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I am Chris Tachibana. I am a freelance science writer and editor.
After getting a PhD in Molecular Biology
I worked for about 17 years as an undergraduate biology instructor and research scientist.
While I had those jobs, I edited some textbook chapters
and I contributed to a biology education website
and, of course, I worked on papers for my research lab
and I enjoyed those projects so much that I eventually moved into full time science writing and editing.
I have only been doing this for a few years, so I am not an expert
but I can pass along some observations about getting into the field
and some advice that other people gave me that I found helpful.
It's a great job and freelancing can give you the experience and the contacts
for getting a non-freelance staff editor or writer position, if that's your goal.
It's also easy to do a soft opening of a free lance career:
taking on some projects to do in your spare time
while you keep your regular full time or part time job.
If you are at all interested in free lance science writing and editing,
ask yourself two questions.
One is about the writing and editing, and the other is about the freelancing.
Ask yourself if you want to work with words all day and every day
and you have to be able to work at the big picture level
taking scientific concepts and turning them into interesting and coherent stories
whether that's an article for a peer-reviewed journal
or a news release, or even a tweet for the public.
You also have to be able to do the detail work:
fixing spelling and grammar, fact checking, meeting deadlines
and hitting specific word limits even if it means taking a third of your precious text
and cutting it while retaining the content.
It helps if you can work in a variety of different styles and formats
from formal and academic to very casual and marketing.
The second question to ask is about freelancing.
It's true what people say: the big advantage is flexibility.
You work where and when you want and yes, even in your pajamas, if you feel like it.
But you are not entirely your own boss. You have to meet the demands and the deadlines of your clients.
You will also be running a small business.
So think about the administrative and financial aspects of that.
It's not something that scientists are usually trained to think about or do.
In this small business, even if you are the only employee
and you work all by yourself all day long,
you still have to do these business things
like marketing and meeting the regulations for taxes and licensing.
I'll have some links to resources to get you started at the end
but let me reassure you that I had no experience in this when I started
and I found that I have been able to learn more or less everything
that I need by reading and listening to and consulting with experts.
If this sounds like something that you are interested in, you have two decisions.
Writing only, editing only, or both?
I've done both and I like the mixture, but you may want to focus on one or the other.
Decide if you are going to take a targeted or a shotgun approach.
Some of my science writer friends decided early in their career
to concentrate on a certain topic, like neuroscience or health issues,
or to go after certain types of projects,
like working in radio and television
or working towards getting book contracts.
And this can be a great way to establish your brand as a specialist.
I have taken a shotgun approach, doing everything from writing blog posts to the health section of MSNBC.com
to editing NIH grant applications, and I like the mixture of projects.
Once you decide that...what kind of work you want to do,
you need two things: contacts and writing samples.
So start telling everyone you know, your friends and your family,
your colleagues, your advisors, that this is what you want to do and ask if they know anyone you can talk to.
This is not necessarily potential clients,
but just people who can give you advice and information about what work opportunities are out there.
Attend local meetings in your field of interest
so this can be your academic field, like computational biology
or biochemistry, but also more general workshops or meetings or groups
for writers and journalists. The idea is just to get out there and talk to people,
give them your business card, and tell them what you are interested in doing,
hear about what they do, and what they are interested in.
The goal is just networking and making contacts and getting information.
I highly recommend the National Association for Science Writers and their local chapters.
Also look for resources at the American Medical Writers Association.
Medical writing is a very specific type of writing.
It's often creating highly defined documents, for example, for regulatory agencies
so that might require some additional training or certification,
but you can find out more at links to resources
for these and other groups that I'll have at the end.
Now for any job, you need a crisp, targeted resume and CV
so have these prepared for your writing and editing job searches
but for this line of work, it's almost more important
to have good writing samples and query or proposal letters.
Your writing samples and your queries should, as closely as possible,
match the format and the style of the projects you're seeking.
So for example, if you're interested in working on research articles and grant applications,
make a writing sample out of a paper that you wrote
or that you helped with, preferably something that's open access
and getting the permission of all the other co-authors.
For an editing sample, make a before and after sample.
Some paragraphs or a section that you reworded,
so you can show how you made it more concise and clear and grammatically correct.
For other types of writing samples, you can use something that you wrote for a class
or something that you posted on a blog,
as long as it shows that you can work in the proper format and style.
If you don't have something that is appropriate, then generate it.
If you want to work for Nature for example,
take one of their recent research articles
and write your own News and Views summary
in the proper style and format and length,
just to show them what you can do.
If you are applying for work, even freelance work,
for a reasonably large organization, they may send you their own editing or writing test to do.
If you are interested in writing feature articles or essays,
look for the contributor guidelines for the media source that you are targeting
and follow the instructions for contacting the editor.
Your query will contain one or two tempting paragraphs
that are essentially a draft of the article you are proposing
and they should contain enough content and detail to show just how fascinating this article could be.
Now don't be discouraged if you get rejected or ignored altogether.
If possible, politely ask the editor for some specific feedback
and then consider reworking your query and sending it somewhere else.
A last note about scientific editing, if you want to do some freelance science editing
then consider working for an editing service.
You can find links to these in the author instructions for journals in your field
Many of them are now linking to these services that collect manuscripts
from people whose papers are not up to journal standards,
perhaps because the author's first language is not English,
and the services send these papers out to freelance editors
who fix the grammar and the spelling and the wording and send them back.
Just contact a few and see if they are taking new editors, if this sounds like something that you are interested in doing.
So my final word is, if this sounds like something
that you'd like to do, just give it a try.
Be sure to check and follow local and national regulations
about taxes and licensing, but having said that,
for me, transitioning from being a scientific researcher and instructor
to being a self-employed writer and editor
was not as daunting as I thought it would be,
and it has been the best career move that I've made.
I'll have some resources to get you started.
Also, check out blogs and books from the library about freelancing
and science writing and look for the National Association
of Science Writers and their books,
A Field Guide for Science Writers.
The American Medical Writer's Association.
There's a couple of resources for editing
and also for science editing services look for the author guidelines
for journals in your field.
For general careers and legal advice,
check out Science Careers, Nolo, and Michelle Goodman's books and blogs.
Good luck.