With constant advancements in medicine and health care, medical writers are more in demand than ever to help convey new information and break down academic concepts for readers. If you’re curious about medical freelance writing jobs then you’re in the right place. We’ve found six interesting types to consider.
What Qualifications Do Medical Writers Need?
If you’re in the health care vertical, it’s most likely because you’re a medical professional or were a medical professional in a past career. Freelance medical writers work with clients to produce well-researched informational articles on health topics.
Having an interest in both healthcare and writing, a medical writer often has a degree in a related field. This is because the material is technical and writers need to have a expertise in the area in order to report on it accurately.
Medical writers also require the ability to communicate well with both industry professionals and lay people.
4 Steps to Become a Medical Freelance Writer
- Find your focus. With the range of writing settings that the medical field offers (like advertising, sales training, media, and journalism), you’ll want to find the area you’re most interested in. This ensures you enjoy what you’re working on!
- Assess your skills. Do you have the required qualifications and experience to write in this field? Medical writing carries a high level of responsibility so it’s essential to assess your medical terminology and ability to work with graphs/tables.
- Build your portfolio. Hiring teams will want to see how competent you are a medical writer, so be sure to gather a collection of writing samples that show off your expertise!
- Networking is key! The medical industry is vast and widespread so there’s a ton of prospective clients you can reach out to. We’d recommend joining writing associations such as American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) which can help you find local networking events.
Here are 6 Types of Medical Freelance Writing Jobs to Consider
As you read through these medical freelance writing jobs categories, you’ll notice medical writing carriers a weight of responsibility with it. Your words make an impact on readers and also, in this case, their health and well-being. You don’t have to know everything, but take care to ensure you’re well-informed and well-qualified for the work so you can represent the industry with integrity.
1. Health Communication Writer
These writers focus on website content, medical health news, and patient education. The written material is mainly being communicated to the general public who may not have an extensive grasp of medical knowledge. Institutions that need health communication writers include public health offices, doctors offices, government agencies, and media outlets.
2. Regulatory Writer
A regulatory medical writer would create and edit content for regulatory agencies when medical technology or drugs are undergoing approval. Such writers would commonly be found working with pharmaceuticals or biotech companies.
3. Scientific Health Writer
A scientific writer specifically works with doctors and healthcare professionals to produce manuscripts for abstracts. They may also write newspaper article features for a health specialist audience.
4. Medical Education Writer
A writer in this area of work is at the top of the chain when it comes to producing high-quality content. And that’s because they create educational activities for healthcare professionals to help with their training. They’ll work to develop materials like, assessments, presentation slides, and guidelines for workers in pharmaceutical companies.
5. Promotional Medical Writer
Combining marketing skills with their work in the health industry, promotional medical writers produce various marketing content and advertisements to promote some sort of medical device. The most common alliance they’ll have would be with biotech companies who want to do press releases to communicate this new product to the organizations.
6. Grant Writer
A grant writer will create proposals to help generate funding for scientific research. Using a persuasive tone, these writers work with a range of clients and private organizations to get across their reasons for funding.
What do Freelance Medical Writers Do?
There are several types of medical freelance writers who vary in the content they produce. Generally speaking, these writers focus on creating medical documents, study reports, medical-based books, health-related newspaper articles, advertisements, and press releases.
A big part of the job also includes making sure the written content adheres to regulatory and publication laws, in addition to matching up with the brief guidelines on structure and format.
Where to Find Medical Freelancing Jobs
Alright, now the big question—where do you find well-paying medical freelance writing jobs?
If you’re just breaking into medical freelance writing there are two main ways to get your foot in the door: job boards or responding to calls for pitches on social media, and cold pitching to health companies.
Like other professions, using LinkedIn and other business networking sites are good places to start. Health-related companies will often post on their social accounts when they’re recruiting new writers so keep an eye out!
If you’re not seeing suitable job posts online, you can look for the companies you’d be interested in writing for, research their work, identify any areas you can help them improve on, and then pitch an article to them along with some writing samples attached.
A Summary for Medical Freelance Writing Jobs
We hope this gives you a head start as you explore becoming a medical freelance writer. And if you want more support then check out the Freelance Writer’s Den. It’s the premier online resource for writers looking to launch and build lucrative freelance writing careers.
