Time for Step 2 of the “Beginner’s Medical Writing” series – a step-by-step guide to getting yourself started in freelance medical writing. Remember – this is not a “get rich quick” guide, but merely an extremely basic guide for those of you who are pondering branching into medical writing, but don’t quite know how to make the first moves.

A couple of days ago, I suggested in Step 1 that it would be a good idea to start right from scratch – literally just trying to decide which area of medical writing you wanted to focus on initially. So hopefully you now know whether you are going to venture into the scientific or the non-scientific/marketing side.

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Step 2: Get Yourself Out There

Now that you know you want to branch into freelance work, it’s time to put yourself out there. Let’s face it, if you don’t tell the world where you are & what you can do, it can’t find you!

So you need an online presence. There are numerous ways for you to accomplish this – you can set up a website or a blog yourself – free or paid – or you can pay someone to set you up with either one, with all the bells & whistles that a web designer can throw your way. If you are a procrastinator, you could spend weeks or more, just pondering on how to do this perfectly. During this time, you might lose time that could be spent working on your first project, & earning your first $100.

So why procrastinate? Obviously if you’re extremely organized & focused & know exactly what you want, then go for it in however which way you prefer. But if you’re hesitating because you’re still not sure what you ultimately want your site to look like, & if you’re living in a world of “what ifs” then my advice is this:

Just sign up for a free blog now!

 

But What If….?

I know, you probably can’t make up your mind about what to name your business.  Maybe you’ll even want to change its name later? And what if you don’t like the blog in 3 months? Maybe you’ll change your writing focus at a later date too?

None of these things matter – your business will be forever evolving. The most important thing right now is that you get started. If you’re not even sure what to call your business right now, just register the blog under your name initially. You’ll be able to change the header of the blog page any time you like – it could start off as your name & progress to a business name at a later date. Likely you’ll be more tech-savvy than I am too, so if I can cope with an online presence, then so can you!

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Should I Buy My Own Domain?

Many business-related sites advise just buying your own domain from the start – go for it if this is what you want, but if you’re still wondering where the freelance world might take you, then starting out with a free blog gives the advantage of zero financial risk for you. If you decide that this isn’t for you in a year’s time, then you’ve lost nothing financially. If your business takes off, however, you can break into your own domain whenever you feel comfortable. There are plenty of talented web designers around who can help you convert your current free blog over to your new domain if necessary (and if you’re lucky, you may even have a friend in the business to help!).

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Back To The Free Blog

Probably the two main, free blog-hosting sites are WordPress.com (which I use for this blog) and Blogger.com, although there are other options available too (do a Google search so you can be sure you’ve covered all bases). I’ve used both of these options, and have found pros and cons with both. Overall though, I do prefer the cleaner, crisper look that the WordPress themes seem to offer. You can easily do some shopping around though and check out the free themes that the blog hosting sites offer – this will help you decide which site to choose initially. And again, you can still swap sites whenever you choose, so all is not lost if you have second thoughts somewhere down the line.

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My Blog Is Set Up – What Now?

Very basically, to get you started you’ll want to at least add the following:

  • Title header (your business name, or just your name)
  • Descriptive subtitle (be as descriptive as you like, but write something so that when visitors land there, they immediately see exactly what your blog is about
  • About Me (tell visitors who you are, what you do, any relevant qualifications, & how to contact you)

OK, so now you’re moving!  Next up is your homework assignment. I’m going to ask you to decide on titles for three posts (maybe around 500-1000 words each) – then plan an outline for each of them, and lastly, get started writing them.

If you are stuck for ideas to get you started, why not make your first post an introduction to who you are, and what kind of medical writing you are offering? Other ideas include choosing to write about a couple of medical conditions that interest you, or maybe a condition that’s prominent in the news right now.

Step 3 will follow soon, but in the meantime, get your thinking caps on & enjoy writing……..

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A couple of days ago I talked about my guest post Anne Wayman’s great freelance writing site where you’ll find a wealth of advice for writers of any genre.

I was astounded by the response. In addition to a few people dropping in on Anne’s site with comments & questions about how to further themselves in freelance medical, I also received many emails from folk looking for any information on actually breaking into the medical writing world.

