The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that the writing profession is expected to grow faster than average in coming years, and that online journalism will increasingly become one of the main ways writers earn their living. This explains why 70% of all writers are self-employed, because many writers who work online hire themselves out as independent contractors or they have their own article writing services with salaried staff writers. Future writers will need to become more technologically savvy and they’ll have to learn innovative ways of marketing their skills as the competition for writing jobs is very tough.  The writing profession is broad so the salaries vary by job, and you should have a regular job while you’re building your writing career as some writing jobs offer low salaries at times. But with determination and effort, you can have a full-time writing career.

Medical Writing

If you have a medical background and you want to share this expertise, you can become a medical writer. The American Medical Writers Association says there is a high demand for medical writers in light of constant research about the latest health trends that affect people’s daily lives, and there are two types of medical writers. A scientific medical writer usually has a science degree and some experience in medical scholarly research while a non-scientific medical writer may not have a degree but has a desire for medical writing. Medical writers work for hospitals, government, health magazines, nonprofit organizations, newspapers, health insurance companies and universities. These writers spend much of their time researching the latest medical trends and write them in a way readers can understand. Sometimes they write books that teach readers to have healthier lifestyles. To break in medical writing you should make yourself an expert on certain health subjects then write sample articles to send to publishers. Then mail letters of interest to the publishers and state why your article ideas are relevant to their publications. The American Medical Writers Association has job listings and the website is www.amwa.org.

Feature Writing

For those who love the arts and human interest stories, feature writing is for you. This genre of writing is broad and includes entertainment writing, food writing, coverage of important people in the community and advice column writing. You don’t need a degree to be a successful feature writer but you need excellent writing abilities, good research skills and the ability to locate unique article ideas and credible interview sources. It also helps to be knowledgeable of certain niches if you plan to specialize in a subgenre of feature writing. If you want to write recipes and food articles, you should be well-researched in culinary techniques and have a passion for cooking. To get started in feature writing, look for online freelance writing websites such as www.writersmarket.com and www.writeraccess.com to seek out feature writing positions. With Writer’s Market you’ll need to pay for a subscription in order to access the job listings.

Finance Writing

In recent years financial journalism has increased in importance as more people are interested in the latest economic issues and how these issues affect their lives financially. If you’re skilled in money management or you’re well-researched in economics, consider becoming a finance writer. Finance writers work for the government, newspapers, social science organizations, business magazines and newspapers. To get started in finance writing, write some finance columns for your campus newspaper then after graduation mail resumes and cover letters to different finance magazines and newspapers. Also write some finance-related blogs if you want to write for online magazines. Mail writing samples with resumes.