Making Money As A Medical Writer

Making Money
Ratnakar Kini Making Money as a Medical Writer
As A
Medical Writer
by Ratnakar Kini
edited by Robert W. Bly
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Table of Contents

Topic Page
Chapter One: What is medical writing?

Medical writing opportunities ...........................................................................5
Types of medical writing ................................................................................7
Educational Writing ...................................................................................9
Pharmaceutical Writing .........................................................................9
In-House medical writing .........................................................................9
Outsourced medical writing .......................................................................10
Health Journalism ..........................................................................................10
Chapter Two: How to become a medical writer

Is medical writing the right job for you? ............................................................11
Attributes for a medical writer ................................................................13
Do you need to be a Doctor to become a medical writer? ...................13
Avoiding plagiarism .....................................................................................................14
Citations ......................................................................................................14
Copyright issues ........................................................................................16
How much to charge for medical writing .................................................17
In–House Medical Writing ..............................................................................17
Freelance Writing ...............................................................................................18
Chapter Three: Medical Writers’ Associations

American Medical Writers’ Association (AMWA) ...................................19
Austraiasian Medical Writers’ Association ...................................................21
European Medical Writers’ Association .................................................................22
The benefits of getting registered in an association .............................................25
Chapter Four: How To Write Medical Articles & Medical e-books

Writing e-books ..............................................................................................26
Advantages of e-books over traditional books ....................................................26
Writing your own e-book ....................................................................27
Ghost writing medical e-books ...........................................................................31
Writing medical articles ................................................................................31
Writing for the general public .........................................................................32
Writing for Institutions and pharmaceutical Companies ...............32
Writing drug monographs ..................................................................34
How to market yourself ..............................................................................................35
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How to please clients ................................................................................39
Chapter Five: Medical Writing for Websites

Search Engine Optimization ....................................................................42
Sample Article —Home Air Purifiers ....................................................43
Home Purifiers — which one to choose ............................................44
Chapter Six: How to get medical writing projects

Who hires Freelance Medical Writers? ......................................................45
Where to get projects .....................................................................................46
Sample Resume ..............................................................................................48
Chapter Seven: Resource Guide

Online resources for medical information and referencing ................50
Online resources for freelance writing ...................................................53
Medical Writers’ Associations .................................................................57
Reference style tips ....................................................................................59
Copyright laws ...............................................................................................60
Website portals for selling e-books .........................................................60
Tips on search engine optimization ........................................................61
1.
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Chapter One:
What is medical writing?
Medical writing is about communicating clinical and scientific data and
information to a range of audiences in a wide variety of different formats.
A medical writer is a specialized writer. The medical writer’s job is
to understand the content to be written and write it in a vivid manner
to make it clear, entertaining and persuasive to the readers.
The readers could be health professionals, students or even the
general public. Though the medical content that needs to reach these
diverse groups are somewhat the same, the format, tone and style in
which it has to be written is totally different for each of these groups.
It should be more technical for health professionals and non technical
without any medical jargon for the general public. The medical writers’
job is to know the audience and write accordingly.
Medical writing opportunities

Employment opportunities for medical writers are expected to
increase by 25%-35%, (courtesy- www.healthcareers.com) through the
year 2010. There is continuing expansion of the scientific and technical
information and there is a need to communicate all these information
to others. This has led to increasing demand for technical writers
especially in the field of medicine and science.
Medical writers compile data and information and present it
in a concise and clear format to the audience mostly the public and
sometimes the fellow health professionals. Sometimes the job of medical
writing may involve writing articles for journals which are written in a
prescribed format and guidelines.
Though the American Medical Writers Association has been around
since 1940, the practice of pharmaceutical companies employing medical
writers specifically to write clinical study reports, study protocols and
other documents needed for submission to the FDA for drug approval
became common only in the past decade.
There are two reasons which can explain the demand for medical
writers. The first one is that the pharmaceutical companies which come
out with new drugs want these drugs to get in to the market as quickly
as possible. They want the information about the drugs to reach the health
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care professional so that they can start prescribing them to their patients.
At the same time they also want the general public to know about
the arrival of the new drug to the market and also about the benefits of
the drug. The pharmaceutical companies face tough competition from
their counterparts and it is a lucrative business as well.
So these companies always want to make use of the opportunities very
efficiently. They utilize the services of the medical writer to compile data
about the new drug (details under the regulatory writing section).
Secondly, people are getting more health conscious and they
constantly seek information about how to stay healthy and sometimes
to know about the diseases which they might be suffering from.
People have access to medical websites, online medical journals,
health education websites, drug information websites, medical and
health discussion forums. These websites are constantly updated.
A medical writer is needed to write the contents for these websites
and sometimes may have to don the role of a moderator in the
discussion forums. Medical writers also write on health in popular
health magazines and non-fiction books.
A medical writer may be invited by a few organizations (like Global
Neuroscience Initiative Foundation – www.gnif.org) that may need
his service for proposal writing for grants. This is to generate funds
for research purposes and clinical trials and some times for getting
funds to run the organization. There are a number of websites which
gives training in grant writing (www.doe.state.in.us/media/video/pdf/
WebsiteResources.pdf ).
Charges vary according to grant complexity and the amount of work
needed to complete the application. Most successful grant writers
charge $25-$50 per hour. Fees for grants development range from a few
thousand dollars for a moderately sized state government proposal to
$12,000 for a large federal grant (www.grantexperts.com).
Medical writing is still in the evolving stages. Most of the writers
who land up in medical writing do so because of other relevant roles
like research. Many others who enter the field of medical writing do
it as part of freelance work. With business outsourcing on the high
getting a freelance work especially medical writing is not a tough thing
especially if you have the right credentials.
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Sometimes medical professionals approach seasoned writers to

write medical articles for them. The reason could be either their busy
schedule, or their inability to write convincing and interesting health
content.
Sometimes they may need the health content to be written in
a lay man’s perspective and a medical writer may do this job for
them. A 2005 article in the Wall Street Journal highlighted the health
professionals hiring ghost writers for medical writing. It told how
an article on the use of synthetic Vitamin D, which was published
in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases in the name of Dr. Alex
J Brown, was in fact written by a ghost writer, Michel Anello. Dr.
Brown later told that the pharmaceutical company asked him to write
it but he didn’t have time (Source: www.post-gazette.com)
Many of the articles that appear in scientific journals under the
bylines of prominent academics are actually written by ghostwriters
hired by drug companies. But they tend to keep this under wraps: a
report presented at a medical journal conference found that just 10
percent of articles on studies sponsored by the drug industry that
appeared in top medical journals disclosed help from a medical
writer.
Types of medical writing
There are three types of medical writing –
n Regulatory medical writing
n Educational medical writing
n Marketing material writing
Regulatory medical writing:

Regulatory medical writing involves producing clinical
documentation required by national regulatory agencies such as
FDA when assessing the safety and efficacy of drugs. This allows the
regulatory agencies to get their drugs and devices approved so that
they can start marketing their product.
The clinical documentation covers the entire process of drug and device
development. The various components of clinical documentation include:
n Investigator’s brochure: This provides information on
everything known about the drug. It is a basic document which
is required in a clinical trial, together with the clinical trial
protocol. Investigator’s brochure needs periodic updating. The
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investigators brochure should include title page, confidentiality

statement, table of contents, summary, introduction, physical,
chemical, and pharmaceutical properties and formulation, non-
clinical studies, effects in humans and summary of data and
guidance for the investigator.
n Clinical study protocols: This is required to ensure that the
clinical trial is conducted properly and efficiently. A drug is
subjected to 4 phases of clinical trials before it gets approved
and marketed. The clinic study protocol document should
include – synopsis (1 page), objectives, study designs and
methods, inclusion and exclusion criteria, variables measured,
analysis methods, materials and legal aspects, study duration,
study center, budget, financial resources and bibliographic
references.
n Clinical study reports: These provide information gathered
from the clinical trials .These reports are based on the outcome
of the different phases of the clinical trials. The reports
should include – title page, synopsis, table of contents, list of
abbreviations and definition of terms, ethics, investigators and
study administrative structure, introduction, study objectives,
investigational plan, study patients, efficacy evaluation, safety
evaluation, discussion and overall conclusion, tables, figures
and graphs, reference list and appendices.
Regulatory medical writing is a team effort and can be more
demanding than educational medical writing. It involves writing
in association with diverse professionals like medical professionals,
clinical research associates and statisticians. All these professionals
provide data on various aspects of the clinical trials.
The regulatory medical writer has to assimilate them and produce
a document as per the given guidelines. Bigger companies have many
in-house medical writers. But smaller companies outsource regulatory
medical writing to contract research organizations and freelance writers.
The two important aspects of regulatory medical writing are
attention to details and conciseness of presentation. Since regulatory
documents are quite huge, sticking to the guidelines and making the
document concise is very essential. The job may involve handling
statistical data. Though knowledge of statistics is beneficial, it
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is not essential.
Again, regulatory medical writing can be done for either
pharmaceutical companies or medical ad agencies. Large
pharmaceutical companies have in-house job positions. Medical
advertising and educational agencies, on the other hand, are contract
agencies that work for pharmaceutical companies and sometimes
medical organizations and medical universities. These agencies have
both in-house job positions and freelance work.
Educational Medical Writing

Educational medical writing involves writing for both the general
public and specific audiences like health care professionals. It
involves writing documents about drugs, disease conditions, devices
and biologics. These documents could be as diverse as the following:
n Materials for continuing medical education
n Medical journal articles for physicians, nurses and pharmacists
n Data presentations at medical congresses
n Drug monograph for sales representatives
n Patient educational brochures
n Newsletters
n Medical books
n Articles for consumers
Educational medical writing also involves writing for consumer
magazines, newspapers and websites. These are intended to give
information on new medical treatments and findings.
Pharmaceutical marketing writing

Pharmaceutical marketing writing involves producing documents
that advertise drugs and explain their benefits to the physicians,
pharmacists and consumers.
Medical writing can also be divided into –
n In-house medical writing
n Outsourced medical writing
In-house medical writing