So I decided it might be a good idea to share some of my insights for starting-up. Maybe a “Beginner’s Medical Writing” series – a step-by-step guide to getting yourself started in freelance medical writing.

I can’t tell you how to get rich quick, how to become an overnight success, or give your any links to sites advertising heaps of high-paying writing jobs. But I can share some tips based on how I got started in the freelance medical writing world.

I’ll be sharing some very basic things from the ground upwards – most of the people who contacted me had questions that focused around the “breaking in” aspect, so I hope to be able to provide some encouragement for anyone thinking of becoming a freelance medical writer (or a freelance “anything” writer, for that matter).

I’m no techno-guru (quite the exact opposite, as it happens!), so if I can do this, you can too!

Which Branch Of Medical Writing?

Just as for any career, whether online or offline, you first need to decide which area of medical writing you’d like to be involved in. Naturally this may change as time goes by & you take on different projects and develop different preferences; however, at least initially it is wise to target some area to get you started. In determining which type of writing you would like to do, you will also have to take into account your educational qualifications and professional experiences.

Although there are large numbers of medical writers who do not have any scientific educational qualifications, there is no doubt that having some scientific qualifications is necessary for some areas of medical writing. Pharmaceutical companies, for instance, typically employ scientifically qualified individuals as regulatory medical writers.

Of the medical writers who I know who are non-scientists, the majority either have a degree in English, or journalism, or some other field that translates into “communication”. Additionally, some have professional backgrounds in marketing, public relations, as well as other similar careers. And certainly, much of the work undertaken by non-scientific medical writers tends to revolve around marketing.

So certainly your initial leap into medical writing might be better accomplished if you focus in on an aspect that you can more easily lever your way into, based on either your educational qualifications, or previous professional experiences.

Examples Of Work Typically Undertaken By Scientific Medical Writers

  • Preparing scientific journal articles, abstracts, posters or presentations
  • Medical editing
  • Preparation of medical education materials
  • Writing white papers
  • Preparing regulatory documents

Examples Of Work Typically Undertaken By Non-Scientific Medical Writers

  • Patient education material
  • Proposal writing
  • Public relations
  • Training manuals
  • Magazine articles
  • Newsletters
  • Internet content

These are by no means exhaustive lists, and there’s no divisive wall between the two types of writers – you’ll certainly find both types of writer in both types of work category. But hopefully this is a general guide that will help you decide what type of medical writing might be a good area for you to kick-start yourself into.

So I’ll conclude “Step 1” by encouraging you to spend a little time thinking about which area of medical writing might be for you initially.

Stay tuned for Step 2!

Another special thanks goes to Anne Wayman who invited me to write a guest post on medical writing for her site – you’ll find it here.

For those of you who are freelance writers, please check out the rest of her site for all kinds of advice, from starting up your business, to maintaining and moving it forward.

Hope you all have a wonderful July 4th holiday weekend!

Academia can be a “publish or perish” environment at the best of times – so after working long, hard hours to collect all your scientific data, you deserve a final article that is free of errors and most accurately represents your efforts. You may have extremely impressive scientific data, but if your manuscript lacks readability and clarity, it will typically be rejected by the peer-review process when submitted for publication.

 

Language and Publication in “Cardiovascular Research” Articles [Cardiovasc Res (2002) Feb 1:53(2):279-285] by Coates et al, surveyed 120 articles that were submitted to the journal “Cardiovascular Research”. They reported: “There is a clear indication that badly written articles correlated with a high rejection rate.”  Additionally they stated: “On equal scientific merit, a badly written article will have less chance of being accepted … even if the editor does not identify language as a motive for rejection.”   

So the way in which your data is communicated is almost as crucial as the data itself. Writing quality clearly influences whether a paper is accepted for publication, regardless of the research quality. As with all kinds of writing, it is therefore extremely valuable to allow a fresh pair of eyes to review your finished paper – a skilled academic editor will not only proofread your work, but will greatly enhance its scientific clarity. This will therefore not only improve its chances of being published, but also speed up the publication time.

Writing therefore plays a pivotal role in the communication of your scientific data. Therefore, although the process of editing and revising your manuscript can seem overwhelming (especially if English is not your native language), it is a necessary step if you hope to maximize the impact of your work within the scientific community.