Freelance medical writing can be a lucrative, rewarding, and flexible career. However, building a steady stream of clients and income can be challenging, even for experienced writers. The key is learning how to position your skills, manage your workflow, and market your expertise strategically.
Here are five tips to help you start your own freelance medical writing business.
1. Decide on a Focus
What Should I Specialize In as a Freelance Medical Writer?
Defining your niche can help you develop a stronger foundation for your business and focus your networking and marketing efforts. You may choose to build on medical writing experience and skills you already have, or expand your expertise through additional training to branch into a new area of medical communication.
Freelance medical writers work in a variety of fields, including
- Regulatory writing: creating highly scientific documents for federal and other regulatory agencies
- Health communication: sharing accurate, accessible information to help individuals and communities make informed decisions that improve health outcomes
- Continuing education: developing educational content for health care professionals
Once you know which type of medical writing you’d like to do, the next step is to define and target your audience of potential clients.
2. Zero In on Your Audience
How Do I Select a Target Audience?
Choose specific publications or organizations to write for based on your area of interest in medical communication and your skills.
- Build on your background. Start with what you know. Your education, experience, and interests can guide you toward audiences like clinicians, researchers, or patients.
- Clarify who you want to help. Decide whether you’re most drawn to educating patients, informing health care professionals, or supporting industry and research teams.
- Study the market. Research which types of content are in demand—regulatory documents, patient education materials, marketing copy, or continuing education content—and where your skills fit best.
After you’ve identified a target audience and a content area to specialize in, it’s time to spread the word about your services.
3. Get Ready to Market
How Can I Get Noticed?
Another essential step is to set up a website and build an online presence, including on social media. Freelance medical writers must promote themselves, and digital marketing needs to be robust. Here are a few key strategies:
- Promote your business on your LinkedIn profile and posts.
- Use social media sites like Instagram and Facebook to give tips within your areas of expertise and reach potential clients.
- List your services in resources like the AMWA Freelance Directory.
The content you write in these spaces should reflect your expertise and talent and effectively convey your skills and experience.
Remember, as a freelance medical writer, you’re not just a writer—you’re a marketer, business owner, accountant, salesperson, and networker. Of all your nonwriter roles, the marketing one is perhaps the most important.
4. Network, Network, Network
How Can I Connect With Potential Clients?
Take advantage of every opportunity to connect with other professionals and present your skills, experience, and availability. With each new contact, make sure to focus not just on promoting yourself, but on delivering value—leaving them with an introduction to a new connection or an insight that will help their career or business. Doing this will help attract clients to you, reducing the need for you to go out and look for them.
Some starting points for networking as a freelance medical writer are
- Professional associations like AMWA. Members participate in regular conferences and networking events and can be listed in member directories. They can also access job opportunities and connect with new clients.
- Online industry groups. Platforms like LinkedIn can help you join events and conversations with others in the field and find potential clients.
In addition to seeking—and keeping—clients, freelance medical writers are also responsible for the day-to-day operations of a business.
5. Get and Stay Organized
How Do I Manage the Business of Freelance Medical Writing?
To keep your freelance medical writing business operating smoothly, you need to finish projects by deadlines, track your hours, submit invoices, prepare and submit taxes, and maybe even hire and manage subcontractors.
Depending on how complex your operations are, business operations can be organized with an online spreadsheet or more sophisticated systems like business management software. (One example is QuickBooks Online.) As your business grows, it’s important to expand and evolve your systems to keep everything running smoothly.
Next Steps for Your Freelance Medical Writing Business
Freelance medical writing is a strong option for writers who want to provide value to clients on their own terms and schedules. To learn more about how to start your own freelance medical writing business, explore additional AMWA resources and pick up tips from successful freelance medical writers.
AMWA acknowledges the contributions of Amber Keyes-Benner, DNP, for peer review in the development of this AMWA resource.