For in-house medical writing, the medical writer is hired for
a full time job position by pharmaceutical companies or other
medical companies. It is a well paying profession. The salary range
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is from $30,000 to $100,000. The job involves interaction with other

professionals like research analyst, statistician and physicians.
Many medical writing positions require advanced degrees, such as a
nursing degree, Ph.D., M.D. or Pharm.D. Many medical writers also earn
certificates from the AMWA and the Drug Information Association.
And many companies won’t hire medical writers without regulatory
experience. Most of the in-house medical writing jobs involve writing
for pharmaceutical companies and contract research organizations.
Outsourced medical writing

In outsourced medical writing, the pharmaceutical companies and
the other medical agencies hire an external medical writer who will
not be their regular staff.
This external medical writer could be a freelance medical writer or
an employee of a medical writing agency. Compared to the in-house
medical writing, outsourced medical writing does not provide a
constant income.
But if properly done and if the freelancer gets regular project
work, he can earn even more than a regular staff. Big pharmaceutical
companies have their own in-house medical writers. But smaller
companies outsource the project to contract research organizations or
to freelance writers to cut down the costs.
Health Journalism
Health journalism is a new branch of journalism which involves
reporting health information to the public. A health journalist may
work as health, or medical beat reporters for newspapers, as staff
writers for magazines (e.g. Newsweek), and as freelance writers
specializing in health topics.
Freelancers sell their work to newspapers, magazines, and
electronic outlets. The scale of pay in scientific journalism is much less
than other areas of medical writing. Freelance pay might range from
25¢ to $1.50 per word. But still many feel satisfied with the type of
work. Scientific journalism involves the following:
n Science, health, or medical beat reporters for a newspaper
n Staff writers for magazines
n Freelance writing in science topics
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Chapter Two:
How to become a medical writer
Any one who has passion for writing with a little knowledge of
medical terminologies can become a medical writer. The medical writer
can choose to become an in-house medical writer or a freelancer. Job
openings are available for both in-house medical writers and freelance
writers.
Is medical writing the right job for you?

There are many ways of becoming a medical writer. Jobs are
aplenty in medical organizations, government institutions, academia,
pharmaceutical companies and even freelance.
The jobs are very diverse from writing reports on clinical trials,
articles for journals, health education material in newspapers and
websites, meeting abstracts and patient education materials.
But first of all you need to decide whether medical writing is the
right career for you to pursue. A person who is planning a career in
medical writing should have the following qualities:
n The first and the foremost quality needed to become a medical
writer is passion for writing. Medical writing jobs are plentiful.
But that is not the reason a person can choose a career in
medical writing. The person should have willingness to write.
If the person does not have the willingness to write, medical
writing will be the toughest thing to do.
n The person should be able to meet the deadlines set by the
employer or the client.
n Some computer knowledge is essential. The person should have
minimal knowledge about how to use Word, Excel sheet, Power
point etc. He should be able to use internet searches efficiently.
n The person should be able to interact with other people.
Medical writing is diverse and the amount of interaction
depends on the type of medical writing that is done. For
example, the regulatory medical writing may need the writer
to interact with the physicians, clinical research analyst and the
statisticians. The medical writer has to understand the clients’
needs and be to discuss freely about the type of writing needed,
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deadlines and sometimes to clarify doubts. The job may

sometimes involve writing in solitude especially
writing manuscripts.
n
The person should be dedicated and detail oriented. For
example, regulatory writing involves handling of enormous
data. The medical writer should be interested to go in to the
details of the data, references and results and see to that
everything is perfect. One of the freelance medical writers had
an interesting incident to narrate which showed why
dedication is very important. That particular medical writer
was compiling data of a global study. He was gathering data
collected from the study done in different countries. He found
that the patients involved in the clinical trial from a particular
country were all dwarfs. He felt something was wrong with the
data collection and went through the data again and again.
Finally he realized that the height of the patients in that
particular country was entered in inches whereas from other
places were entered in centimeters. This shows how much a
medical writer should be dedicated and detail oriented.
n The medical writer should have a good command over the
language and should write without any grammatical or syntax
errors. The writer may not know the technical aspects. But he
should be able to write it properly. According to American
medical writers association, for regulatory medical writing a
degree in science, medicine and pharmacy will be helpful and
for marketing medical writing a degree in journalism and
English will be helpful.
n The medical writer should have the willingness to learn. The
medical field is quite diverse. There are basic science like
anatomy, physiology and so on and clinical science like
medicine, surgery etc. The medical writer should feel interested
in writing in any of these fields. The job may also demand
writing in different specialties during different times. So the
medical writer should have the willingness to learn more about
the new fields.
n The medical writer should decide whether he feels comfortable
with ghost writing. Most of the times, in medical writing, the
writer ghost writes for someone else. His name is not
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mentioned in the publication. The publication does not give any

credit to the real author who remains a ghost writer. So the
medical writer has to decide beforehand whether he is
comfortable with the realities of ghost writing. But on the
other hand writing news articles or sometimes writing course
materials for continuing medical education may give credit to
the author. Medical writer of course can be a freelancer and can
publish his own medical books.
n The medical writer should know the ethics of writing. He
should avoid plagiarism. Copyrights ,plagiarism and falsifying
reports have legal implications.
Attributes for a freelance medical writer

Freelance medical writing jobs are available in pharmaceutical
companies, hospitals, medical colleges, government agencies, non-
profit organizations, publishing houses, health care magazines and
popular websites. The freelancer can even write and publish his own
works. The attributes expected in a freelance medical writer are:
n Should possess major in English and a basic knowledge
in science and medicine
n Able to communicate well with the client
n Able to meet the deadline
n Able to accept criticism
n Willing to revise the content if needed
n Basic computer knowledge
Do You Need to be a Doctor to

Become a Medical Writer
The qualification needed for becoming a medical writer depends
on the type of writing that is done. A medical qualification is not
needed to become a medical writer. In fact many writers have entered
this profession with a background in language than in science.
A good understanding of the human anatomy and physiology is
preferable. Individuals interested in medical writing must have a
high school diploma or the equivalent. Having a bachelor’s degree is
preferable for in-house medical writing jobs. For regulatory writing
jobs, one of the following science degrees is essential:
n Biochemistry
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n Biology
n Chemistry
n Physics

n Microbiology

n Physiology
n Zoology
Avoiding plagiarism
Plagiarism should strictly be avoided while writing. All the efforts
that the medical writers have put can go wasted if there is plagiarism.
It may even jeopardize the career of the writer. All his credentials
which he accumulates over years and decades may go down the drain
even once if he is found plagiarizing.
Plagiarism is defined as “the unauthorized use or close imitation of
the language and thoughts of another author and the representation
of them as one’s own original work”. Of course, medical writing is
not about fiction and it definitely involves writing on facts and it is
always based on previous works done by many authors. Imitation
and burrowing are as such do not mean plagiarism. In fact, it
is unavoidable especially in academic writing. But one should
acknowledge the original author in the written content.
Common facts and general statements need not have any citation.
All the other things need citations. Over a period of time the medical
writer can learn when to quote citations and when it is not required.
But the basic rule is – ‘when in doubt, provide the citations’.
Citations
Citation is the act of identifying sources. A citation names the author
and work and provides sufficient bibliographic information to allow
the reader to track down the original source. Citations or referencing is
very essential in any field of writing let alone medical writing.
The academic institutions always insists on referencing the
content and they may like the medical writer to follow any one of the
following styles:
n American Psychological Association (APA) style
n Harvard style
n Chicago Style
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n Vancouver style
n Modern Language Association (MLA) style
n Turabian style
n Chicago style
n Council of Biology Editor (CBE) style
A detailed description of the each of these referencing styles and
about quotations can be read in www.nutsandboltsguide.com.
Before referencing the complete details of the information should
be noted down. It should be done as you use each item as searching
for the reference later will be cumbersome. The following standard
formats can be followed:
1. For books
n Author
n Year of publication
n Title
n Edition
n Place of publication and publisher
2. For journal articles

n Author of article
n Title of article
n Journal title
n Volume number
n Issue number
n Page numbers for the article
3. For electronic information

n Author
n Article title
n Journal title
n The type of medium (e.g. CD-ROM, online)
n Pages or length
n Where available (e.g. URL, name of database, e-mail address)
n Access date
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Copyright issues
Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws to the
authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary,
dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works.
Different countries have their own version of copyright laws.
Copyright laws are standardized through international conventions
such as the Bern Convention in some countries and are required
by international organizations such as European Union . The Bern
convention recognized the copyright laws in 1886. According to it, the
author need not register his work every time he writes. The author is
automatically entitled the copyright of his works unless he disclaims
them or if the copyright expires.
The copyright issues have two implications. Firstly, he has to
respect the copyright laws and should not indulge in plagiarizing
others work. Secondly all his own works are protected by copyright
laws. The writer should realize that it is punishable if he infringes
the copyright law and also he can initiate legal actions if any one else
plagiarizes his work.
Copyright protection subsists from the time the work is created in
fixed form. Only the author or those deriving their rights through the
author can rightfully claim copyright.
All the written works are protected by copyright laws. The term
of protection of the writers work endures for the author’s life plus
an additional 70 years after the author’s death. In the case of “a joint
work prepared by two or more authors who did not work for hire,”
the term lasts for 70 years after the last surviving author’s death. For
works made for hire, and for anonymous and pseudonymous works
(unless the author’s identity is revealed in Copyright Office records),
the duration of copyright will be 95 years from publication or 120
years from creation, whichever is shorter.
All these are for works created after 1978. The copyright can be
transferred to others. But this transfer of copyright is valid only if
signed by the original author or his authorized agent.
Though different countries have their own copyright laws, there
is no such thing called ‘International copyright’. Protection against
unauthorized use in a particular country depends, basically, on the
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national laws of that country. Though registration is not required

for copyright protection, the author can register his work to make a
public record of the basic facts of a particular copyright.
More details of the copyright laws can be obtained from the following
websites:
n Unites States — www.copyright.gov
n United Kingdom www.ipo.gov.uk
n Canada— www.cb-cda.gc.ca , www.publications.gc.ca
n Australia — www.ag.gov.au
How much to charge for medical writing

