White Paper World 57: March 26, 2025
- Quick tip: Get to know your designer
- This just in: Help deciding when to use AI
- What I’m reading: Sh@dy Charac†ers by Ke!th H*uston
- Coming soon: That White Paper Studio™
Read in 9 minutes. Listen in 15:45 minutes:
Quick tip: Get to know your designer
3-minute read.
When you’re working with a designer, do you just “throw your text over the wall?”
Do you ever talk to the designer?
If not, how can you expect them to figure out what you want to see?
Every time I’ve taken a few minutes to talk to the designer, things have gone well.
But the times I never talked to the designer?
The times my client assured me the designer was very experienced and could figure it all out on their own?
That’s when things did not go well
That’s when we ended up with a white paper that was completely unreadable or downright embarrassing.
You don’t want that. So follow these five simple steps to get to know your designer.
Step 1: Introduce yourself
To start, just email or text the designer to introduce yourself.
You can type: “I’m the writer doing the next white paper for Acme Software. Just wanted to say hi.”
Step 2: Exchange contact info and preferred channels
Give the designer your contact info and the channel you prefer to use.
“I like email and you can reach me best at [email protected].”
If you only pay attention to texts or Slack or WhatsApp, tell them.
Then ask for the designer’s preferred channel.
Step 3: Discuss the timeframe and workflow
This isn’t a social call, so bring up the project quickly.
Sketch in the expected scope:
• White paper of 10 or 12 pages
• Ideal reader is a 50- to 60-year-old decision-maker
• Visual cover, ideally a photo showing the intended reader
• A couple of tables
• 10 or 12 footnotes
Give them the timeframe: Must be out in time for a customer event on May 21.
You’ll aim to get the approved text to them by the end of April.
Ask about the look: Is there a corporate template they’re supposed to follow? Can they send you a document they’ve done using it?
Define file formats: If you’ll write in Word and send them pie charts from Excel, tell them.
Or if your client expects you to use Google Docs or some content management system, tell them.
Ask if you can type your design notes right in your file, highlighted in yellow.
And mention that you’re happy to proofread the PDF before it goes out. This will help you both look good.
Ask if they have any concerns.
Step 4: Check them out
If the designer has a website, visit it to check out their samples.
See if you can find out how long they’ve worked with your client. If it’s the first time for both of you, there’s a lot more at stake.
If they haven’t done many white papers, ask if they’d like some design tips.
Then point them to this set of tips, complete with a checklist.
Is the designer going on safari right when your white paper is due?
Step 5: If in doubt, suggest a quick Zoom
Most designers are very reliable. But a few times, I’ve heard things that sounded like a showstopper.
For example, a designer could be planning a three-week safari in Kenya right when you need them to work on your white paper.
They could be getting married. Having a baby. Or moving across the country.
If it sounds like they can’t possibly have any bandwidth to do your white paper, suggest a quick Zoom to reassure yourself.
Consider bringing your client in on that call as well.
Conclusion
Never toss your text over the wall to a designer you’ve never met.
Put in the effort to get to know them instead. It only takes a few minutes and it can make a big difference in the success of your white paper.
Thanks to designer Oliver Sutherns for reviewing this article in advance.
This just in: Help deciding when to use AI
2.5-minute read.
The third annual AI for Writers Summit was held on March 6, and I got a lot out of it.
The speakers included:
- Andy Crestidini the website expert who dispensed more rapid-fire marketing and prompting tips than I could keep up with
- Mike Kaput from summit sponsor Marketing AI Institute who spoke about AI-powered research
- Mitch Joel the journalist-podcaster-entrepreneur who shared some inspiring reflections on creativity in the age of AI.
Once again, this was a pragmatic and thought-provoking event for any professional writer.
You can still get the on-demand recordings for $99 here: https://www.marketingaiinstitute.com/education/bundles/writers25
The highlight for me
The very best idea I picked up at the summit is the five-part scale from Marketing AI Institute founder Paul Roetzer that he calls the Human-to-Machine (H2M) Scale for Writers.™
You can see his detailed slides at LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7303793642958118913/
In a nutshell, Paul defines five different mixes of human and AI input for a piece of writing.
Level 0 is All Human with no AI, while Level 4 is All Machine with no human. The other three are a mix of both.
Paul pegs white papers at Level 1, Mostly Human
“The author leads, but uses AI for specific tasks like research, brainstorming, outlining, and editing,” he says. “The author retains control over direction and voice.”
Also at this level, he includes:
- Academic papers
- Editorials
- Speeches
- Thought leadership
These are all the pieces where you want an authentic, original voice or a unique perspective.
Paul confirms that doing a white paper requires a level of creativity and perspective that AI can’t match today.
What great news for white paper writers!
Other formats can use more AI
He places many other types of writing into Level 2 or Half-and-Half, including:
- Case studies
- Email campaigns
- Marketing copy
- Press releases
- Social media posts
At this level, the AI can generate drafts for the human to refine. These pieces are more formulaic and fact-based, so the focus is more on throughput.
