• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Health Writer Hub

  • ABOUT
    • Our Story
    • Student Feedback
    • Our Alumni
    • CPD Certification
    • Subscribe
  • ON-DEMAND COURSES
    • Career Course
    • Medical Editing Course
    • Patient Education Course
    • Health Marketing Course
  • ALL COURSES
    • Health Writing Course
    • Freelance Writing Course
    • Copywriting Course
    • Portfolio Masterclass
    • View all
  • FREEBIES
    • Vaccine Hesitancy Checklist
    • Health Writing Checklist
    • 3-day Email Course
    • Article Pitching Guide
  • BLOG
    • View Posts
    • Contribute

How to get health writing experience

If you don't have much - or any - health writing experience, it's hard to know where to begin. In this post, you'll learn strategies for building your experience.

First Published June 3, 2016 | Last Updated December 22, 2020 | 353 Shares | By Michelle Guillemard

Facebook20TweetPin333

If you don’t have much – or any – health writing experience, it’s hard to know where to begin.

Should you develop your health writing portfolio of published work, volunteer your services to grow your skills, start a health blog, take a health writing course, or even write for free so you can get your name out there?

Experienced writers will tell you that you should never write for free. But beginners without any experience might not feel comfortable charging for their work. Also, it’s difficult to get a paid job without experience. Many aspiring writers are keen to develop their skills and experience before they start applying for jobs with clients or pitching for freelance work.

How much health writing experience should you get before you can apply for a job?

Clients and employers who are thinking about hiring you will probably consider all of your previous writing experience, including:

  • any published or unpublished health writing work, and
  • the months or years you have spent working on projects in fields relevant to health writing.

Relevant experience is important because it:

  • Demonstrates that you can write well about health – it shows you have the ability to produce great health content
  • Builds your confidence – it helps you to become a better writer, gives you project management skills, gets you used to managing deadlines, and more.

If you’re just at the beginning of your journey and would like to get some experience before you start applying for paid jobs, here are some ways to get started.

get health writing experience

Improving your skills

Practice

Write practice articles in your own time, for yourself. Set yourself writing tasks, and share them with family and friends. Don’t be afraid to ask other writers for feedback (the worst anyone can say is no). Practising your writing will help you to improve your skills and give you confidence in your abilities.

Help out an experienced writer in exchange for feedback

If you want to identify areas for improvement and would like your work critiqued by a professional, find an experienced writer or mentor and offer to help on projects in exchange for valuable feedback. I don’t recommend writing for free for anyone for a long time – but it is definitely helpful in the beginning if you are looking for ways to grow your health writing experience.

Want to learn more about health writing?
Our Introduction to Health Writing course teaches you how to write health news, features, blogs, web copy and sales copy. Enter your email for a free course outline.

You'll also join 16,000+ others who receive our regular emails. Opt out at any time. View our Terms and Privacy Policy.

Get practical health writing experience

Volunteer for an organisation in need

Some organisations or charities may be willing to let you volunteer your time to help on their website and marketing materials. This could be a great way to get health writing experience while helping a needy cause. Potential downsides could be that you may not have anyone to offer you useful feedback to help you improve your skills. Also, you want to feel confident that you can provide a reasonable service for the organisation you’re helping.

Write for free in exchange for a byline

Writing for free for magazines, websites, blogs and publications is one way of getting published experience as a health writer. It’s appealing because you are given a byline and can also see what changes were made to your final piece – giving you the opportunity to learn and improve your skills. However, you can be taken advantage of if you write for free too often – and it’s always something that you need to make sure you do on your own terms. Be sure to read this post for our top tips on when we feel it’s appropriate to write for free.

In-kind health writing experience

In kind means payment in the form of goods or services instead of money. It can be a way for you to get some clients on your books and practice managing a project if you’re not comfortable charging yet. For example, you could offer to write an enewsletter for a massage therapist in exchange for the work experience and being able to list them as your first client (or in exchange for a free massage!).

Start a health blog

Starting a health blog will help you to practice your writing, get you used to meeting regular deadlines and teach you all about marketing, SEO, social media and more. Your blog is an important component of your health writing portfolio – and if you write great blogs there’s no reason why you can’t use them as examples of your writing experience when you’re applying for paid jobs.

How much health writing experience is enough?

Ultimately, you have enough experience when you feel ready to apply for work. Don’t be concerned if you don’t have any published writing samples or completed client projects in your portfolio. What matters more is the quality of your work. While having a byline or using a client’s name on a project sounds impressive, practice articles will do just fine if you’re starting out and trying to find your first health writing jobs.

Remember, clients and editors just want reassurance that you have the ability and confidence to write well, and can manage a writing project from start to finish. Once you can demonstrate this, there’s no reason why you can’t start applying for paid work.

 

Facebook20TweetPin333

Filed Under: A career as a health writer, Finding work and getting published

Michelle Guillemard

About Michelle Guillemard

Michelle Guillemard is the founder of Health Writer Hub, the Past President of the Australasian Medical Writers Association and a freelance medical writer. Blogging about health & medical writing since 2012, Michelle teaches health writing courses and communication workshops to students and corporations around the world. Michelle is passionate about creating better health outcomes and changing lives through effective health communication. Connect with her on Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Enjoyed the post?
Get the latest health writing advice and course news.

You'll also join 16,000+ others who receive our regular emails. Opt out at any time. View our Terms and Privacy Policy.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

BROWSE BLOG CATEGORIES

A career as a health writer
Writing about COVID-19
Finding work and getting published
Freelance health writing
Health blogging
How to be a more confident writer
Health writing skills
Health communication research

UPCOMING CLASSES

Introduction to Health Writing
Starts 22 March 2021
Breaking Into Health Writing
Now open – sign up today
Amplify Your First Draft (a Medical Editing Course)
Now open – sign up today
Build Your Portfolio Masterclass
Applications now open
Principles of Health & Medical Copywriting
Starts 24 May 2021
How to Become a Freelance Health Writer
Starts 12 July 2021
How to Write Patient Education Materials
Starts May 2021
Health Marketing Rules & Regulations
Starts June 2021
Health writing courses

Not sure which course is right for you? Get in touch, and let's have a chat about your skills and experience.

Contact Michelle

Footer

Join 16,000+ writers who are learning now. Get the latest health writing advice and course news.

Opt out at any time.

SUPPORT

Contact
FAQ
Payment
Disclaimer
Terms
Refunds

Blogs

Career
Health writing skills
Research
Contribute
Editorial guidelines

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Courses

Health writing
Freelancing
Medical copywriting
Medical editing
Health marketing
Career course
View all courses

Health Writer Hub © 2021. All Rights Reserved. I acknowledge the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first inhabitants of the nation and the traditional custodians of the lands where I live, learn and work.