The fees for medical writing depend on the type of work the
author does. It depends on whether the writer is an in-house writer or
a freelancer. In-house writer has a pay fixed by his organization with
periodic increments. The fees for the freelancers are usually fixed
by an agreement between the writer and the client. It is fixed based
on the number of words, number of pages written or sometimes by
hourly rates.
In-house medical writing:

The salary depends on the experience. For a medical writer with associate
degree, the starting salary may range from $45,000 -$60,000. There is no fixed
industry average and the pay varies with different companies.
A person with a post-graduate degree may get a little higher
salary. The writer will get promotions and periodic increments
depending on his experience, performance and the status of the
company for which he writes.
The mean income of medical writers by educational level is as
follows (courtesy – AMWA 2002 average salary survey).
Associate degree - $45,000
Bachelor’s degree - $ 61,000
Master’ degree - $67,000
Advanced degree - $ 80,000
More details on the basic pay, bonus and benefits in individual states
can be obtained from www.swz.salary.com
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Freelance writing:
The freelancers do not get a standard pay package like their in-
house counterparts. The money they can make depend both on the
quantity and quality of work they do. Sometimes they may earn even
more than the in-house writers. They can charge the clients:
n Based on the number of words written
n Based on the number of pages written
n On hourly basis
n By the project
n Based on the type of work they do.
The per word fees of the freelance writer can range from 25¢ to $1.50
per word. The following average fees give a rough idea on how much
a medical writer can charge for his writing works:
n Catalog writing - $ 60 per hour
n Press release - $60 per hour or $ 350 per project
n Abstracting and abridging - $ 35 per hour
n Book proposal writing - $ 50 per hour or $2500 per project
n Content editing - $35 per hour
n Ghost writing - $40 per hour
n Rewriting - $50 per hour
n Brochure writing - $ 100 per page
n Government research - $75 per hour
n Government writing - $75 per hour
n Grant proposal writing for non-profit organizations - $ 50 per hour
n Newsletters writing - $500 per project
n Newsletter editing - $60 per hour
n Copy editing journals - $ 25 per report
n Medical content writing - $ 100 per hour
n Medical content editing - $60 per hour
n Medical content proof reading - $ 40 per hour
n Online editing - $60 per hour
n Web page writing - $ 150 per page
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Chapter Three:
Medical Writers Associations
Medical writing is a lucrative profession. Many organizations
around the world promote medical writing. These organizations
provide training in the fundamentals of medical writing for those
who aspire to build a career in medical writing.
They provide job opportunities for those who are interested in
medical writing. They create forums where the medical writers
meet and share their knowledge and experience. Some of the well
recognized medical writers’ organizations around the world are:
n American Medical Writers Association (AMWA)
n Australasian Medical Writers Association (AuMWA)
n European Medical Writers Association (EMWA)
American Medical Writers Association (AMWA)

The American Medical Association was founded in 1940 by
physicians interested in improving the quality of medical writing and
editing. The main aim of the organization is to assist medical authors.
AMWA is the leading international professional association for
communicators of medical information. The association offers:
n Continuing education, including distance learning
n Networking opportunities through an annual conference and
chapter activities
n Web site services, including job listings
n Members’ freelance directory
n AMWA Journal
n Publishing medical content
n Providing resources for medical writing
There are about 5300 registered members in this organization from
around the world covering 26 countries including the United States
and Canada. The American Medical Writers Association provide
services under the following categories:
n Administrators
n Advertisers
n Audiovisual Producers
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n Authors’ Editors
n College and University Professors
n Journal Editors
n Pharmaceutical Writers, Editors, and Managers
n Public Relations Specialists
n Publishers
n Reporters
n Researchers
n Scriptwriters
n Statisticians
n Translators
The American Medical Writers Association provides assistance
for both freelance medical writers and full time employees of various
institutions like pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, biotechnology
companies, medical schools and non-profit organizations.
Anyone who is interested in medical writing and planning to
pursue a career in medical writing can register with this organization
and the organization will provide all the necessary assistance.
Registered members also get access to the quarterly journal
published by the organization and receive periodic newsletters.
The association also distributes honorary and competitive awards.
The association provides Professional Development certificates every
two years of participation in qualifying activities. Three certificate
programs are available which include:
n Core certificate program
n Science fundamentals program
n Advanced certificate program
n The membership and other fees are –
n Membership $135
n Student Membership $45
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Other services:
Services Members Non-Members
1 Core Certificate Enrollment $125.- $235.-
2 Core Certificate Continuation $65.- $175.-
3 Advanced Certificate Enrollment $150.- $260.-
4 Advanced Certificate Continuation $85.- $195.-
5 Membership Directory $20.- $150.-
6 Essays for Biomedical Communicators Vol. 1 $35.- $75.-
7 Essays for Biomedical Communicators Vol. 2 $35.- $75.-
8 Self Study Workshop “Basic Grammar & Usage $159.- $250.-
9 Self Study Workshop “Punctuation & Style $159.- $250.-
The contact address is:

American Medical Writers’ Association
40 West Gude Drive, Suite 101
Rockville, MD 20850-1192
Voice: (301) 294-5303
Fax: (301) 294-9006
e-mail: amwa@amwa.org
Australasian Medical Writers Association

The Australasian Medical Writers Association was started in 1982. It
was started as Australian Medical Writer Association and subsequently
changed to Australasian Medical Writer Association in 1993.
The executive committee conducts regular e-mail discussions and
teleconferences. At present, the association has about 300 registered
members from Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia.
The association provides resources for medical writers, journalists
and editors. It also provides contact details for freelance writers. The
organization provides Professional Development Program (PDP),
which is designed specifically for the registered members.
It aims to offer a wide selection of high-quality workshops in the
areas of medical writing, editing, public relations and web design.
The association announces the AMWA award each year to the
members who have contributed exceptionally. The award is being given
from 1995.
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The association provides details of the freelancers state by state

and also provides resources for freelance career. The benefits that a
registered member of the Australasian Medical Writer Association can
enjoy include:
n 10% discount on all purchases up to $1000 and 15% on
purchases above that figure at Dymocks Booksellers, Sydney.
n Links to various resources. The web resources section include
a Press Releases
a Useful Background Information
a Journals
a Complementary Health Sites
a For your Contact Book
n The AuMWA bookshelf section provides details
of the following:
a Dictionaries / Thesaurus
a Reference / fact checking
a Codes & guidelines
a Online databases
a Style & grammar
a Interviewing
a Harrison’s online
a Freelance writing tips
a Public relations
The contact address is:
Australasian Medical Writers Association
PO Box 1261,
Chatswood,
New South Wales, 2067.
www.medicalwriters.org
European Medical Writers Association

The European Medical Writers Association was founded in 1989
by a small group of professional biomedical communicators with
academic, industrial and journalistic affiliations.
The association has 550 registered members from 24 countries
including 7 from outside Europe. The registered members include
academics and professionals working in-house or freelance for
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pharmaceutical and medical communications companies, research

institutes, and in the field of scientific journalism.
The services offered by the European Medical Writers Association are:
n Basic writing skills (e.g. sentence structure, punctuation)
n Statistics for medical writers
n Pharmacokinetics
n Documents and guidelines specific for the pharmaceutical
industry
n Public relations
n Accounting for freelancers
n Learning/enhancing the art of data presentation.
The European Medical Writers Association was initially affiliated to
the American Medical Writers Association. But later they developed
their own educational program to provide training and certification.
The registered members receive the official newsletter, ‘The
Write Stuff’, four times a year. Those who are interested in pursuing
a career in medical writing can request for pamphlets from the
association which gives details of the previous conferences held. This
will give an idea about the training programs they offer.
The European Medical Writers Association Professional
Development Program is designed to enable experienced medical
writers to train other or less experienced writers by sharing their
knowledge through the medium of workshops. There are two levels
of certificate:
n
Foundation Level — This certificate is awarded to candidates
who obtain credit in eight approved foundation workshops.
Candidates may obtain more than one foundation certificate
after completing the appropriate requirements for each.
n Advanced Level - This certificate is awarded to candidates
who obtain credit in any eight approved advanced workshops.
Advanced certificates are limited to one per candidate.
EMWA Head Office Tel: +41 41 720 3306

Industriestrasse 31 Fax: +41 41 720 3308
CH-6300 Zug
www.emwa.org
Switzerland
There are a few other popular writers association which give training for
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aspiring writers, provide certificate programs and assists in getting in-house

jobs or freelance projects. Some of them are:
n Association of British Science Writers
Wellcome Wolfson Building
165 Queen’s Gate
London
SW7 5HD
www.absw.org.uk
n Health and Science Communications Association (HeSCA)

39, Wedgewood Drive, Suite A
Jewett City, CT 06351
860.376.5915
www.hesca.org
n National Association of Medical Communicators (NAMC)

1131 Lake St. #327
Oak Park, IL 60301.
www.namc.info
n The World Association of Medical Editors

c/o Pritpal Tamber, MD, Secretary
Managing Director, Faculty of 1000 Medicine Reports Ltd
Science Navigation Group
Middlesex House
34-42 Cleveland St
London, W1T 4LB England
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7631 9196
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7580 1938
www.wame.org
n The National Association of Science Writers Inc.

