Inspiration for this blog came from Michelle Guillemard’s Write Medicine podcast episode.
Whether you're just getting started on your freelance medical writing journey or have been in the industry for decades, you're probably tuned into some common conversations among freelancers. Where is my next client coming from? Or, why am I so busy? How is AI going to impact my career? Should I niche down or not?
Today, we'll discuss these common questions all freelance writers tackle throughout their careers with inspiration from a conversation with Michelle Guillemard on the Write Medicine podcast. We discussed strategies that have helped Michelle and other freelance medical writers and educators thrive. Let's dive in.
"This was about ten or twelve years ago, so things were quite different. There weren't as many freelance writers around." - Michelle Guillemard on her transition to freelance
Freelance Medical Writing: Then vs. Now
The only thing guaranteed to any freelancer is change, and to use Michelle's phrase, there was "heaps of work" a decade or two ago. The Internet was around, but it wasn't as much of a tool as it is today for writers to find work. It was easier to rank as a writer in your industry and to be more visible.
However, the movement toward a world with more freelance medical writers isn't necessarily a bad thing. As the pool of freelancers has grown, so has the pool of freelance medical writer jobs and the medical communications fieldy itself. There's always content that needs writing, reviewing, and updating - and as a consequence, there will always be a demand for competent medical writers.
Stay confident, demonstrate competence. and stay honed in on a strategic client outreach strategy. Focus on your goals - not on what everyone in your LinkedIn feed is doing or on the advice of a plethora of blogs. While there are certainly more medical writers in 2024 than there were in 2014, strong self-marketing has the same power it did a decade ago to connect you with ideal clients.
So, how can you use your specialized skills to give you an edge in building your freelance writing business?
The Power of Identifying a Niche as a Freelance Writer
One way to effectively market yourself and connect with prospective clients is to find a niche. Whether or not to niche down is hotly debated across all freelance writing industries. Here are a few benefits to choosing a niche.
- You can deepen your expertise in a specific area.
- You have a point of difference. Potential clients will immediately know if you write health technology articles, CME, or consumer health materials.
- You can target your marketing to a specific group of ideal clients. This gives you a better chance of standing out as an expert in a specific field and acquiring clients in that field.
As you niche down, it’s prudent to remain open to upskilling or moving into other forms of writing. While focusing on one specialist area has massive benefits, not only business-wise but in doing work you truly enjoy, the only constant of working as a freelance writer is that things are always changing. You want to be ready for that change.
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How Freelancers Can Survive Change
What are some ways that we as freelancers can remain adaptable in our careers? Flexible and open-minded sound great in practice, but we're human - in reality, change of any sort can be incredibly difficult to implement. Here are some practical tips for changing how you work as the freelance landscape changes, too.
- Consider different projects that are outside your current portfolio
- Keep updated with industry trends via social media, newsletters, and journal articles.
- Stay positive and keep a growth mindset! You never know what's coming your way.
- Focus on your life outside of writing
- Upskill & reskill
- Reach out to past clients for referrals or work during slow (or busy!)times
Perhaps most importantly, have confidence in yourself. A lack of work on your desk today is not a reflection on you. Stay persistent in client outreach and acquisition, and you never know what opportunities will come your way. In the meantime, let's take a deeper look at some of these tips for surviving change.
"I think what's really important to survive as a freelancer is being flexible and open-minded." - Michelle
Staying Connected to Medical Communication Industry Trends
How you stay plugged into current news heavily depends on the type of work you do. However, a few tried-and-true strategies in the medical writing field include curated social media feeds like LinkedIn, Instagram, and newsletters. In CME, the Alliance Almanac is a treasure trove of information on industry trends.
Primary journals are also a reliable source of information to help you ensure you're giving evidence-based recommendations in anything you write.
Health communication language, for example, changes quite often from disease names to specialty topics. Remaining aware of current guidelines and best practices in your specialty not only benefits your writing but allows you to spread up to date knowledge to anyone you teach and gives your clients increased confidence in your writing.
Upskilling in Freelance Writing
Upskilling isn't just vital for staying relevant; it keeps our lives as freelance medical writers interesting. When we learn new skills, we can do new types of work for our clients and gain more confidence. There's a real synergistic relationship between gaining confidence from education and gaining confidence from the work we can do because of that education.
In addition to building your suite of services (and your confidence), upskilling can help freelancers grow in their careers and connect with a broader client base.
"Confidence is the essential characteristic that you need once you have those writing skills to get going." - Michelle
Artificial Intelligence in Medical Writing
One of the most unsettling years for many freelancers was 2023, the year ChatGPT was released. As we've recentered ourselves around the existence of AI tools in 2024, it's become evident that we need to learn how to coexist with—and adapt to the use of—AI.
Many AI tools show great promise in improving processes like content planning or outlining if used strategically. AI use can also be a selling point with clients if it truly helps you get your work done faster (just be honest with clients about how you use it). And while AI is the next iteration of what writing looks like, it's not coming for freelance medical writing work. Medical writers still need to rewrite, edit, and fact-check work that's done with AI.
As writers, we can't ignore AI. It's part of how the world writes now, and we need to know how to use it to keep doing our work as efficiently as possible and to thrive as writers.
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