I've asked a Marcom Super-Star, Indium Corporation's Anita Brown, to share her thoughts with us. Take it away, Anita.
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_x000D__x000D_Indium Corporation recently honored its 2008 Silver Quill Award winners. This award recognizes the best paper(s) of the year from all the technical papers and articles written throughout the previous year. As I left the presentation, two award winners remarked to me that, "I could not have done this without you."_x000D__x000D_As any editor would freely admit, this was music to my ears. Not only because it was recognition of a job well-done, but also because it was a reminder of how far we had progressed._x000D__x000D_It was not long ago that Marcom had to "require" that authors send us their paper for editing before submitting it for publication. Authors viewed our editing process as criticism of their writing skills. They were offended by each and every edit, were annoyed if we asked questions about what they meant by a certain phrase or an acronym, and resisted any advice for how to improve their paper. In fact, after one round of edits, one author remarked, "You have taken the soul out of my paper."_x000D__x000D_Today, the whole relationship is dramatically improved. Authors come to us for advice before they begin writing. They submit drafts early so "Marcom can do their magic". In fact, they would not even consider submitting a paper before we have had a chance to edit it._x000D__x000D_What is the reason for this reversal in attitude? Trust and teamwork!_x000D__x000D_Over time, we have proven that Marcom can be a valuable team-player in the technical writing process. We ask questions to better understand what they are trying to convey to the reader and then offer suggestions to clarify what they want to say. We make sure authors are comfortable with each and every change we make. They trust that we will work with them to produce a top-quality paper – and a top-quality personal brand. As a result, we now have over 16 enthusiastic engineers authoring 25-30 high-quality technical papers each year._x000D__x000D_Each time our customers eagerly seek and consume this extremely valuable technical content I am reminded of how far we've come as a team – improving both the quantity and quality of our output. It truly is a tribute to trust and teamwork!_x000D__x000D_I want to thank Indium's Silver Quill Award Winners, and ALL our technical writers, for your sincere and professional team spirit._x000D_