You are looking for a quality medical writer but don’t identify a professional medical writer vs self-proclaimed writer at a great price or an overpriced fake? With the economic downturn, many out-of-work scientific or healthcare professionals have gone online to try to pick up some freelance medical writing work. While they may have the medical knowledge, some of them lack the training, experience, and know-how to be the professional medical writer you are looking for.
But you should keep in mind that hiring an entry level medical writer can be a liability. If you need irregular writing, you can hire a freelancer writer. There are some advantages of hiring a freelance medical writer rather than a staff writer.
The professional medical writer and self-proclaimed writer both may have similar degrees and medical experience and charge the same price. But one will do the project just the way you need it done, with minimum hand-holding from you, without countless re-writes and edits, and without the bland “blah” of just words on paper that haven’t been brought together in a meaningful way.
A professional medical writer must have a strong portfolio in medical writing like technical medical writing, gov. medical writing, grant writing, and access to medical journals.
Of course, you want the professional in order to save yourself the money, time, and hassles of dealing with someone who really isn’t a medical writer. Someone’s inexperience shows itself in their work, but of course, by then it is too late…you’ve already made the wrong decision.
Professional medical writer vs self-proclaimed writer: How to Tell the Differences?
What makes a professional medical writer different from self-proclaimed writer? Before diving in to the topic you need to have a clear idea about what medical writers do. Here are three things to help you tell the quality and experience of your potential medical writers:
1. Access to a wide range of medical and scientific journals
Professional medical writers that do this for a living cannot get by without full-text access to medical journals. It is necessary to read the details of studies in order to fully explain the results of relevant studies and their impact. Most professional medical writers, like The Med Writers, have access to these via alumni access to a university library online or current university affiliations.
This is the best way since there is no other affordable way to have access to a wide range of high-quality articles. Anyone without university library access is merely reading the abstracts of articles without being able to see the details. Therefore they may be writing information that is not an accurate portrayal of the results of actual studies.
2. Portfolio of past works
Anyone can pretend to be anything, but what separates the professional from the self-proclaimed writer is his/her portfolio. This is the most important criterion since an inexperienced writer isn’t actually a writer, but a writer-in-training.
And even the most experienced writer may not have experience in doing exactly what you need to be done, so it is best to carefully look through the portfolio of all potential candidates. The Med Writers’ portfolio is available online that anyone can check.
3. Testimonials and references from past clients
So maybe your “medical writer” lists lots of past projects he or she has done. But if there are no testimonials or references to show that these past clients were happy, then this isn’t good news. A best quality professional medical writers can point you to testimonials or references from past clients that were satisfied with their service but a self-proclaimed writer can’t. The Med Writers have countless testimonials on the main page of their website and in a separate document that can be downloaded.
Now you are armed with the ability to understand a professional medical writer vs self-proclaimed writer to work on your projects. Good luck!