Quick tip: Fix a draft white paper that’s too long
So you’ve written a draft white paper, but it’s way too long.
Now your reviewers and your sponsor are complaining.
So can you shorten a draft that’s way too long?
Yes, you can. And here are five practical tips how.
What’s too long, anyway?
Technical people may read a white paper 30 or 40 pages long, as long as it provides them 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.
Some signs your draft white paper is too long
• You have 25 pages or more
• The text seems rambling and verbose
• The argument is roundabout and unclear
• Your reviewers can barely get through it
This isn’t an unusual problem, especially if a company is doing their first white paper. That’s when they tend to throw in everything but the kitchen sink.
Here’s why. The sponsor is likely trying:
- To do too much with one document
- To speak to people at every stage of the customer journey
- To reach many goals with a single document
One white paper can do a lot. But it can’t do everything.
Prospects at different stages of their journey need different types of information.
A single white paper can’t help generate leads, engage customers through a long sales cycle, beat out competitors, and make sales.
One document can’t speak to everyone and achieve every goal. A white paper needs planning and focus to achieve one most important goal and speak to prospects at a certain stage of the customer journey.
Some reasons why your draft may be too long
- The topic is too big for one white paper
- The writer didn’t have enough direction
- The writer submitted the draft too soon
- The verbose writing needs copyediting
Here are five 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?
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 can I focus this on one part of the customer journey?
- 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.
| Pass | Words before | 10% reduction | Words after |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6,000 | 600 | 5,400 |
| 2 | 5,400 | 540 | 4,860 |
| 3 | 4,860 | 480 | 4,380 |
See how quickly these cuts can add up?
In three passes, you can cut more than 1,500 words or more than one-quarter (27%) of the original draft.
You can make this a game, to see where you can cut a word or two without losing any meaning.
Too long tip 4: Don’t try any of these silly ideas
Don’t shrink the white space.
Don’t cut headings, tables, or 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.
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 compress 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 of 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!
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