Questions
- Do you need to share clear, well-structured and persuasive information?
- Are you writing against a specification and need to ensure that requirements are met?
- Would you like a co-author to help you develop your text to effectively reach its audience?
My writing support
There are many ways to approach writing; these are usually shaped by an objective and the target audience. Is the text intended to update stakeholders, try to win business or provide technical guidance? Does it evaluate activity, report performance, outline academic research or market a product? The style of writing will differ in each circumstance.
My writing isn’t creative and I am not the person you want to market your products. I work with teams to understand goals and information and then build a clear argument or summary to present your case effectively. This has been my approach for:
- writing and/or adding sections to research reports
- preparing project technical/evaluation reports
- summarising information and results on webpages or in blog posts
- arguing a case while writing a tender to win business.
This is a process built on discussion and understanding of what needs to be achieved and then structuring and writing a strong argument. My contribution is at its best when there is the opportunity to develop a deep understanding of the subject and objective.
My writing considers:
- clarity – communicating messages in a clear, understandable and persuasive manner
- structure and flow – designing the narrative to present a logical and evidenced argument
- attention to detail – being meticulous with facts, descriptions and formatting
- adaptability – adjusting the approach and tone to suit different audiences and purposes
- understanding the big picture – incorporating important messages into the text
- consistency – maintaining sentence structure, punctuation and spelling
- summary – presenting clear results, recommendations and calls to action.
Fellow editor Hazel Bird differentiates between originator-writing and builder-writing support within copyediting, with the latter building on the ideas and writing of others. My writing service uses a similar principle by developing and clearly presenting your concepts.
My writing experience
I have over 25 years of experience in writing varied texts. This has included bids/grant applications, project technical and evaluation reports, research papers/articles and deliverables, case studies, guides and web content.
My writing has often been collaborative. I have co-authored text with subject experts and built on their content – clarifying information for non-specialists, writing bridging sections and providing structure – to ensure that documents read well and meet objectives.
My writing benefits from my experience as a project manager, developmental and copyeditor, as I can draw on skills from each role to suit the tone and purpose of your document and increase its chances of success.
You did an amazing job developing the City of Culture evaluation website turning the plan into pages of detailed results.
Tim Healey, Coventry City Council Insights team. Member of the UK City of Culture 2021 monitoring and evaluation team.
I wrote the final REACH project deliverable that described the activities undertaken and summarised results
Case studies
The featured case studies include examples of my written contribution to European Commission funded research projects, UK City of Culture 2021 – where I wrote content for a 76-page evaluation website – and E-learning content creation lessons.
How I can help
If you have information that you need to present – individually or as part of a project – I can help you to prepare and write a report that highlights what has been done.
I can work with authors and offer guidance on structure, write additional text to bridge and/or strengthen content or summarise the results of work undertaken.
Initial discussion
We can start with a free 30-minute exploratory call to get to know each other and discuss your needs and the help that I can offer.
Your requirement may be urgent, with a looming deadline, or might require ongoing contributions as part of a larger undertaking.
You can explain to me what you need – purpose, length, format, style, audience and deadline, as well as any specific requirements. From there we can agree responsibilities, timeline and cost to form a written brief.
Developing an understanding
Whether writing a tender to win business or a report/web content outlining completed activities and results, it is important that I have a thorough understanding of what has happened or is intended.
You would need to provide me with information, meet with me (probably several times) to discuss the background, objective and concept, and then to answer questions when I begin to shape the content. Without this stage it can be difficult to produce text that accurately fulfils its requirements.
Process and return
Once you have sent me the required information, I will confirm receipt. I will keep you informed of progress and/or any issues that may arise, and probably be in touch with further questions.
I will aim to return the work by the agreed date, together with any supplementary notes. We could add another call at this handover stage, especially if work is ongoing.
You will then have the choice of how you use any text provided.
If I discover that the brief doesn’t fully cover the work needed, I will contact you immediately to discuss options.
Support options
Our initial meeting will inform my approach to your work. The reasons that the time needed will vary include:
- the text being written collaboratively – co-authoring with a subject expert
- the amount of background information shared in advance of writing
- how well developed the concept is or whether I will work with you to reach this stage
- the detail of any specification/template that needs to be followed
- time taken for additional questions to be answered or for me to find and understand additional information
Cost for content writing
The cost of the work will depend on factors that include how well developed your concept is ahead of writing, timescales (for sharing ideas and until the deadline), length and the best option for you.
There is no standard price, but before starting we will agree the brief for the work to be done and a related fee.
My hourly rate is £45.65 per hour.