Yet another Big Pharma company (Eli Lilly) is on the hot spot--this time for promoting off-label use of one of its drugs. A few months ago, it was Merck, lobbying for state mandates for the new HPV vaccine. See more about this topic here.
I work for a non-profit, so I kind of have the outsider perspective. But many of my AMWA colleagues work for pharmaceutical companies. In the midst of excesses by the marketing departments at their companies, what's a medical writer to do?
In my area of expertise (vaccine safety), the level of public mistrust of Big Pharma is very high. Not so much from the experts, who obviously need to work with manufacturers at some point in their careers, but from the general public. And sometimes, researchers--and even medical writers--are beaten up for their association with Big Pharma.
This is what is known as the guilt by association fallacy. Under this logical fallacy, someone would dismiss medical research as false by making an association such as this one: “Pharmaceutical companies are driven by profit. Medical researchers are supported by pharmaceutical companies. Therefore, researchers must be driven by profit.”
Guilt by association originates from an aversion of being associated with a person or an organization you dislike or distrust. If you distrust pharmaceutical companies, you wouldn’t like to be associated with them. This fallacy would imply that one should disregard a scientist whose analysis reaches the same conclusion as the vaccine manufacturer.
Yes, Big Pharma is usually driven by profit (aren't most companies?). I'm not trying to defend them here. It's just something that I'm faced with on a regular basis (anti-vaccine activists accusing our organization of being paid by vaccine manufacturers--NOT TRUE). I just want to point out that even if the management or the marketing staff at these companies have unethical behavior, that doesn't mean everybody else directly or indirectly associated with them is part of a conspiracy.
Okay, enough rambling for today. Thanks for reading!
Friday, February 1, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Medical Writing Self-Study Workshops
From time to time I post announcements about medical writing workshops around the US. But I realize, most of you cannot attend for various reasons (timing, cost, location, the dog is ill, etc.). So let me suggest that you try the AMWA Self-Study Workshops:
According to AMWA, "each self-study module includes a workbook with examples and exercises, as well as a CD-ROM featuring an interactive PDF of the workbook. Self-study workshops can be used to acquire credit in AMWA's core certificate program (2 credits for , 1 for Punctuation, and 1 for Sentence Structure)."
Note that I haven't taken them, but I have heard good things from people who have. If you are one of them, let me know about your experience and leave a comment. Thanks for reading!
According to AMWA, "each self-study module includes a workbook with examples and exercises, as well as a CD-ROM featuring an interactive PDF of the workbook. Self-study workshops can be used to acquire credit in AMWA's core certificate program (2 credits for , 1 for Punctuation, and 1 for Sentence Structure)."
Note that I haven't taken them, but I have heard good things from people who have. If you are one of them, let me know about your experience and leave a comment. Thanks for reading!
Monday, January 28, 2008
More on Networking for Medical Writers
Following up on the latest post, there are networking opportunities other than medical writing conferences. For instance, networking on the Internet is become more popular every day.
Last year, I started the Medical Writing Network, as a place for medical writers to interact, share ideas, and even find jobs. I'm glad to see it has taken a life of its own in just a few months. With 93 members as of today, the network is bringing together medical writers from all over the world (interestingly, many are from India--I guess medical writing is booming there).
Anyway, just check out the network's site if you haven't yet. You can participate in the forums, ask questions, create your blog postings, upload videos, photos, and search the job postings.
Last year, I started the Medical Writing Network, as a place for medical writers to interact, share ideas, and even find jobs. I'm glad to see it has taken a life of its own in just a few months. With 93 members as of today, the network is bringing together medical writers from all over the world (interestingly, many are from India--I guess medical writing is booming there).
Anyway, just check out the network's site if you haven't yet. You can participate in the forums, ask questions, create your blog postings, upload videos, photos, and search the job postings.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
How to Network Effectively With Editors, Prospects, and Fellow Writers
By Bob Bly (Guest blogger)
Networking is a high-tech-sounding name for a simple activity that has been going on for a long time: doing business through personal contacts. Writer and self-promotion consultant Ilise Benun defines networking as “a timely exchange of selected bits of information about your business that you offer when someone is ready to hear it.”
The purpose of networking is to meet as many people as possible who can, in some way, help advance your career. Networking expert Donna Fisher estimates that 70 percent of jobs, for example, are found through networking.
Writing in Success, Steve Fishman defines networking as “the single-minded pursuit of useful contacts at every convention, seminar, or neighborhood barbecue. To the networked, every stranger represents an opportunity, the chance to find prospects, reach targets, or meet friends.”