P.O. Box 890,
Hedgesville, WV 25427
Tel: (304) 754-5077
www.nasw.org
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n Council of Science Editors

12100, Sunset Hills Road,
Suite 130, Reston,
VA – 20190
Tel: 703-437- 4377
Fax: 703-435 – 4390
www.councilscienceeditors.org
n BioCommunications Association
220 Southwind Lane
Hillsborough, NC 27278
Fax: 919-245-0906
www.bca.org
The benefits of getting registered

in an association
Though the American Medical writers Association was started as
early as 1940, medical writing became a well recognized career only
for the past couple of decades.
Over the last twenty years more associations have been formed to
encourage aspiring writers to enter the medical writing field.
Medical writers can be a full time writer or a part time writer; an
in-writer or a freelance writer. In all situations the medical writers
association can help the writers build their career.
A medical writer needs to get registered with the medical writer
association for the following reasons:
n The writer can updated about what’s going on in the medical
writing field
n The writer can undergo training programs in medical writing
n The writer can get certificates which he can use as credentials
while applying for medical writing jobs
n The writer can get job opportunities as freelance writer and in-
house writer. The associations post job openings for the writers
n The writer can share his knowledge with others in the
association
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Chapter Four:
How to write medical articles & e-books
Medical writing involves writing medical articles, medical e-books,
medical reports, and abstracts, essays for academic institutions, clinical
trial reports, drug information and writing for journals and so on.
Medical writing can be done as an in-house job or as a freelance
work. Freelance medical writing most of the times involve writing
medical e-books and medical articles, though other types of medical
writing are also done by freelance writers.
Writing e-books
An e-book is an electronic book. Unlike the traditional book, this is
a computer file which can be in the form of word document, portable
document format (PDF) file or HTML formatted file. The e-book is
formatted to look like book containing information what one can get
by reading a traditional book.

Advantages of e-book over traditional book
E-book scores over the traditional books in many aspects. Some of
the advantages include:
n Less space occupying - Since the e-books are nothing but
computer files, it can be stored in computers and compact
discs. This means e-books are less space occupying unlike the
traditional heavy books.
n Easily portable – Whenever some one plans to travel, carrying
traditional books can be cumbersome as they are heavy and
space occupying. But e-books are computer files. So there is
no need to carry them and you can view the e-book from
anywhere in the world if you have uploaded it through
the internet. You can also download the e-book in a compact
disc and carry it along with you. All you would be carrying
is a circular thin disc which is light and easy to carry.
n Lesser cost – The cost of writing an e-book is less than printing
a traditional book
n Updated – When a traditional book is published, the
Information in it is constant until the next edition. But in e-book
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it is easy to update the book as it is in the format of computer file.

Writing e-books is one of the best ways of making money online. A
medical writer can write and market his own e-book or he can write e-books
as a ghost writer to others. The first option is better and you earn more.
Ghost writers get $10-$40 per page for ghost medical e-books especially.
Writing your own e-book

Writing your own e-book is a better option than writing them as
ghost writers. Ghost writing e-books fetch only one time money.
Writing your own e-book can fetch more money if it is marketed
properly. The steps of writing your own e-book includes.
Step 1:
Identify the topic you have to write. There are many websites
which provide information on hot topics in medical writing. The
websites provide information on the number of e-books that have
been written in the particular topic, the sales and cost of that e-book
and related e-books.
It is wise not to choose any topic on which there are already a
number of e-books written. Because, the sales of your book may not
be satisfactory.
Again, it is not wise to choose any topic that has only less number
of takers. So the best thing to do is to choose a hot topic which is very
much sought after, yet not many e-books are written on that topic.
You can use the overture tool to choose the hot topic. Look for
market niche at:
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/
suggestion/. overture.com
This is one of the biggest search engines which allow PPC. You can
check how many searches one specific word had in the last month.
You have to look for topics which have searched between 30,000
-100,000 times.
Go to http://www.overture.com , enter your topic and click search”.
In the right corner you will see “View Advertisers Max Bids”. Click
that link and you’ll see a new window where overture shows you the
maximum amounts customers are willing to pay for PPC.
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Step 2:
Build your own website. Building your own website is essential to
sell your e-book. It serves as portal through which you can advertise,
market and sell your e-book.
A simple website with limited options is enough to serve this
purpose. You can build your own website if you know about HTML
codes. It would be better, if you know programming like PHP,
JavaScript etc.
If all these are Greek and Latin to you, you can hire a professional
to design and develop your website. If you do not know HTML or
want to learn Front Page or Dream Weaver, you can hire a Web site
designer online at www.elance.com. A simple website may cost
around $150 - $200. You may also have to pay for the domain name
registration and web hosting.
There are many websites like www.2checkout.com and
www.clickbank.com which serve as portals for selling e-books.
So instead of selling your e-books through your own website,
you can sell through these websites. But they charge you a fee for
registration and for each sale of your book.
Step 3:
Choosing the hot topic and writing on it alone is not sufficient. You
should know what the audience like to know about that hot topic and
try to address that in your book.
For example, Alzheimer’s disease is a hot topic and you can write
an e-book on that. But you should know what people want to know
about Alzheimer’s disease.
Instead if you simply fluff things in that e-book without addressing
the issues that general public wants to know, you may not receive a
good response.
All you have to do is place an ad, say in Google Adwords with
necessary key words (like Alzheimer’s for the above topic) and write
a line in that - “Alzheimer’s disease, Free e-book, Read all you need
to know!” People searching for information on Alzheimer’s disease
may see your ad on Google searches and may click on your ad. They
will be directed to your website. On your website place a message
reading - “Thank you for your interest. I am going to write a book
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on Alzheimer’s disease. Please tell me what you want to know about

Alzheimer’s disease. For being so kind to help me make the best book,
you will get a free copy when I finish it.” Many people may respond
by sending their queries and about the information they want to know.
Step 4:
So now you have got the topic which is a hot one and the issues
related to that topic from the audience who saw your ad. Write an
e-book now with the resources you have.
The book should be ideally 40-60 pages. Too less the number of
pages would not be sufficient to cover all the issues. Likewise too
many pages may not get a good response from the audience.
Take your own time to write the e-book. A 40-60 pages e-book may
take around 20 - 30 days to complete. A good e-book should contain
the following:
n A cover page
n Table of contents
n Appropriately divided chapters
n Images, tables and statistics
n Summary
n Resource guide
Keep the language as simple as possible. Try to write short
paragraphs. Use bulleted points at appropriate areas. Use headings and
sub-headings wherever needed. Use appropriate fonts and font size.
For e-books, the ideal fonts are Arial, Times New Roman and
Verdana. The appropriate font size is 18 for the main heading, 14 for
sub heading and 12 for the rest of the book.
It would be better if you provide hyperlinks in the e-book. This would
allow the readers to navigate directly in to specific pages they want.
Inserting images in the e-book would make it interesting and
also attractive. Decide where you want to insert those images.
The images should occupy less than 15% of the e-book. If you can
draw the images yourself, it is better. You can upload it directly in
to your e-book. If you can’t do it, you can select the images from
websites like google images. Go through the images and choose the
most appropriate one. But you should remember that most of the
images are copyright protected. If they are not copyright protected,
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you can straight away copy it and paste it in your e-book. If it is

copyright protected, you contact the owner and tell him about your
project and that you want to use the images. In most of the cases, the
owner will permit to use them, sometimes with the request that you
acknowledge them in your e-book. In a few cases, the owner may ask
for a fee. If you can afford, just pay him and get those images.
Step 5:
Once the book is ready, do proof reading and editing to make it
error free and interesting. The best thing to do is make your friends
read the e-book and comment on them. A poorly edited e-book may
not attract many buyers.
Step 6:
Once the e-book is written, it has to be marketed for sale. You can
sell it through your own website or through websites meant for it.
www.2checkout.com and www.clickbank.com are such sites through
which you can sell your e-book. You have to register in that website
for selling your e-book. The registration fee is $49.95. For every sale
you have to pay the $5.5 plus 0.25% to that website.
Step 7:
For people to know about your e-book, you need to place advertisements
in popular websites like Google (through Google adwords).
Since the topic you have chosen is a hot topic, whenever people
search for resources, the advertisements will be displayed on
the Google pages and in websites related to your topics. Surveys
have shown that about 2% -10% of the visitors clicking on your
advertisement buy your book.
But you should also keep in mind that for every click on your
advertisement in Google adwords, you have to pay $1. So you have
to decide on the appropriate price for the e-book. For a 50 page
e-book $25 may be a reasonable price.
And finally providing a bonus book may attract many buyers. The
bonus book need not be a big one. A book as small as 10 pages will
do. The topic should be related to the parent book.
So for an e-book on Alzheimer’s disease, you can provide a bonus
book titled ‘FAQs on Alzheimer’s disease’ or “How to improve your
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memory’. You can add in your advertisement page that – “Bonus

book free with purchase of the e-book – Limited offer”.
Ghost writing medical books

Ghost writers are professional writers who are paid to write materials
which are credited to other persons. The ghost writer is sometimes
acknowledged by the publisher or the person who hired him.
The ghost writer has to transfer the copyright at the end of the
project. He cannot claim any royalty and his name will not be
acknowledged in the book.
Most of the times, the project involves writing on topic for
about 200 pages. They are paid either per page, with a flat fee, or a
percentage of the royalties of the sales. There are both advantages and
disadvantages of ghost writing books.
The advantages are:
n You get a definite income
n You need not worry about marketing
n You need not own a website to launch it
n You need not spend money for registration, advertisement
and other related things
n You can write on a subject that the publisher would not hire
you to write alone because you are not a specialist
The disadvantages are:
n The money you get is limited unless you get a share
of the royalties.
n You are not given the credit for writing the book most of the
times though a few publishers or authors give credit
to the ghost writer.
n Royalties are not given in all cases.
n Once you complete the e-book, you may have to wait to get
another project
Writing medical articles

Writing medical articles is simpler task when compared to writing
medical e-books. Medical articles may be written for general public or
for professionals. The medical article can be as short as one page to as
long as 7-10 pages.
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Writing medical article for general public

The medical articles written for general public should be clear and
concise. Because people do not generally read articles to know about
something and they get bored if the article is too long.
The article should have the following two features:
1. The title should be appropriate and attractive. A good title
should make the reader to go in to the article and read it till the
last line.
For example, if you write an article on chiropractors, having
the title as — ‘Chiropractors’ would be very attractive. It would
look more attractive if you have the title as — ‘The Healing
Hands of Chiropractors’.
2. As said earlier the article should be short and concise. An
Ideal article written for general public should be 400
to 1200 words.
If you are writing for a website, optimize the article for
search engine optimization so that it will be ranked higher up
in the search engine rankings. You do this by including the
key words in the article copy. For more information on SEO,
visit: http://www.searchenginemarketinghandbook.com/
Most of the times, medical articles are written on drug information
including that of newer drugs, information on diseases, their
symptoms and signs, patient care, the outcome of diseases and
their complications.
Writing for institutions and pharmaceutical companies

