Do you want to start another game?" it coyly inquired.
Sobbing pathetically, I nodded. As I hit "yes" on the keyboard, the bargaining resumed.
Just one more level. OK, just two more levels. No? Well, just one more blast at the mother ship.
Grinning malevolently as the last rebel ship disintegrated into little bitty bytes, I reassured myself.
It's not technically past my deadline yet. I can make it.
I just needed a subject. And a beginning. And a middle. And an end. But I had just spent the last 24
hours mostly playing video games, and witnessing my pathetic lack of willpower and an unflatteringly obsessive
desire to win!
(Imagine a halogen light bulb appearing above my audacious author's head.) Now, if I can only figure out
some way to use these as the basis for my column . . .
And so I have.
Copyright ©1999 Melanie Hauser
Past Issues:
[March '00 Newsletter]
[December '99 Newsletter]
[June '99 Newsletter]
[April '99 Newsletter]
[November '98 Newsletter]
[September '98 Newsletter]
[July '98 Newsletter]
[June '98 Newsletter]
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"JOB SCOUT: Weekday: March 10, 2010"
