Tech Biz Writing

Many academics make a good living out of writing educational textbooks which sell over long periods of time yielding a steady income for decades. In today’s technical world, though, where specifications and values change almost monthly, a different type of writer is making the going: the technical writer.

Books written specifically for educational purposes fall generally into two categories:

* Traditional textbooks for schools and colleges
* Non-fiction books aimed at the general market

This division is perhaps not so clear-cut as it used to be. Many textbooks are now packaged in a way that gives them some appeal in the bookshops. And conversely, the average nonfiction title is seen as having an educational value in an age when information is at a premium.

Computer literature is another category all together, with its own fads and fancies, such as being wide and floppy, and written by a demented geek. They usually go out-of-date very quickly and have to be constantly refreshed to be relevant. Newer technologies, like on-demand printing and ebooks, make sense in this sector.

Most technical books have an educational intent. An educational book should contain a body of knowledge in an accepted category, and in a format suitable for ease of assimilation and reference. In practice, many textbooks are opaque and some are unapproachable. This is probably because those with the greatest expertise may not be the best writers.

If you want to approach this field, have a good look at what’s currently available in specialist stores, the depth of coverage and target market.

Next: 12. Software Documentation.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 2nd, 2006 at 1:38 pm and is filed under Technical Writing, Business Writing, Publishing, TechBiz Writing, Educational Textbooks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.