How to be an Excellent Medical Writer

Writing About Medicine and Health Is Much More Than Just Googling

Nov 26, 2008

Medical and health writing is a popular career, but it should be driven by a real interest and passion in the subject, not just a hope of making easy money.

Ghostwriting (for articles, papers, blogs, websites and books) is also common Ghostwriting means producing content for someone else, often a celebrity, who takes the credit. Medical writers may also do research for books, movies and TV series as well as review papers and theses.

Of these, writing magazine articles generally pay the best (by far) with blogs usually being a low-paid venture. A best-selling book can obviously yield millions, but it is impossible to write a guaranteed bestseller (unless you happen to be Oprah's best buddy).

Studying

A medical writer does not have to be a MD, PhD, ND or RN, but it does help. It is much easier to get a book deal if you have one and many magazines only accept health-related contributions from journalists with a medical degree.

It does take a considerable amount of study to be able to understand medicine well enough to be able to write it. Do not even think you can learn it in less than a year - 3-5 is more realistic. People who write about medicine without really understanding the subject tend to make horrible mistakes in their writing.

You may want to choose a "niche" (a field of specialty), but you must still understand medicine and the human body as a whole. It is not enough to just Google the subject you're currently writing about.

Choosing Sources

A good medical writer pulls his knowledge from medical studies, papers and textbooks, sometimes also from interviewing experts. All material coming from books must be attributed. Direct quotes must be short, encased in quotation marks and the source must be clear.

Often you may bump into an interesting article, but only the abstract is available online, or the full article costs money. If you are a student you may be able to access them via an institution subscription (even if you do not study medicine or biosciences). Sometimes contacting the authors helps. But often you may have to use a traditional library.

Websites like Wikipedia and WebMD can be used for studying, but should not be used as references. That is a guaranteed way to make an amateurish impression. Websites with personal agenda (like those of people selling nutritional supplements) do not belong in the references.

It also helps to study writing (especially copywriting and journalism) in general. Many different books, websites and blogs can be helpful for this. For those who plan to contribute to blogs and websites, knowledge of SEO (search engine optimization) is essential, as it is required in many jobs.

Getting Started

There are many websites with job listings for freelancers, such as oDesk. You will likely have to start with low-paying jobs to build your portfolio. Always deliver in time, check the facts and proofread. Remember that medicine is constantly changing, so timeliness of all information must be checked, even if you've written about the subject before.

It really helps to have your own website and/or blog to use as a portfolio. Blogs can be used for making money, but the competition in this area is fierce. Don't forget social media, like Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter, but never spam, as that is a guaranteed way to make your reputation suffer.

Work Ethics

A medical writer should never write something they do not agree with or know to be false, such as writing a review endorsing a supplement that they do not believe actually works. It is also highly unethical to write someone's schoolwork for them, whether essays or master's theses.

It is illegal in most countries to falsely give the impression that one is a medical professional. A medical writer who has a PhD but which is not in biosciences should not attempt to give the impression that they have a biomedical digree. If something feels wrong, don't do it.