How to Nurture Lasting Client Relationships and Boost Your Bottom Line

This article is based on content presented by Katherine Molnar‑Kimber, PhD, Kimnar Group LLC, and Deborah Anderson, PhD, DGA Medical Communications, at the AMWA Medical Writing & Communication Conference.

For freelance writers and independent contractors, establishing long‑term client relationships has clear advantages. Working with long‑term clients reduces time spent on administrative tasks, such as marketing, acquiring resources, and learning new formats, which increases the time available for producing the deliverable. The stability provided by long‑term clients also improves peace of mind and is usually financially beneficial.

10 Ways to Grow and Maintain Your Freelance Writing Business

This article is based on content presented by Laura J. Ninger, ELS, at the AMWA Medical Writing & Communication Conference.

Can We Do More To Measure Our Value?

True or false:

Well-trained medical communicators bring value to the teams with whom they work.

I hope you answered true because that’s the right answer.

The key adjective of course is well-trained.

3 Steps to Showcasing Your Medical Writing Career

This article is based on content written by Kelly Schrank, MA, ELS, and presented by John West Hadley at the AMWA Medical Writing & Communication Conference. It was originally published in the AMWA Journal.

Making sure you move ahead in your medical writing career calls for finding opportunities to create visibility for your skills and achievements and presenting yourself and your work in the best light. This means showcasing your value not only to potential new employers and clients, but also to your current employer in order to justify your salary and position yourself for advancement.

A structured and systematic approach can be effective, starting with these three steps.

Asking the Right Questions: Developing Better Discovery Skills

This article was originally published in the AMWA Journal.

All of us have suffered the consequences of expensive, unasked questions in both our professional lives and our personal lives. As medical communicators, we must ask good questions to elicit information, but many of us lack adequate training in this skill. Add to that the natural reticence of some medical communicators, and it is no wonder that we walk away from interviews with subject matter experts or client meetings wishing we had remembered to ask X, Y, or Z. This article offers information as to why questions are so important, what types of questions are useful, how to strategize your questions, how to handle people answering the questions you ask them, and how to answer questions that others ask you.

What Are Soft Skills and Why Are They Important?

This article was originally published in the AMWA Journal.

You can write. That’s why they want you. You have experience writing the types of materials they need: regulatory documents, continuing medical education activities, promotional education materials, journal articles. That’s why they want you. You specialize in the central nervous system or metabolic disorders or cancer, and you know all the regulations and guidelines and American Medical Association style rules. That’s why they want you. This experience and training, and these skills, are the technical proficiencies you possess.