Ten Ways to Save Money When Publishing a Manual

1.

Put it online.

Putting a manual online is a sure-fire way to save money. You can put your manual on your company's intranet, the Internet, or on CD-ROM. Whichever you choose, the reproduction and distribution costs will drop dramatically; in fact, they will disappear altogether if you go the intranet/Internet route.

Of course this approach does have one drawback: The manual's readers must have access to a computer to read, print, or search through the manual. Therefore, if the audience for the manual cannot readily access a computer, this option is not for you.

2.

Put part of it online.

If the people reading the manual need installation instructions or other such information before they can view, print, or read your online manual, it may be a good idea to print that part of the manual and put the rest online. By printing a small segment of the manual (e.g., installation instructions, etc.) and putting the rest online, you can still achieve significant savings.

3.

E-mail the file and let the readers print out the manual themselves.

This is a way to shift the cost of printing to the readers of the manual. It's not as friendly as having the online manual always available on an intranet/Internet site, but if you can't put the online manual on a site (because of security reasons, corporate politics, etc.), this may be a cost-effective way to go.

One further tip about this option - it's a good idea to convert the manual into Adobe Acrobat .pdf format before e-mailing it. That way, it will look the same when printed (i.e., with the same page breaks, etc.) regardless of printer used.

This approach has a downside, particularly if the manual is a long one. Readers may become annoyed that they have to exert the time and energy to print out the manual. But if reader annoyance isn't a problem, this may be a viable option.

4.

Wait until the right time to start writing.

This tip has more to do with writing the manual than reproducing or distributing it. If you start writing the manual too soon, that is, before the policies or products are solidified, a lot of time and effort may be wasted crafting information that is headed for the trash bin. On the other hand, if you wait until everything is solidified, the manual may not be ready when the product must be delivered or the policies announced.

One solution to this dilemma is to start writing about only those product features or policies that are cast in concrete - even if they will appear at the end or middle of the manual. Remember: The manual does not have to be written sequentially.

And here's an associated tip that will help you with this tricky issue (i.e., when to start writing). Make sure you have a detailed outline of the manual to begin with and put it into a status sheet (using a spreadsheet or table). You can then keep a running record of the status of each section or subsection so you will know where you are as the project progresses.

5.

Keep control over the project.

In addition to the status sheet described above, it's also very important to create a schedule for the manual. This schedule should be developed in conjunction with the manual's outline, but should include other tasks in addition to writing and editing. For example, the schedule should include such "non-writing" items as:

• Interviewing
  
• Reviews by subject matter experts, developers, or management
  
• Proofreading
  

If you forget some of these tasks, or if you include them but don't encourage others to stick to the schedule, the whole project may wind up costing considerably more. For example, if subject matter experts are scheduled to review the manual by a specific date, but several of them never meet that date (a likely scenario) and only "get around to it" much later, you may have problems that can add time, effort, and money. If "late changes" force you to reorganize existing information or (worst case) cause you to pull the manual back from the printer, it can only add to the cost of the project.

The bottom line here is: Establish a schedule and try to keep to it. If you need to change the schedule, so be it. But once the schedule (new or revised) has been set, try to stick to it.

6.

Do you really need that text?

Many times people include information in manuals that is not really needed. For example, sometimes the history of why a particular procedure evolved is embedded within the procedure itself, or a long academic description of the scientific basis of a particular task prefaces the task. In most cases, such information serves to confuse the reader, who only opens the manual to find the answer to one particular question.

From a cost-savings point of view, such information only adds to the page count, which increases the overall cost. Extraneous information also increases costs because that information needs to be edited and proofread, just like the rest of the manual. So if the readers don't need to know it, leave it out.

7.

Do you really need that graphic?

The same rule of thumb applies to graphics. Now that it is so easy to include graphics in manuals, many people go "graphics crazy" and dump in pictures of every screen or part in the product. Vanilla graphics add nothing to a manual - they only create more pages and increase the cost of the manual. Save the graphics for when they can really add value - for example, to illustrate a difficult procedure or concept.

8.

Consider money-saving options when talking to your commercial printer or in-house print shop.

If you need to produce a printed manual, here are a few money-saving ideas that you can discuss with your printer:

• Make sure the manual is printed double-sided. This is an obvious way to cut production (i.e., paper) costs.
• Use spiral binding instead of three-ring loose leaf. Spiral binding is much cheaper. Of course the drawback is that readers cannot replace pages if information is updated (but then again, how many people actually replace pages anyway).
• Use sheets of colored paper instead of tabs. It may not look as professional, but it will save some dollars.
  

9.

Give your commercial printer or in-house print shop very specific printing instructions.

Be sure to provide written, specific printing instructions to your commercial printer or your in-house print shop. Printing mistakes can be extremely expensive.

Include the following information in your printing instructions:

• Paper specifications
• Binding specifications
• Tab specifications (with a list of text to be printed on each tab)
• Page count
• If the printer will print from files instead of hard copy, be sure to give him/her a list of file names and the order in which they should be printed.
• Double-sided printing instructions
• Color printing instructions (if needed)
• Number of copies
• Delivery/distribution instructions including place and date

10.

Update according to a schedule.

One way to jack up the price of a printed manual is to send out updates every time something changes. The best way to handle the inevitability of change is to publish an update schedule (for example, every six months) and try to stick to it.