OK, OK, I'll do it. Product recommendations? Will I need to invest in some sort of spreading tool?
Not really. I try to find some cheap Winterizer high in Nitrogen (which must usually are). You'll need some sort of spreader because you want it fairly accurate. With the chemical Nitrogen content you can burn your lawn. Check Craigslist.
Compost is ok this time of year. Not going to really provide much benefit because the grass and what not are getting ready to go dormant. I stop applying organic fertilizer typically in October to give it time for the soil to "take it in."
The best thing you can do this time of year is mow those leaves in. I typically collect and distribute several hundred lbs of leaves over my entire lawn and mow them in. I can't believe people still rake them and set them out for the garbage man. It's the best FREE organic fertilizer for your lawn. They might not look great chopped up all over the lawn, but they will disappear after a few weeks once the soil microbes have chowed down on them. Relating to the Compost application, if you feed your soil organic matter (ie. coffee grounds, alfalfa pellets, soybean meal, Milorganite, sawdust, grass clippings, etc.) your soil microbe population will naturally grow. And happy soil makes happy grass. Compost is great, but's just a temporary "shot in the arm." Compost adds organic content (microbes), but they still need food.
Sorry for the long post, I used to be a HUGE lawn nut.