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fix a white paper length

How to fix a draft that’s too short or too long

I’ve seen everything from a one-page sales sheet to a 100-page book called a “white paper.”

Clearly those were both extreme examples.

Most white papers today are 6 to 8 pages of main body (2,000 to 3,500 words) plus 5 or more pages at the start and end:

  • Front matter: cover, contents page, executive summary
  • Back matter: conclusions, call-to-action, about the company, sources

That means the final page count is usually 12 to 16 pages total.

But what if your draft is way too short or too long? Can you fix it?

Yes, you can. And here are some practical tips on how to do it.

 


1-page white paper from ACOM     1-page white paper from HP

Sample one-page “white papers” 

That’s not enough to develop a strong argument with ample facts and logic

 

Click the thumbnail
to see each sample


How to fix a white paper that’s too short

Here are some signs your draft white paper is too short:

  • You have only 1,000 words
  • The title promises a deep dive, but the draft only skims the surface
  • The argument has some gaping holes
  • Your reviewers say there’s not enough there

Suppose the sponsor sells something for $100,000 a pop. And all you’ve got is 1,000 words.

Do you think that’s enough to convince a skeptical B2B buyer to part with that much money?

Me neither. tape measure short

B2B prospects want useful information that helps them understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision.

What if you get them interested enough to download your white paper, but it’s so short it doesn’t engage them?

Your white paper will fail.

Some reasons why your draft may be too short 

  • The topic was too small for a white paper
  • The sponsor tried to cut corners on timing or budget
  • The writer didn’t do enough research
  • The writer submitted a draft too soon

Some solutions you can try

Here are seven ways to add more bulk to a skinny white paper. And none of these involve pumping it up with hot air or silly filler.

Too short tip 1: Check that your idea is big enough

Your idea may be too small to sustain an entire white paper.

Did you deal with only one corner of a problem that’s actually much bigger?

Can you expand the scope to cover the whole problem?

For more on what size of idea works best for a white paper, see this quick tip.

If your idea is too small, brainstorm a more useful or meaty idea and start over.

Try AI for help; it’s great at brainstorming. Show the AI your draft and then ask things like:

  • What else could I add to this topic?
  • What am I leaving out?
  • What else would readers be interested related to this topic?
  • How could I expand this draft to be more comprehensive?

Too short tip 2: Review your project plan

Review your timelines and your budget.

If you’re the sponsor, are you expect the writer to produce too much, too fast, for too little money?

Can you review your deadlines and lengthen them? Or review your budget and invest more?

Too short tip 3: Talk to your writer

Ask about their other commitments. Do they have too many balls in the air?

Did they send in that draft sooner than they should have? Maybe just to show you they were working on it?

Can your writer commit to expanding the draft to a defined word count? How about 3,000 words?

Make sure to say you don’t want fluff and filler. You want solid ideas, expressed clearly and concisely. You want every word to count.

If your writer can’t commit, can you find another writer?

Too short tip 4: Do more research

If your idea is big but your paper is small, you need to do more research and add more content.

That means doing more interviews with experts and more web research. Here are some specifics depending on which flavor you’re working on.


scoop of chocolate ice cream

For a problem/solution (chocolate) white paper

Dig deeper into the problem.

Come up with statistics that show how big it is and how long it has plagued the industry.

Get some expert opinions and sound bites.

Then look at all the traditional ways of solving the problem.

Express each one in generic terms as a class or category, not a specific product name. Then shows its drawbacks or unintended consequences.

Doing all that will expand your argument and make your paper longer and much more persuasive.


scoop of strawberry ice cream

For a numbered list (strawberry) white paper

I often devote a whole page to each point. You can have some white space at the bottom, that’s okay.

In fact, that’s a relief to any reader.

If you have three or four points wrapped up in two  pages, you’re not going deep enough.

Rethink your list of points or issues. If you only have three or four, see if you can double that.

Can you split some points in two? Can you think of anything you left out? AI can help here.

Then for each point, dig in and find numbers, dates, quotable quotes… the  evidence that makes a strong case for that point.

Doing all that will lengthen and deepen your numbered list.


scoop of vanilla ice creamFor a backgrounder (vanilla) white paper

You may not be covering enough features and benefits. Or you may not be covering them in enough detail.

Organize your research around the key features and benefits of your offering.

Some technical benefits could be security, privacy, flexibility, transparency, ease of set up, ease of maintenance, ease of disposal, user-centered design.

Some financial benefits could be lower cost, shorter learning curve, longer life, lower total cost of ownership, fewer or cheaper consumables, and so on.

Covering more features and benefits will make your backgrounder longer and more compelling.


Too short tip 5: Add some front and back matter

Does your white paper have a text-only cover that lists the contents?

Use this quick tip to find a good cover photo and move the contents inside. You just gained a page and made your white paper more attractive.

Of course, you have an executive summary at the start, plus conclusions with call-to-action at the back, right? If not, add them.

You can get AI to write your executive summary as described in this tip.

Don’t forget to include About the Company at the back. Just paste in the standard boilerplate from a press release or About the Company on the website.

Doing all these simple steps will add four pages to your draft.

