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WHAT IS FREELANCE MEDICAL WRITING?
by Brian Scott
Technical
writers are those who distil complex information, concepts and multi-step
procedures into a form that is what we would now call "human-readable." Every
manual, instruction booklet, professional FAQ and troubleshooting guide was
produced by a technical writer who took raw instructions and made them
understandable to even the most technique-ignorant layman.
The
subcategorized medical writer does a job very much along these lines, but
instead of operator's instructions, medical writers produce simple summaries of
medical procedures, scientific data, descriptions of medical equipment, and
piece together reports on performed research (such as drug trials).
To
be taken seriously, you're going to want some standard technical writing of a
fairly high level nature under your belt. Make sure your skills are up to
scratch, and then consider the following: unlike a lot of generalized technical
writing, medical writing can require specialized training to help you
encapsulate the basic meaning of professional medical documents. You may want
to invest in a basic course or certificate that gives you what you need. Try
putting together your own portfolio of comprehensive mocked-up writing samples
to validate your expertise.
Medical writing centers more on writing
skills and experience, rather than knowledge of specific medical paraphernalia.
Always remember what it is being looked for. By the same token, however, the
more clinical expertise you have, the better! Real world experience is always
valuable. Enlisting in laboratory work as a volunteer in your spare time not
only gives you that experience, but it also allows you to buddy up and network
with lab employees who may have access to bigger and better companies in
related fields.
Similarly, if you have access to a university library,
view their medical section and see how professionals master medical writing.
There are many examples of distilled data available online, as well, so work
that Googling impulse into the ground to get a good idea of the range of
material you may find yourself working on.
Freelance job marketplaces,
like
GetAFreelancer.com and
Elance.com, can provide
useful once-off jobs that get your name out there; however, to reap the rewards
of steady clients and better pay, contact agencies, market yourself directly to
companies, and hunt down jobs in the local newspaper or trade magazines. This
is a relatively new field that is only now beginning to grow. While it's an
exciting time to freelance as a medical writer, it's also one where your
biggest priority should be establishing yourself in time for the boom, when the
profession flourishes.
As a freelancer, your job will be that much
harder, and often you'll find yourself wondering where all the work went. At
times like this you'll want to have an ability to consult others in your field,
which is where membership to such organizations as the
American/European/Australian Medical Writers Association (A/E/AuMWA) comes in.
Networking (are you sensing a pattern here?) and contacts within the industry
are what you need to give you ties to the private companies (mostly
pharmaceutical in nature) that outsource their medical writing.
As
always, big paychecks will come from large corporate entities. Writing formal
regulatory documents for federal bodies -- while a stuffy and time-consuming
task filled with legalized mumbo-jumbo -- is worth plenty to drug companies
which want their product to pass muster with the Powers That Be. If you're the
one who can put together the report that does the trick, then the price-tag
around your neck will drastically increase.
In the meantime, before
the checks with all those zeroes on them (and plenty of numbers in front of
them, as well) start rolling in, concentrate on exposure: blog your work for
the world to see; and diversify into general issue science/technical writing as
a way of putting your name out into the marketplace. Published items in diverse
fields with your name on them says that you're a writer capable of adapting to
whatever comes your way. Look into publishing or transcribing work for
magazines and publications of any kind as a way of bolstering your public
persona. Best of all, when you feel ready, make a concerted effort to get
published within peer-reviewed medical/science journals, even as a co-author or
collaborator, because your name next to New England Journal of Medicine (for
example) tends to set off the right kind of alarm bells in a potential
employer's head.
Public presence in a new and exciting field of
employment is what will net you lucrative contracts and pay off all that hard
work and pavement-pounding.
© B.
Scott
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brian Scott has been
a professional freelance writer for more than a decade. He is an active forum moderator at Writing Answers, a vibrant community of writers helping writers.
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