Why network? There are several benefits. First, writing is a solitary activity, and loneliness can be a problem. One way to cope with isolation is to force yourself to get away from the keyboard every now and then. It can be mentally stimulating and refreshing to have lunch with a group of writers or attend an evening lecture sponsored by a local business club. You meet new people, make friends, and exchange ideas.
Forming a “network” — a group of people you know and who know you — can open up many new doors for you. For instance, at one luncheon I met a man who recently opened his own printing business. We established a good rapport, and he now does most of my printing for me, paying closer attention to my jobs than other printers I had found through local Yellow Pages ads.
Networking builds a base of “people resources” you can count on to help you with many situations. Now I can turn to my card file and find artists, writers, printers, photographers, lawyers, accountants, computer consultants, Web site designers, and many other professionals who can be of service to me or my clients. I know I’ll get immediate attention from these people because we’ve already established a personal relationship, no matter how brief.
Often, I will refer one person in my network to another person who can help. For example, an audio-visual producer called and asked if I knew someone who could direct a corporate video for her. I was able to give her the name of an independent director I had met. The referral ended the producer’s search and put some money in the director’s pocket. And, although I’ve never asked for it, I’m sure both of these people would be glad to return the favor some day.
Networking can also lead to more business for you. Most often, someone you meet through networking may keep your card and someday give your name to a prospective client. Or, sometimes you meet a potential client directly. In either case, the more people who know your name, the better. The advantage of networking over advertising is that people you meet through networking are more likely to remember you because of the face-to-face contact.
Are you, like me, a reluctant networker? One way to get started in networking is to join several clubs or associations. Paying the membership dues somehow makes you feel as if you should at least attend a meeting or two to get your money’s worth.
Another way to force yourself to network more is to call up a colleague and invite him or her to attend an upcoming event with you. Do it several weeks in advance. Making the commitment early helps to prevent you from backing out at the last minute.
Some additional networking tips:
BOB BLY is the author of 40 books including the just-published Secrets of a Freelance Writer: Revised Second Edition (Henry Hold & Co.). For a free catalog of Bob’s books, tapes, and reports for writers, contact: Bob Bly, 22 E. Quackenbush Avenue, Dumont, NJ 07628, phone 201-385-1220, fax 201-385-1138, email: Rwbly@aol.com.
Networking is a high-tech-sounding name for a simple activity that has been going on for a long time: doing business through personal contacts. Writer and self-promotion consultant Ilise Benun defines networking as “a timely exchange of selected bits of information about your business that you offer when someone is ready to hear it.”
The purpose of networking is to meet as many people as possible who can, in some way, help advance your career. Networking expert Donna Fisher estimates that 70 percent of jobs, for example, are found through networking.
Writing in Success, Steve Fishman defines networking as “the single-minded pursuit of useful contacts at every convention, seminar, or neighborhood barbecue. To the networked, every stranger represents an opportunity, the chance to find prospects, reach targets, or meet friends.”
Why network? There are several benefits. First, writing is a solitary activity, and loneliness can be a problem. One way to cope with isolation is to force yourself to get away from the keyboard every now and then. It can be mentally stimulating and refreshing to have lunch with a group of writers or attend an evening lecture sponsored by a local business club. You meet new people, make friends, and exchange ideas.
Forming a “network” — a group of people you know and who know you — can open up many new doors for you. For instance, at one luncheon I met a man who recently opened his own printing business. We established a good rapport, and he now does most of my printing for me, paying closer attention to my jobs than other printers I had found through local Yellow Pages ads.
Networking builds a base of “people resources” you can count on to help you with many situations. Now I can turn to my card file and find artists, writers, printers, photographers, lawyers, accountants, computer consultants, Web site designers, and many other professionals who can be of service to me or my clients. I know I’ll get immediate attention from these people because we’ve already established a personal relationship, no matter how brief.
Often, I will refer one person in my network to another person who can help. For example, an audio-visual producer called and asked if I knew someone who could direct a corporate video for her. I was able to give her the name of an independent director I had met. The referral ended the producer’s search and put some money in the director’s pocket. And, although I’ve never asked for it, I’m sure both of these people would be glad to return the favor some day.
Networking can also lead to more business for you. Most often, someone you meet through networking may keep your card and someday give your name to a prospective client. Or, sometimes you meet a potential client directly. In either case, the more people who know your name, the better. The advantage of networking over advertising is that people you meet through networking are more likely to remember you because of the face-to-face contact.
Are you, like me, a reluctant networker? One way to get started in networking is to join several clubs or associations. Paying the membership dues somehow makes you feel as if you should at least attend a meeting or two to get your money’s worth.
Another way to force yourself to network more is to call up a colleague and invite him or her to attend an upcoming event with you. Do it several weeks in advance. Making the commitment early helps to prevent you from backing out at the last minute.