Level 3 or Mostly Machine is for things like FAQs, product descriptions, SEO content, technical documentation, and some social media.
And Level 4 or All Machine is for metadata, news briefs, notifications, routine emails, and summaries of longer documents.
At this level, you’re cranking out low-impact, repetitive or standardized items where volume matters more than creativity.
Using the H2M scale is simple:
- Ask yourself what you need to write.
- Place that on the scale: the more personality and uniqueness you need, the lower the number.
- Use AI accordingly, for more or less of the final piece.
Try it! And let me know if it helps you decide when and how much to use AI.
What I’m reading: Sh@dy Charac†ers by Ke!th H*uston
2.5-minute read.
Have you ever stopped to wonder where characters like & or @ or # really come from?
From the days when I first started reading maybe 65 years ago, I’ve been fascinated by these little marks.
That’s why I was thrilled to come across this book on the intriguing history of our common symbols and punctuation marks.
Sh@dy Charac†ers covers some of my personal favourites:
- & the ampersand, once considered the 27th letter of the alphabet
- ‽ the interrobang, which I encountered in college and always type ?!
- † the dagger, second fiddle to the asterisk (*) for footnotes
- the manicule, or pointing finger
¶ The vanishing pilcrow
The “backwards P” or “paragraph mark” is properly called the pilcrow. Here’s how the author describes his research into it.
The story of this one character took in the birth of punctuation, the ancient Greeks, the coming of Christianity, Charlemagne, medieval writing, and England’s greatest 20th century typographer.
In medieval times when books were copied by hand, monks left a space at the start of every paragraph. A brother called the rubricator would come along later to fill in those spaces with pilcrows in red ink.
When time ran out before all the pilcrows were added in, blank spaces remained.
“Unfortunately, the deadline is not a modern invention,” notes the author.
The first printed books were modelled after these manuscripts. All paragraphs in books used to start with an empty space to be filled in with a hand-painted pilcrow.
That worked, for a time. But as more and more books were printed, it became impossible to get to all those missing marks.
“The rubricated pilcrow became a ghost,” says Houston. “Its brief reign as the de facto paragraph mark was over, usurped by the indented paragraph.”
And that’s why we still indent paragraphs to this day!
Three more things worth noting about this book
- The typography is impeccable, with all special symbols printed in red ink in honour of the early rubricators.
- Many photos of early manuscripts and type specimens are included.
- The research is insanely deep, with multiple notes on every page.
The back matter alone takes up 96 pages, including:
- Further Reading
- Acknowledgements
- Notes packed with links to books, articles, and websites
- Illustration Credits
- Key to Symbols
- Index
An aside about em dashes (—)
After reading about the history of punctuation stretching from the librarians of Alexandria to today, I shake my head when some idiot on social media says something must be written by AI because it has em dashes.
Is that so? That’s funny, I’ve been using em dashes—the proper way, with no spaces—for many years. Even on a typewriter, when I had to type two dashes in a row like this —.
Em dashes are a supremely useful container for an aside you can’t bring yourself to leave out.
And this book includes an entire chapter on dashes, featuring no less than seven different varieties.
So if you’re fascinated by the quirky origins of our everyday punctuation marks, Sh@dy Charac†ers is a must-read.
Coming soon: That White Paper Studio™
1-minute read.
Have you ever wished for a faster, easier way to do a white paper?
A method that maintains high quality, but cuts down the time and effort it takes to deliver one of these challenging projects?
Well, I’ve been designing something that might change how you approach white papers forever.
I call it That White Paper Studio™
This isn’t just another course or e-book.
It’s a complete online studio, with practical tools you can pick up and use immediately:
- Templates for every type of white paper
- Checklists that keep you on track
- Tips and tricks that banish the “blank page” and get your moving
- AI helpers specifically engineered for white papers (not generic fluff)
That White Paper Studio harnesses AI as your assistant—not your replacement.
And to make sure your white paper gets finished, I’ll be available for studio hours when you can visit and ask me any questions on your mind.
Be one of the first to visit
I’m seeking a select group of writers to explore the Studio before it opens to all.
Your feedback will help me apply the finishing touches before the official opening later in 2025.
Interested in getting a sneak preview?
Click here to join the early access list!
As we get closer to the public beta, I’ll be in touch with select writers.
This is just the first sketch. More details coming soon.
If you like this newsletter…
Here are three ways to support it.
Thank you to all the people who have bought me a coffee—your support means so much to me!
2. Buy my book White Papers For Dummies. It’s been called “priceless… terrific… outstanding… fantastic… excellent in every way.”
And for less than $20, it’s a steal.
3. Pass it on: Forward this newsletter to any of your writer buddies who would appreciate these useful tips and guidance.
Gordon Graham
That White Paper Guy
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