Institutions and pharmaceutical companies general hire medical
writers as full time employee for an in-house job. But sometimes
freelance writers are hired for that work.
The pharmaceutical companies want the information about the
drugs to reach the health care professional so that they can start
prescribing them to their patients.
At the same time they also want the general public to know about
the arrival of the new drug to the market and also about the benefits
of the drug. These articles are used by them in health magazines, their
company websites, e-newsletters and as press releases.
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Pharmaceutical marketing involves advertising about the drugs

and promoting its sales. It is basically divided in to two categories:
1. Direct to physician marketing
2. Direct to consumer marketing
Direct to physician marketing — Physicians are the most important
persons in sales of drugs and other medications.
Influencing the physician is an important aspect in promoting
the sales of the drugs. The pharmaceutical companies target these
physicians with specific ads about their products. They place the ads
in the health magazines and also by sending their staffs to meet them
at their office.
These staffs describe about the drugs with the help of ad materials
and also issue hand outs containing information about the drugs and
the monographs.
Direct to consumers marketing — This has come in to vogue since
late 1970s. The pharmaceutical companies place ads in mass media
which highlight their products.
Pharmaceutical spending on television commercials nearly
doubled from $654 million in 2001 to a staggering $1.19 billion in 2005
(Source — www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov).
But this method of advertising has become controversial. It is
banned in every western country except the US and New Zealand,
which is considering a ban.
Most of the ads are based on emotional appeals and few provide
necessary details about the causes of a medical condition, risk
factors or lifestyle changes that may be appropriate alternatives to
pharmaceutical interventions.
Both DTP and the controversial DTC marketing involve writing
about the drugs but in different styles. DTP marketing involves
providing information to physicians through the following means —
Self research from the information provided in Physician’s Desk
n Reference and online sources such as PDR.net, as well as via
PDAs with applications such as Epocrates and Thomson
Clinical Xpert.
n By engaging ‘Key opinion leaders’(KOL). These are respected
individuals, such as prominent medical school faculty, who
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influence physicians through their professional status. The

pharmaceutical companies provide information to these key
opinion leaders who address a gathering of physicians.
n Through sales representatives
Medical writers’ job is to write monographs and print ads related
to the drug that has to be promoted. They need to concise and yet
very informative.
The monographs should contain the chemical constituents, mode
of administration, absorption and metabolism, adverse side effects,
interaction with other drugs, dosage and a mention about the trials
that support their efficacy.
Direct to consumer marketing involves placing ads about the drugs
in mass media like television and magazines. Medical writer are
engaged in this category of pharmaceutical marketing also though in
most of the cases the ads are based on emotional appeals.
In an analysis of 38 pharmaceutical ads 95% used only emotional
appeals (Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com ). These facts show
that though medical writing is needed for both DTP and DTC
marketing, it is more used for DTP marketing.
Writing drug monographs

Both DTP and DTC marketing needs drug monographs and print
ads and other marketing materials.
Drug monographs are scholarly material written about the drugs.
It should include all informational facets of any particular drug with
clearly labelled section and sub-sections.
Sections and subsections of the monograph should have clear and
consistent purpose and use and the overall look should be clean and
uncluttered. The following is the basic template of a drug monograph:
n Brand name of the drug
n Generic name of the drug
n Description of the drug
n Mechanism of action
n Time required for action
n Pharmacokinetic data as separated into absorption,
distribution, metabolism, & excretion
n Indications
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n Dosage
n Administration
n Monitoring parameters
n Contra-indications / precautions
n Interactions with other drugs
n Adverse side effects
n Over dosage measures
n References
How to market yourself

Once a writer decides to pursue a career in medical writing he has
to establish himself in that field whether it is in-house medical writing
or freelance medical writing.
The best way to market oneself in the field of medical writing is to
get registered in any one of the internationally recognized medical
writers organization. Getting registered in these organizations
help the medical writer to get trained in medical writing, interact
with other registered members, get job opportunities and know the
developments in the field of medical writing.
Once the medical writer gets registered in the association, his name
will be displayed in the association website. When clients who need
medical articles look for professionals they may take the help of these
associations and may hire one of the members.
Getting registered in a medical writers association may thus serve
as a launching pad for a career in medical writing. But an aspiring
medical writer with the right credentials can apply directly for the
job. They may approach the recruiting companies which are in need
on them. Details of recruitment may be found in job search websites
and in the classified section of the newspapers and other magazines.
After getting used to the field of medical writing, the writer can
write articles on his own without involving the associations. It would
be better to start a website for your medical writing business. This site
would serve as a place where all the correspondence can take place.
Displaying the following qualifications on the website may be useful:
n Educational qualification
n Experience
n Biography
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n Projects completed
n Portfolio of sample work
n Client list
n Testimonials from previous clients
n Sample articles
n Details of membership in Medical writers association
n References
n Contact information
The website should be optimized for search engine rankings.
People who look for medical writers should be able to see the name of
the writer’s website among the top matches.
The optimization should be done for all possible keywords, a
potential client may use while using a search engine.
On the other hand the writer may place an advertisement about
him and his website on Google adwords and Yahoo search marketing.
This may require paying as much as $30 per month. If the medical
writer is willing to spend more he can place sponsored link, which will
be placed on the top of all pages when the client uses the search engine.
The medical writer can register his name in freelance medical
writing sites. There are numerous such sites available (list given in the
last chapter).
Many a times, the client directly goes to those sites in search of a
medical writer. The sites display the profile of the registered members
and the client may choose one of them based on the writer’s credentials.
It would be better to leave complete information on the profile
including the URL of the website for a better response.
Other ways of marketing yourself include the following:
1. Generating a steady flow of clients- A successful marketing
involves generating more leads so that the number of potential
clients outweighs the number of assignments you can take on.
This can be done by cold calling potential clients like
pharmaceutical companies, contract research organizations
etc, writing articles on medical writing and marketing in
trade publications which potential clients read or by
publishing them as e-newsletters or by publishing white
papers and mailing them directly to the potential clients.
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2. By building your reputations through speaking , attending

medical conferences, seminars and workshops
and by networking
3. Writing a book and publishing it as a marketing tool
While marketing yourself as a medical writer, it is essential to
highlight a few aspects of yourself. These help in getting good
medical writing assignments. They include:
n Whether you have experience in medical writing – a medical
writer with ample experience can offer valuable insight and
guidance a neophyte cannot provide.
n Details on how to go about if the clients recruit you – This is in
regards to your fee arrangement, and working methods.
n About your writing style
n About how your copy pulled other clients
n About the self promotional packages which may include simple
folded pamphlets to thick folders containing article reprints,
copy samples, autobiographies, client lists, testimonials, and
other materials.
n About your previous clients – A long list obviously tells the
clients that you are in this profession for quite some while and
that you are worthy writer.
Using direct mailing to promote you.

Direct mailing is a low cost effective means of generating a
controlled quantity of highly qualified leads quickly. But unless it is
done efficiently it can be a failure. Some of the suggestions for direct
mailing are:
n Developing a primary offer – This can be done with an
offer to do a trial writing project. The primary offer is meant
for clients who want their work done in the near future
n Developing a secondary offer – This includes offering a
free booklet, special report, brochure, fact sheet or other printed
information the reader can send for by calling or mailing back
a postpaid business reply card. This is meant for client who
may not use your services in the near future but may be after
a couple of months. About 50-90% utilize the secondary offer.
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n By encouraging both phone and mail response – this can be

done using business reply cards and by mentioning the
telephone number in the letter copy.
n By establishing credibility – This can be done by providing a
sample article, any article written about you, mentioning
about your previous clients, feedbacks, testimonials, a brochure
about your services
n Using other promotional techniques – These include activities
such as writing articles, writing books, newsletter publishing,
speaking engagements, teaching, seminars, networking, and
being active in industry organizations. These activities will
lead to a higher mail response
The credibility can be improved by the following methods:

n Establishing a physical presence by providing pictures of your
work place to prove that you are more than just a mailbox
n By providing links to specifics of the medical writers background
n By mentioning the awards the writer has received for
his writing job
n Providing testimonials from previous clients and media
Using free seminars to promote you:

Though free seminars help in marketing yourself, it is not an easy
job to do. A few issues are to be addressed before opting free seminars
to promote you as a medical writer which include:
n Deciding whether it is the right approach
n Deciding the title – Calling it a seminar on medical writing
will be appropriate. Seminars are intended for providing
useful knowledge
n Deciding on the mailing format - The best package contains a
personalized letter of invitation combined with a brochure
outlining the seminar contents and the benefits of attendance.
n Deciding on the best months for seminars - The best seminar
seasons are March through May and September
through mid-November.
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Using trade journals to promote you

Publishing a relevant article in the trade journal can bring in a
good number of leads. Some of the tips to publish your work in trade
journals are:
n Choosing the right journal – This can be done with the help of
two resources: Bacon’s Publicity Checker, from Bacon’s
Publishing Co., Chicago; and Writer’s Market, from Writer’s
Digest Books, Cincinnati. Many journals provide sample issues
which may provide clues as to style, format, and appropriate topics.
n Deciding on the initial contact – It can be done either by
calling or by writing. It is purely an individual choice.
n Exclusivity – It is better to avoid providing the same material
to more than one journal. Only if the article is rejected by one
editor, it has to be taken to the other.
n Deciding on the length and deadline - If the editor doesn’t
volunteer this information, by all means ask. The answers may
help avoid misunderstanding later.
How to please clients