And those four pages won’t be  filler or fluff; they’ll be useful components that should be in every white paper.

Too short tip 6: Rethink the typography

Sometimes a white paper is too short because the typesetting is too severe, with no white space at the edges, tiny type, and run-on paragraphs.

Add more white space all around. Set your line width to 75 or so characters. If it’s at 100 or 120 characters, that’s too hard to read.

Break up long paragraphs. At a minimum, start a new paragraph every five lines.

These measures will expand your draft and make it far easier to scan and read.

Too short tip 7: Add graphics

Is your draft a wall of text, unrelieved by any visuals? You can make it more appealing and longer at the same time.

Can you think of an infographic that sums up the whole paper in one visual?

Can you simply reuse slices of the cover graphic as visuals inside?

Can you sprinkle some inexpensive stock photos throughout?

Can you use any screen snaps from your software?

Can you even pose some reasonable photos yourself?

 

Following some or all of these tips will make your white paper longer and more effective as well. Good luck!

 


Fixing a white paper that’s too long

white paper so long it falls over

 

 

Here are some signs that your draft white paper is too long:

• You have 25 or more pages
• The text seems rambling and verbose
• The argument is roundabout and unclear
• Your reviewers can barely get through it

 

I often see this problem when a company does their first white paper.

—They want to do too much with one document.

—They try to speak to people from start to finish of their customer journey.

—And they try to reach many goals with one document: generate leads, engage customers through a long sales cycle, beat out competitors, and make sales.

So they throw in everything but the kitchen sink.

The problem is, prospects at different stages of their journey need different types of information. One document can’t speak to everyone and achieve every goal.

Some technical audiences will read a white paper that’s 30 or 40 pages, as long as it provides useful information.

But most B2B business people won’t put up with that.

They want to get useful info that helps them understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. And they don’t have all day.

That’s why most white papers are 12 to 16 pages, total.

tape measure long

Some reasons why your draft may be too long 

  • Idea too big for a white paper
  • Trying to cover too much
  • Draft submitted too early
  • Verbose writing style needs copyediting

Some solutions you can try

Here are four ways to slim down a white paper that’s too bulky. And all these tips will help make your white paper more effective.

Too long tip 1: Check that your idea is focused

Are you trying to appeal to prospects at every point on their customer journey: start, middle, and end? Can you focus on just one part of the journey?

Are you trying to “boil the ocean” by discussing some massive problem?

Are there any side issues you can drop?

For more on what size of idea works best for a white paper, see this quick tip.

If your idea is too big, see if you can you scale back the scope.

Trying using AI to help. Show it your draft and then ask things like:

  • What could I leave out of this paper without diminishing it?
  • What parts of this paper could likely bore readers?
  • How could I shorten this draft?

Too long tip 2: Cut it in two

Here’s a great piece of advice I heard years ago: Make every white paper as granular as your budget allows.

In other words, if you have the money to do two white papers, don’t try to cram every possible detail into one.

So if your draft is too long, see if you can split it into two or even three papers.

Then each paper will be shorter and more accessible. And you’ll get three chances to impress prospects instead of only one.

Too long tip 3: Compress the text

Ask yourself, “Do they really need to know this?” Or can you drop some details that only 10% or 20% of your readers care about?

Once the scope is reasonable, cut it down to size and polish the remaining text.

One way to compress text is by using shorter words, shorter sentences, and shorter paragraphs.

To see how, check out this quick tip.

Try to compress the draft by at least 10% on every pass through it.


PassWords before10% reductionWords after
16,0006005,400
25,4005404,860
34,8604804,380

See how quickly these cuts can add up?

In just three passes, you can cut 1,620 words or more than one-quarter (27%) of the original draft.

You can make this a game, seeing all the places you can cut a word or two without losing any meaning.


Too long tip 4: Don’t try any of these

Don’t shrink the white space.

Don’t cut graphics that actually work.

Don’t reduce the size of the type.

Doing any of those no-nos will just make the same rambling text harder to read, without doing anything to solve the real problem.

 

professional copywriter

Too long tip 5: Hire a professional editor

If your team can’t do this kind of copyediting, and you don’t trust AI to do it for you, consider hiring a professional editor who knows the white paper format.

You can even give an editor a target word count.

“Here’s our 6,000-word draft. We need you to compress it down to 4,000 words.”

They’ll do it.

For example, over the years I’ve edited dozens of white paper drafts that clients brought to me.

See more about my white paper revision services here.

Conclusions

Following these tips will help your draft end up at the sweet spot for a white paper today: 6 to 8 pages of main body, or 12 to 16 pages total.

A white paper that length will meet your prospect’s expectations, with enough depth to develop your arguments, but not so much detail it’s overwhelming.

Good luck!


For more useful tips like this, get my free newsletter.  

About Gordon Graham

Worked on 328 white papers for clients from Silicon Valley to Switzerland, on everything from choosing enterprise software to designing virtual worlds for kids, for clients from tiny startups to 3M, Google, and Verizon. Wrote White Papers for Dummies which earned 60+ 5-star ratings on Amazon. Won 16 awards from the Society for Technical Communication. Named AWAI 2019 Copywriter of the Year.

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