Writing cannot be considered a lucrative career for the vast majority. The risks involved, the social costs and the meager income outweigh the benefits in every way. Writers are indispensable components of society who serve as important mirrors, and writing is here to stay as long as there are stories to tell. If you have the ability to distill complex ideas into simple English, a career in technical writing may be a good option.
Technical writers prepare instruction manuals, how-to guides, documentation, FAQs, and other support materials. It may not seem like the most glamorous job, but anyone interested in software, engineering, science, web design and other technical fields will enjoy it. In addition, technical writers have excellent job prospects. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, demand for technical writers is expected to grow 10% by 2024, which is faster than the average for all occupations.
To become one, you need a college degree. Being familiar with a technical topic will improve your chances of being hired. Good writers tend to be good publishers. After all, they are experts at developing presentations and writing clear, concise and understandable texts.
Now, instead of coming up with those ideas and creating that copy themselves, they usually delegate these tasks to a team of writers and then refine the final project. Publishers work in a variety of industries, companies, and functions. The best known is the magazine editor; however, you could be a blog editor for a software as a service (SaaS) company or a development editor at a publishing house. Check open positions for publishers on our job board right now.
While movies may give the impression that magazine writers are all beautiful women named Andy (see Devil Wears Prada and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days) who don't like their bosses, there are a lot of different paths that magazine writers can take. Yes, you could work on a traditional monthly print publication, producing stories for the press at a regular pace. But you can also write three articles a day for an online magazine. If you love asking questions, delving into details and creating narratives, becoming a news reporter will probably suit you.
While earning a journalism degree will help you get your foot in the door, internships and clips are much more important. Editors are looking for proof that you can choose a compelling story, get strong citations, write a solid and objective article, and meet your deadlines. To give you an idea, you can write blog posts for a software company in Florida, a hiring company in Canada, or an online cosmetics brand. But she distinguishes them from professional writers “who have been working on their craft and art of writing for years.
So, whether you have a degree or not, whether you're happy working as a freelancer or not, you need to take some time to build your published work resume before you expect to get a permanent job as an in-house writer. Book publishing companies are passing on these losses to writers in the form of lower royalties and advances, and authors are also losing revenue from books resold on the platform. Writing for magazines and newspapers was once a solid source of additional income for professional writers, but declines in independent journalism and pay have meant fewer opportunities for authors to write for pay. That company may be a newspaper or a magazine, but marketing departments in all types of organizations also often hire full-time writers.
Writing has never been a lucrative career option, but a recent study by the Authors Guild, a professional organization for book writers, shows that it may no longer be a livable option.