Medical writing should not be just a mechanical work. The writer
should enjoy writing it. He should also know how to please the clients
for the following reasons:
n A satisfied client may provide more projects in the future
n A satisfied client may refer the writer’s name to other clients
which will help the writer get more projects and build
his network
n A satisfied client will leave a good feedback on the websites
which may influence other clients in taking their decision of
hiring the writer for their projects.
The medical writer should know how to please the client. Some of
the tips of pleasing the client include:
n The writer should thank the client after the project is given to
him. This would be the perfect start for the project and to
please the client.
n Frequent
communication should be there between the writer
and the client. The client and the writer should decide
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beforehand about how frequently they should communicate

and at what time and by what means – phone call, IM etc.
The writer should always respond to the client’s mail immediately.
n The e-mails should have a friendly tone. Some of the clients
may be rude. But the writer should always keep his cool and
write in a cordial tone
n The writer if possible should suggest the client on how to
make the project better. He should now not just mechanically
carry out what is instructed to him. This will make the client
feel that the writer is showing good involvement in the project
and is not for just making money alone
n The writer should be able to stick to the guidelines as agreed in
the business terms. Sometimes, due to unavoidable reasons,
the project may get delayed and may extend well beyond the
deadline. In these circumstances, the writer should
communicate with the client himself before the client asks him
-‘what’s wrong’. The writer should explain to the client
about the reasons of the project getting delayed and should
humbly ask him for the extension of the deadline.
n After the project is completed, the writer should thank the
client for the opportunity and once again after payment has
been received
n If options are available ( as in a few websites) , the writer
should leave a good feedback about the client also.
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Chapter Five:
Medical Writing for Websites
Writing for websites is in some ways different from writing for
print media. In most of the cases writing for websites involve writing
meant for general public though other categories like writing for
journals is also there.
People use search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, and AltaVista
and so on when they are looking for particular information. When
they type the keyword in the search bar and click on it, they get lakhs
of matches.
But they usually go through the first couple of pages to get the
information. So people who own websites want their website to be
listed in the first couple of ranks to boost the number of visitors to
their site.
This applies to medical websites also. Boosting the website search
ranking involves a process called search engine optimization.
The medical writer can be either a ghostwriter for other clients who
have websites related to medicine and health or can write medical
articles for his own site.
The websites may belong to doctors, pharmaceutical companies,
medical device manufacturers, diagnostic imaging centers,
educational institutions and hospitals.
Ghost writing does not need any initial investment. But for hosting
a website, the writer may have to spend for web designing and web
development by a professional. The cost may be as follows:
n Domain name registration - $10 -$30. Should be
renewed periodically.
n Web design and development – The starting price is $150
n Hosting charges – This depends on the memory occupied by
the website. The starting price is about $ 25 per annum
(www.alpssoftware.com)
Whether the medical articles are written for other clients or for the writers
own website, it should be optimized for the search engine rankings.
There are qualified professionals who optimize the website and
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web content for search engine rankings. But there are a few points
which the medical writer should know regarding search
engine optimization.
Writing articles for your website can fetch you money in two ways.
One is by allowing companies place advertisements in your website.
If the traffic to your website is increased, more companies will be
willing to place ads in your website.
Also there are options like Google adwords and Yahoo adwords.
By allowing them to place ads in your website, you can make money.
For this your website and the content should be really very good and
should attract more traffic.
Secondly, you can place part of the content under members area. If
the free section is good people might be willing to join as a member
by paying the subscription.
You need not be a medical authority for that. I know a few persons
for whom I have done medical projects, who own small sites in which
they sell e-books, have placed ads and paid members area.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization means ensuring that the web pages are
accessible to search engines and focused in ways that help improve
the chances they will be found.
Search engines are one of the primary ways that Internet users find
web sites. That’s why a web site with a good search engine listing
may see a dramatic increase in traffic.
Everyone wants that good listing. A number of factors are
important when optimizing a web site, including the content and
structure of the web site’s copy and page layout, the HTML meta-tags
and the submission process. But as writer, knowing only the style of
writing is sufficient.
Some of the basic points while writing an article using keywords
for search engine optimization are:
n The topic should be catchy
n The primary keywords should be in the title, first 5 line of the
article, middle of the article and the last 5 lines of the article
n The secondary and the tertiary keywords should be
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uniformly spread throughout the article

n The keyword density should not exceed 2.5%-3%
n The initial paragraph of the article should convey what is
going to be discussed in the article
n The article should be divided in to many paragraphs. The
paragraphs should be short
n One page should have a maximum of 250-400 words
n Proper heading and sub-heading should be given
n Bulleted points should be used wherever possible
For more information on SEO, visit:
http://www.searchenginemarketinghandbook.com/
Sample article
(This article was written for $25. The buyer included this article in his
website, which is about air filters and home air purifiers)
Home Air Purifiers —

Breathe Easy, Breathe Healthy
Allergies, including asthma, cause everyone to choose home air purifiers.
Pollution indoors is 2 –10 times worse than outdoors. A constant exposure to
a polluted atmosphere is the leading cause for coughing, sneezing, wheezing
and scratching your skin.
To avoid suffering from these allergens it is usually a wise decision
to invest in a home air purifier or a home air cleaner. According to the
Environmental Protection Agency, this is the most effective method to clean
indoor air.
But before investing in a home air purifier, the source of indoor air
pollution should be removed as much as possible. There could be numerous
causes, including house dust, pollens, pet dander and tobacco smoke.
A variety of home air cleaners is available, that are effective in eliminating
particular types of contaminants.
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Home air purifier- which one to choose?

There are a variety of home air cleaners to choose from, including table top
and freestanding units.
The American Lung Association suggests that freestanding units are
preferable and suggests to choose one from the following list:.
n Room air purifiers
n HEPA filtered air purifiers
n Ion generators
n Ozone generators
n Whole house air purifiers
But according to the American Lung Association, Ion and Ozone
generators are futile in eliminating air pollutants. They cause more harm
than good and The California Air Resource Board advises people to use the
home air purifier units with the HEPA technology.
For the home owner it is important to know, how fast these home air cleaner
units remove air pollutants. Technically, this is known as the ”Clean air
delivery rates” or CADR.
The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers will assist you with
this information and usually list it clearly on the packaging.
So, choose the right home air purifier to breathe easy and to breathe
healthy.
End of article
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Chapter Six:
How to get medical writing projects
Medical writing is a lucrative job. Both in-house medical writing
and freelance medical writing jobs are available. Freelance medical
writing is often preferable to in-house medical writing for the
following reasons:
n You can take your own time to write. You can write during
free time or you can be a full time freelance writer. You
get more freedom to work unlike the in-house jobs where
you have to work under someone else.
n The income is not a fixed one. The in-house job has a fixed
income. But in freelance writing the income varies according
to the amount of work done. If done properly, one can earn
a six digit income easily.
n You can work from home unlike the in-house job in which
you have report in the office which might be in far off place
requiring you to travel quite a distance sometimes
n You can write medical articles on topics of your interest
especially when you write articles for general public (Websites
like www.hirsutism.info and www.thehumanliver.info
When you write articles on topics in which you have interest,
the final product will be of good quality
n Unlike in-house writing, you can take longer breaks from
the job which you can utilize for spending with your family
or for a vacation.
Who will hire freelance medical writers?

The following clients need medical writers who may work as in-
house writers or freelance writers:
n Academic medical centers – They hire medical writers for
writing course materials on medical topics.
n Contract research organizations – These organizations
involve medical writers do the projects outsourced to them
by the pharmaceutical companies. The projects include writing
investigators brochure, clinical trial protocol and report, sales copy.
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n Doctors — They hire medical writers to write newsletters,

health information materials to patients, articles for their
websites, materials for scientific paper presentation
in the conferences
n Foundations — Foundations like Global Neuroscience
Initiative Foundation — www.gnif.org hire medical writers for
proposal writing and educational medical writing
n Hospitals/Health care systems — They hire medical writers to
write articles for their websites, to write about the services
they provide, to write health information materials for the patients
n Medical device manufacturers —They hire medical writers to
write for their websites, to write brochures, sales copy,
newsletters and information materials
n Pharmaceutical companies — They hire medical writers to
write investigators brochure, clinical trial protocol and report,
sales copy, information materials for patients and physicians.
n Publishers — Publishers hire either an in-house medical
writer or a freelancer to write medical articles and medical books.
Newsmagazines may hire medical writers as science journalists.
n Web sites – Websites belonging to pharmaceutical companies,
medical device managers, doctors, hospitals and academic
Institutions hire medical writers to write about their products
and services.
Where to get the projects

For those who are new to the medical writing field, it is better to
get registered in medical writers association where the writer can
not only get more information on medical writing, but also freelance
projects.
The websites of these associations have freelance directory which
has the list of freelance writers registered with the association.
The recruiting agencies may hire the medical writer from that list.
The websites also have sections for job search and job listing from
where the medical writer can get the details of various job
positions available.
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Once he is accustomed to medical writing, he can write on his own

by placing advertisements in marketplace.
The clients needing medical writers may hire them when they
happen to see the advertisements. Finally the medical writer can
register in freelance writing sites which offer a lot of freelance writing
opportunities (The list of those websites is given in the
resource guide).
So projects can be obtained through four ways:
1. Through medical writers association after getting registered
in that site
2. The clients hiring the writers directly by seeing the writers
advertisement in jobsites like www.jobster.com and in the
medical writer association websites and through search engines
3. Through freelance writing websites (List in the resource guide)
4. By sending a resume and applying for freelance medical writing
jobs from prospective clients and employers
Please see Sample resume on following two pages

(Courtesy: www.anellomedicalwriting.com)
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Michael Anello 3425A South New York Ave

Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53207
Voice: (414) 483-1510
e-mail: michael@anellomedicalwriting.com
Web: www.anellomedicalwriting.com
Seeking medical writing and editing opportunities.
FREELANCE CLIENTS
n Medical Writing/Editing 1999 to present

