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Why do I need a technical writer?

Most educated people write reasonably well, but writing technical materials, such as software user manuals and reports on scientific research, requires a specialized set of skills. It takes time to master the theory and learn the "best practices" of the technical writing profession. Hiring a skilled technical writer (me, for instance) offers you the following benefits:

Clearer communication
Reduced support costs
Reduced documentation costs

Clearer communication

Technical writers communicate more clearly:

Most scientists, engineers, programmers, and other product developers are experts in their field, but are only comfortable writing for an audience of their peers. But a product's manual must usually meet the needs of an entirely different audience: the users of the product, who know far less about the product than its designers.
Technical writers translate between the developer's jargon and the simpler language the product's users require. This is equally true for unconventional products, such as information itself (for example, technology transfer materials).
Words aren't always the best medium to communicate a concept. A judiciously chosen mixture of words and graphics often communicates more effectively.
Technical writers can help you redesign a product's user interface to reduce the need for documentation—sometimes by enough to repay the cost of the writer.
High-quality documentation reflects well on your company. Readers often assume that if the documentation is poor, the product won't be much better.

Reduced support costs

Good manuals reduce calls to your technical-support department:

Technical writers think of the task from the user's perspective, not the designer's perspective. Thus, they explain better how users can reach their goals. Customers who learn how to complete their tasks by reading the documentation won't have to call your support staff.
Nobody reads manuals, right? That's a myth. At a minimum, most people at least consult the index or table of contents to see whether the manual will answer their questions. Technical writers can improve access to the information, thereby reducing support calls that arise purely because readers can't find the information they need.
While documenting a product, technical writers test the product to learn how it really works. In doing so, they often discover bugs or usability problems. Fixing those problems before you release the product ensures that your customers will never encounter the problems. In addition, technical writers often develop a more holistic view of a product than is possible for its developers, who must focus intensely on their own small parts of the product.
Technical writers develop expertise in effective user-interface design, something most product developers never formally study. By proposing a streamlined, more effective interface, the technical writer frees developers to work on the more time-consuming task of making the underlying code work correctly.

Reduced documentation costs

Hiring a technical writer can significantly reduce your documentation costs:

Technical writers can write more concisely without sacrificing quality, resulting in shorter manuals and lower printing costs.
Whether you publish your documentation in print or online, shorter documents reduce the time requirement for reviews, thereby reducing review costs. Because it's also easier to focus on a shorter document, the quality of the reviews will improve.
The primary job of a technical writer is to write, and professional writers create documentation faster than the product's developers. Even the rare developer who writes quickly and effectively can easily cost you twice as much per hour as a technical writer—and they won't be producing anything you can sell while they're writing. Hiring a technical writer not only reduces writing costs, but also frees your product developers to do the job you hired them for: product development.