Check out a Behind the Scenes Look at How to Write a Whitepaper Along with Writer Confessions

An interesting article appeared on Decrypt Media. The article, titled Confessions of a White Paper Writer, identifies who writes white papers, what goes into the research, and how much does it cost to have a white paper written. Here is a summary of the piece.

It appears that white paper writing is outsourced to contractors, many who have limited technology knowledge. Contractors can come in the form of freelancers, while others work for “white-paper mills.” Platforms seem to also implement an interview process to vet writers, which may ensure that that the right person is doing the job. As for the rates, they can range anywhere from $1,000 to $50,000 per piece. The cost may be justified due to the amount of time, work, and research that goes into the project.

The downside is that when writers take on the project, they may be asked to fabricate or exaggerate facts. Writer Adefemi Yusuff Adegoke shared with Decrypt,

“Most itme[s], there are cases of funding budget padding. A project that can be executed with $180k funding budget can be padded up to $450K. And they won’t report the total amount realized during ICO. Most of the fraud[s] are in the miscellaneous part of the budget. Those ones go directly into the pockets of the CEO and CTO.”

Volodymyr Malyshkin, CEO of whitepaper provider Illuminates stated something similar. In writing white papers, he has been frequently asked to include “fake numbers” in the platform’s work. During white paper writing projects, they are also asked to invent business models on behalf of their clients.

This kind of insight should certainly give people pause, especially because white papers are meant to serve as a point of information for many.