Abbott Laboratories Standard Process BioCell Technologies
Baxter Medical Education Institute Wes Rataushk & Associates
Genzyme Renquist Associates Microsoft
Merck Medco The Gessert Group Philips Medical Systems
Fujisawa Washington Information Source. Froedtert Hospital
AstraZeneca Lippincott Williams and Wilkins S&R Communications
Medicis Biovail Medical College of Wisconsin TyWin Communications
Novartis Medical Crossfire The HMS Beagle
City of Milwaukee Health Dptmt. Ingenix Start
Raymedica Ahrens Balwit Associates Constructech
Oncology News Int’ntl. MarCom Group International , e-Com
Pfizer D.C. Center for Dermatology OptiStock Market Report
Praxis Press Gel Tex Pharmaceuticals Home Automation magazines.
THERAPEUTIC AREAS:
Areas of experience include antihypertensives, dermatology, endocrinology, immunology, neonatology,
nephrology, nurse education, oncology, public health, Six Sigma, and virology. Experience with brand
name and generic pharmaceuticals, OTC drugs, medical devices, and software; content for hard copy,
multimedia, and the Internet. Over 225 publications.
ACCOUNT EXECUTION & SALES:

Excellent skills for serving in the role of agency representative. Interactions with clients and potential
clients often secure repeat business. Significant experience and comfort collaborating with thought
leaders and experts in a variety of settings. Proven effectiveness in establishing, developing, and
maintaining relationships through proactive communication techniques.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT:
The use of several advanced project estimating, forecasting, and time-tracking mechanisms has facilitated
a successful track record of delivering client services in a timely, thoughtful, and professional manner.
These highly developed methods for project initiation, planning, and execution include the development
and use of flowcharts, progress checklists, and proactive reporting mechanisms.
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Additional Experience:
12/90 - 5/92 MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY
Research Technician - Muscle Biology
12/88 to 6/90 MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN
Research Technician - Interferon
3/85 to 3/88 McARDLE LABS, UW-MADISON
Laboratory Technician - Nucleic Acids
Molecular Biology Research:
For the three positions listed above, wrote several laboratory protocols, and
coauthored a peer-reviewed publication in Nucleic Acids Research. Performed
biochemical procedures, data collection and assimilation, statistical analysis,
graph/chart creation, and medical-technical writing.
Education:
MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY — Graduated cum Laude
Bachelor of Arts: UW - Madison
Bacteriology
Biochemistry
Political Science
Graduate Level Study — Medical College of Wisconsin
Medical Ethics
End of Life Decisions
Professional Societies:
American Medical Writers Association (1999)
Volunteer Organizations:
Rockin’ For A Cure (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis)
Madison Scouts Drum & Bugle Corps
3425A South New York Ave
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53207
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Chapter Seven:
Resource Guide
The section of resource guide has details that will be helpful for
the aspiring medical writers to get freelance medical projects, write
medical content of good quality using appropriate styles and also can
sell their articles and e-books.
These include websites and resources from where authentic

medical information may be got and assimilated, resources where the
medical writer can get freelance medical projects, resources which
gives tips on referencing, resources on copyright laws, list of medical
writers association, list of websites through which the medical writer
can sell his e-book.
Online resources for medical information

and for referencing
The following lists of websites and books are sources of medical
information which can be utilized for medical writing. These are
authentic sources which can be quoted in the medical content
if required.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
In collaboration with book publishers, NCBI offers digital biomedical
books and monographs with links to PubMed, the biomedical
bibliographic database.
PubMed, available via the NCBI Entrez retrieval system, was
developed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information
(NCBI) at the National Library of Medicine (NLM), located at the U.S.
National Institutes of Health (NIH).
PubMed provides access to bibliographic information that includes
MEDLINE, OLDMEDLINE, as well as:
n The out-of-scope citations (e.g., articles on plate tectonics or
astrophysics) from certain MEDLINE journals, primarily
general science and chemistry journals, for which the life
sciences articles are indexed for MEDLINE.
n Citations that precede the date that a journal was selected
for MEDLINE indexing.
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n Some additional life science journals that submit full text to

PubMedCentral and receive a qualitative review by NLM.
www.mayoclinic.com
A team of Web professionals and medical experts working side by
side produces this site. Through this unique collaboration, they give
you access to the experience and knowledge of the more than 2,000
physicians and scientists of Mayo Clinic.
www.webmd.com
WebMD provides valuable health information, tools for managing
health and support to those who seek information.
www.emedicine.com
Launched in 1996, www.eMedicine.com comprises the largest and
most current Clinical Knowledge Base available to physicians and
other healthcare professionals.
The evidence-based content, updated regularly, provides the latest
practice guidelines in 59 medical specialties.
www.medmark.org
This is a web directory for medical websites of various specialties
with more than 12000 links.
www.clevelandclinic.com
The Cleveland Clinic website is provided by the Cleveland Clinic
Foundation for the benefit of its patients, the general public and
health professionals.
All pages that provide health information have been written or
reviewed and approved by Cleveland Clinic physicians or health
professionals unless otherwise specified.
www.merck.com
Merck is a global research-driven pharmaceutical company. The
website provides comprehensive web content on health information
and drugs and clinic trials.
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www.medicinenet.com
MedicineNet.com is an online, healthcare media publishing
company. It provides easy-to-read, in-depth, authoritative medical
information for consumers via its user-friendly, interactive web site.
www.cdc.gov
The CDC is one of the major operating components of the
Department of Health and Human Services.
CDC.gov is CDC’s primary online communication channel. From
April 2006 – March 2007, there were 109 million visits to the site,
averaging more than 9 million unique visits per month.
CDC.gov provides users with credible and reliable health
information.
www.nccam.nih.gov
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
(NCCAM) and its Web site are funded by the National Institutes of
Health (NIH), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS),
United States Government.
Medical information presented on this site is derived from rigorous
research on complementary and alternative medicine. Fact sheets
produced by NCCAM are carefully reviewed by both NCCAM
scientists and outside experts.
www.nlm.nih.gov
The National Library of Medicine (NLM), on the campus of the
National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, is the world’s
largest medical library.
The Library collects materials in all areas of biomedicine and
health care, as well as works on biomedical aspects of technology, the
humanities, and the physical, life, and social sciences.
The National Library of Medicine (NLM) published its first Web
site (www.nlm.nih.gov) in October of 1993 and was one of the first
U.S. federal Web sites. Through the Web at http://www.nlm.nih.gov
some 900 million searches of MEDLINE are done each year by health
professionals, scientists, librarians, and the public.
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www.medlineplus.gov
MedlinePlus brings together authoritative information from
NLM, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other government
agencies and health-related organizations.
Preformulated MEDLINE searches are included in MedlinePlus
and give easy access to medical journal articles.
MedlinePlus also has extensive information about drugs, an
illustrated medical encyclopedia, interactive patient tutorials, and
latest health news.
www.medscape.com
Medscape offers specialists, primary care physicians, and other
health professionals the Web’s most robust and integrated medical
information and educational tools.
www.thelancet.com
The Lancet delivers in-depth knowledge in key medical disciplines.
www.bmj.com
The BMJ’s website was launched in 1995 and includes the full text
of everything published in the print journal since 1994, as well as
much material unique to the web. About 1.2 million unique users
download 6.5 million pages each month
Harrison’s Principle of Internal Medicine

This textbook encompasses all the essential aspects of basic science,
pathophysiology, clinical signs/symptoms, diagnosis, and up-to-date
treatment.
The new 16th Edition of Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine
includes timely, thoughtful and supremely useful coverage of every
major internal medicine related update and current controversy of
note.
Online resources for freelance writing

The following list of websites provides freelance medical writing
opportunities. Some of the websites require registration in the
beginning with fees ranging starting from $10.
Some of them are for free. A few websites also charges transaction
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fees if the medical writer gets a medical writing project.

A few websites needs bids to be placed before the medical writing
projects are awarded to them.
www.guru.com
Guru.com is the world’s largest online marketplace for freelance
talent. Created in August of 2000, Guru.com’s web-based marketplace
directly connects businesses with over 629,000 professionals who
specialize in over 160 professional categories
www.directfreelance.com
Directfreelance.com is an online database of freelancers from
around the world, functioning in a few most popular languages.
Directfreelance.com is owned by VerbumSoft, a global provider in
marketplace solutions.
www.elance.com
Elance is an online marketplace. Tens of thousands of small
businesses use Elance to get work done without the overhead and
hassle of traditional hiring.
They post projects to the Elance professional network and use
Elance’s tools to hire, manage and pay for the work on-demand.
www.schvoong.com
Shvoong’ is a world-wide center for abstracts, offering a wide
variety of abstracts in 34 different languages.
Their goal is to summarize all that has been written throughout
human history in the areas of literature and scientific research, thus
providing you the essence of human knowledge.
All the abstracts are written by the users, citizens of the world, who
not only enjoy sharing their knowledge with everyone, but also earn
royalties for their work.
www.getafreelancer.com
GetAFreelancer.com is owned by ‘Innovate it’. ‘Innovate it’ is a
Swedish company regulated by Swedish authorities.
GetAFreelancer.com was started in February 2004 and is today one
of the top players in the online freelance area.
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www.bca.org
The BioCommunications Association, or BCA, is an international
association of media professionals who create and use quality
images in visual communications for teaching, documentation and
presentations in the life sciences and medicine.
CSE’s mission is to promote excellence in the communication of
scientific information.
CSE’s purpose is to serve members in the scientific, scientific
publishing, and information science communities by fostering
networking, education, discussion, and exchange and to be an
authoritative resource on current and emerging issues in the
communication of scientific information.
www.nasw.org
This organization is meant to disseminate accurate information
regarding science and technology, through all media normally
devoted to informing the public and for the interpretation of science
and its meaning to society, in keeping with the highest standards of
journalism. In addition, this organization promotes the professional
interests of science writers.
www.wame.org
WAME is a voluntary association of editors from many countries
who seek to foster international cooperation among editors of peer-
reviewed medical journals.
Membership in WAME is free and open to all editors of peer-
reviewed medical journals. WAME has more than 1500 members
representing more than 965 journals from 91 countries.
www.namc.info
The National Association of Medical Communicators is an
organization dedicated those of us in the healthcare profession who
want to provide reliable information to the public, no matter what the
venue.
NAMC has been around for more than 30 years. The cornerstone
of the NAMC experience is the annual Medical Communications
Conference held annually by the American Medical Association in
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various venues throughout the country.

