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Can someone please recommend a good firm or contractor for writing and maintaining an online product manual in English?

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I had a good experience with the Documentation Doctor http://www.documentationdoctor.com/

I helped me with the creation of the manual for my text expansion software Direct Access.

Hope this helps. Andrea

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Oleg, You may want to try to scout technical writers on Odesk or Freelancer. If your product is highly technical, or complex, you may want to write the technical manual yourself and then hire a good editor to edit your document. This will save you some money, probably make it go quicker, and the editor will bring a 2nd set of fresh eyes to your documentation.

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Thank you for the suggestion. Our product is both technical and industry niche. However, writing is really not my forte so DYI is out. Never had a positive experience with freelancing sites such as Odesk. Many there do not speak English or require a tremendous amounts of hand-holding. Yes it's cheap but often you get what you pay for. – Oleg Barshay Jan 8 '11 at 9:33
I have hired americans on Odesk, although its a lot more expensive, its worth while. You could just place an ad on craigslist.org inn the gigs (free) or jobs (paid) saying you are looking for a technical writer. You will probably get 50+ resumes to look at, all with references and work samples if you write your ad requesting those. Just like building software, if you can provide a framework of exactly what you are looking at it would make the job easier (then cheaper). I personally would try to write an outline of what is required, and how it should be organized, also if you are specific – Frank Jan 8 '11 at 23:41
about the look then reference either your style guide or other technical documents that you like. – Frank Jan 8 '11 at 23:41

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