www.hesca.org
The Health and Science Communications Association is an
association of communications professionals committed to sharing
knowledge and resources in the health and science arenas.
From conceptualization to final products, the members are
involved in designing, producing, implementing, and evaluating
informational and instructional media experiences for the
health sciences.
www.absw.org.uk
The association’s members include print and broadcast journalists,
authors, scriptwriters and producers, and others active in the field of
communicating science and technology.
Through briefings with prominent scientists and policymakers,
facility visits, debates and social events, the ABSW helps to create
links between science writers and their subjects and markets. The
ABSW has introduced student membership to help those on full-time
courses who are seeking to enter the profession.
www.emwa.org
EMWA is the European Medical Writers Association. It supports
medical writers and medical editors.
Their aim was to provide a forum to promote standards of
excellence in medical writing by furthering the professional
development of members and increasing awareness of medical
writing throughout Europe.
The Australasian Medical Writers Association provides resources
for medical writers, journalists and editors and contact details for
freelance members.
The Australasian Medical Writers Association Inc. was established
in 1982 and has approximately 300 members from around Australia,
New Zealand and Southeast Asia.
www.writejobs.com
Writejobs.com provides job listings, career resources and
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information for journalism, media and publishing professionals.

www.hirehealth.com
Boasting a nationwide membership base of over 500,000 job
seekers, HireHealth.com is the premier online resource for positions
spanning the entire drug discovery continuum - from the laboratory
to the executive suite.
www.academia-research.com
Academia-Research is a freelance writing service company
dedicated to professional research and writing.
They support customers in academia requiring timely, high
quality, customer-specific deliverables. All work is prepared
according to generally accepted editorial and style standards used in
the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia.
www.ifreelance.com
iFreelance.com offers a unique opportunity for freelance providers
and buyers. They don’t charge any commission for work done by
providers for buyers.
Medical writers association

This list provides the names of internationally recognized medical
writers association.
These medical writers association provides training in medical
writing, issue certificates at the end of the training, provides platform
for discussion among the medical writers and share their experience
and provides information on medical writing job opportunities.
The medical writer has to register in these associations before
getting benefited.
The Australasian Medical Writers Association provides resources
for medical writers, journalists and editors and contact details for
freelance members.
The Australasian Medical Writers Association Inc. was established
in 1982 and has approximately 300 members from around Australia,
New Zealand and Southeast Asia.
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www.absw.org.uk
The association’s members include print and broadcast journalists,
authors, scriptwriters and producers, and others active in the field
of communicating science and technology. Through briefings with
prominent scientists and policymakers, facility visits, debates and
social events, the ABSW helps to create links between science writers
and their subjects and markets.
The ABSW has introduced student membership to help those on
full-time courses who are seeking to enter the profession.
www.bca.org
The BioCommunications Association, or BCA, is an international
association of media professionals who create and use quality
images in visual communications for teaching, documentation and
presentations in the life sciences and medicine.
CSE’s mission is to promote excellence in the communication of
scientific information.
CSE’s purpose is to serve members in the scientific, scientific
publishing, and information science communities by fostering
networking, education, discussion, and exchange and to be an
authoritative resource on current and emerging issues in the
communication of scientific information.
www.emwa.org
EMWA is the European Medical Writers Association. It supports
medical writers and medical editors.
Their aim was to provide a forum to promote standards of
excellence in medical writing by furthering the professional
development of members and increasing awareness of medical
writing throughout Europe.
www.hesca.org
The Health and Science Communications Association is an
association of communications professionals committed to sharing
knowledge and resources in the health and science arenas.
From conceptualization to final products, the members are
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involved in designing, producing, implementing, and evaluating

informational and instructional media experiences for the
health sciences.
www.namc.info
The National Association of Medical Communicators is an
organization dedicated those of us in the healthcare profession who
want to provide reliable information to the public, no matter what
the venue.
NAMC has been around for more than 30 years. The cornerstone
of the NAMC experience is the annual Medical Communications
Conference held annually by the American Medical Association in
various venues throughout the country.
www.nasw.org
This organization is meant to disseminate accurate information
regarding science and technology, through all media normally
devoted to informing the public and for the interpretation of science
and its meaning to society, in keeping with the highest standards
of journalism.
In addition, this organization promotes the professional interests of
science writers.
www.wame.org
WAME is a voluntary association of editors from many countries
who seek to foster international cooperation among editors of peer-
reviewed medical journals.
Membership in WAME is free and open to all editors of peer-
reviewed medical journals. WAME has more than 1500 members
representing more than 965 journals from 91 countries.
Reference style tips

Medical writing for academic institutions and pharmaceutical
companies and sometimes for the medical websites requires
referencing the sources.
There are many different ways of referencing. The following list of
websites gives details and tips on the various referencing styles with
examples.
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www.nutsandboltsguide.com
This site gives a detailed description on the various referencing
styles.
Copyright laws
Respecting the copyright and the laws associated with it is very
essential.
Lawsuits may be filed in cases if copyright is infringed. So it is
essential to know about the details of the copyright laws.
The following list of websites gives details of copyright laws in
various countries.
Unites States – www.copyright.gov
United Kingdom – www.ipo.gov.uk
Canada – www.cb-cda.gc.ca
www.publications.gc.ca
Australia – www.ag.gov.au
Website portals for selling e-books

The e-books written by the medical writer can be sold either
through his own website or through other websites meant for it.
The following list comprises of popular websites which serve as
portals for selling e-books.
The medical writer needs to register initially in the website before
he can sell his e-books.
www.clickbank.com
ClickBank is the Internet’s largest digital marketplace, where
thousands of the web’s most popular products are sold every day.
It has more than 10,000 product publishers and over 100,000
registered affiliates.
Each day, ClickBank completes nearly 20,000 orders from more
than 200 countries around the world. ClickBank.com is consistently
ranked as one of the most highly trafficked sites on the internet.
www.ebay.com
eBay is the world’s online marketplace, enabling trade on a local,
national and international basis.
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With a diverse and passionate community of individuals and small

businesses, eBay offers an online platform where millions of items are
traded each day.
www.amazon.com
Amazon.com offers complete publishing, printing and distribution
services for writers through its affiliate, BookSurge.
www.overdrive.com
OverDrive is a leader in providing world-class infrastructure for
distributing premium digital content.
They enable publishers, institutions, libraries, retailers &
distributors to securely manage, protect and fulfill their digital
eBooks, audio books, music and video via end-to-end or
custom solutions.
www.ebooks.com
eBooks.com provides access to reliable, authorized, published
content that has been through the rigorous editorial processes of
traditional book publishing and then carefully transcribed into
eBook format.
eBooks.com provides an additional channel to market for
publishers, who now have a global eBookstore that sells their books at
little cost to themselves, extending the global reach and shelf lives of
their titles.
Tips on search engine optimization

Search engine optimization is very essential while writing for
websites. This is done to boost the ranking of the website during
keyword searches.
The following websites provide simple and basic details on search
www.seochat.com
This website provides details on search engine optimization for
various search engines like Google, MSN, Yahoo, about submitting
articles to web directories, about choosing keywords and about
website promotion.
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www.pandia.com
Pandia is a site devoted to effective Internet searching and search
By using Pandia Powersearch, one can gain easy access to all the
tools needed to find information on the Net, and details about how
to use them.
Moreover, Pandia is packed with search engine news, tools
and reviews.
www.theinternetdigest.net
The Internet Digest provides internet marketing tips. This
still young site was created in April 2003, to help small business
owners and Internet marketing enthusiasts make sense of the vast
amount of internet marketing information available on the web, by
offering them simple and focused do-it-yourself tips that they can
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Making Money As A Medical Writer

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Making Money

Ratnakar Kini Making Money as a Medical Writer

© Copyright 2006 by Bob Bly, All rights reserved.

Chapter One: What is medical writing?

Chapter Two: How to become a medical writer

Chapter Three: Medical Writers’ Associations

Chapter Four: How To Write Medical Articles & Medical e-books

How to please clients ................................................................................39

Chapter Five: Medical Writing for Websites

Chapter Six: How to get medical writing projects

Chapter Seven: Resource Guide

Medical writing opportunities

Sometimes medical professionals approach seasoned writers to

Regulatory medical writing:

investigators brochure should include title page, confidentiality

Educational Medical Writing

Pharmaceutical marketing writing

In-house medical writing

is from $30,000 to $100,000. The job involves interaction with other

Outsourced medical writing

Is medical writing the right job for you?

deadlines and sometimes to clarify doubts. The job may

mentioned in the publication. The publication does not give any

Attributes for a freelance medical writer

Do You Need to be a Doctor to

2. For journal articles

3. For electronic information

national laws of that country. Though registration is not required

How much to charge for medical writing

In-house medical writing:

American Medical Writers Association (AMWA)

1 Core Certificate Enrollment $125.- $235.-

2 Core Certificate Continuation $65.- $175.-

3 Advanced Certificate Enrollment $150.- $260.-

4 Advanced Certificate Continuation $85.- $195.-

5 Membership Directory $20.- $150.-

6 Essays for Biomedical Communicators Vol. 1 $35.- $75.-

7 Essays for Biomedical Communicators Vol. 2 $35.- $75.-

8 Self Study Workshop “Basic Grammar & Usage $159.- $250.-

9 Self Study Workshop “Punctuation & Style $159.- $250.-

The contact address is:

Australasian Medical Writers Association

The association provides details of the freelancers state by state

European Medical Writers Association

pharmaceutical and medical communications companies, research

EMWA Head Office Tel: +41 41 720 3306

aspiring writers, provide certificate programs and assists in getting in-house

n Health and Science Communications Association (HeSCA)

n National Association of Medical Communicators (NAMC)

n The World Association of Medical Editors

n The National Association of Science Writers Inc.

n Council of Science Editors

The benefits of getting registered

it is easy to update the book as it is in the format of computer file.

Writing your own e-book

on Alzheimer’s disease. Please tell me what you want to know about

you can straight away copy it and paste it in your e-book. If it is

memory’. You can add in your advertisement page that – “Bonus

Ghost writing medical books

Writing medical articles

Writing medical article for general public

Writing for institutions and pharmaceutical companies