Some additional networking tips:
- Determine the mode of attendance with which you’re most comfortable. Some of us are most comfortable going to our first meeting of a group accompanied by a friend who is already a member. I am most comfortable networking at events where I am an exhibitor or speaker.
- Don’t be a wallflower. Walk over to people and make conversation.
- Get a drink from the bar and hold onto it, even if you don’t drink. Having a glass in hand can help shy people overcome nervousness.
- Do not sell while networking. Your purpose is to make contacts, not to get a client to sign a purchase order.
- Listen more than you speak. Focus on what others are interested in. “When you have your attention on something other than yourself, your self-consciousness will disappear and others will be more likely to remember and appreciate you,” says Fisher.
- Dress in proper business attire. Your comfortable, well-worn “writing clothes” are not appropriate for a business gathering.
- Don’t rush out the door as soon as the event is over. “The best contacts I’ve made have happened after an event — in the bathroom, elevator, lobby, or even on the street,” notes Benun. “That’s when people’s minds are open to it. That’s when their defenses are down.”
- When you get home, follow up by sending people a short note that says, “It was a pleasure meeting you; let’s keep in touch.” You might also enclose another business card, a brochure about your services, or a reprint of a recent article you wrote.
BOB BLY is the author of 40 books including the just-published Secrets of a Freelance Writer: Revised Second Edition (Henry Hold & Co.). For a free catalog of Bob’s books, tapes, and reports for writers, contact: Bob Bly, 22 E. Quackenbush Avenue, Dumont, NJ 07628, phone 201-385-1220, fax 201-385-1138, email: Rwbly@aol.com.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Medical Writing in Canada
The latest issue of the AMWA Journal published the results of the AMWA-Canada Rate and Salary Survey 2005. Canadian AMWA members felt the results of the US AMWA Salary survey did not reflect the Canadian market, so they did their own.
Although participation in the survey was low, the results may be useful to Canadian medical writers (rates are given in Canadian dollars).
Although participation in the survey was low, the results may be useful to Canadian medical writers (rates are given in Canadian dollars).
The mean gross annual income of freelances was $72,467 (range, $25,000 to $165,000), whereas the mean gross annual income of employed respondents was $68,156 (range, $45,000 to $96,000). When the number of hours worked per week was taken into account, the standardized hourly rate of freelances was $54.91 (range, $19 to $138). However, when the hourly rate was calculated to include nonbillable hours, the effective freelance hourly rate was $42.08 (range, $14 to $122). The standardized hourly rate of employed biomedical communicators was $34.25 (range, $19 to $53). (AMWA JOURNAL . VOL. 22, NO. 4, page 181, 2007)The article also provides rates for specific freelance jobs and products (information not included in the US survey). AMWA members can access the article at www.amwa.org.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Getting Started in Science Writing
By Melissa Barton (Guest blogger)
Science writing is one of the most exciting niches in journalism--science writers get to travel, meet intelligent and interesting people and report on new developments from the dramatic and groundbreaking to the quirky and peculiar. Science writers may specialize in one of the traditional natural and physical sciences--biology, geology, physics, and chemistry--or write about anthropology, archeology, medicine and health, engineering, space and planetary science, mathematics or the environment.
Breaking into the science writing field can be daunting due to the scarcity of mid- to low-range markets, but the field is rewarding. You don't have to have a science background to be a successful science writer. John McPhee, famous for his lyrical geology articles in The New Yorker (some of which are collected in the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Annals of the Former World), studied English, not geology. If you do have a science background, that can help you, but overcoming your training to use technical language may be an obstacle.
Education
While almost every writers' organization seems to offer travel writing courses, science writing courses are rare. Health and medical writing courses are most commonly taught, but colleges and universities occasionally offer more general science or environmental writing courses. Be sure to look carefully at the instructor's publications before deciding whether to take the course. Seminars on science, environmental and medical writing are sometimes offered at regional or national conferences. These courses and seminars can be a great introduction to the field or help you polish your skills.
Some science writers, particularly those aiming at a staff position, may find a graduate degree is the way to go. Graduate degrees are expensive, however, so consider your options carefully. Some respected science and medical writing graduate programs are offered at MIT, Columbia, University of California--Santa Cruz and Boston University.
Professional Organizations
Several professional organizations provide networking opportunities and resources for science writers. Many offer discounted student membership, and some resources are available to nonmembers.
Read All About It
In addition to the basic freelance writing books, these books for science writers provide more specific information about everything from finding stories and markets to tips for conveying complex technical information clearly.
Ideas Into Words: Mastering the Craft of Science Writing, by Elise Hancock (2003)
This slim book leans more towards craft than marketing, and provides a solid and enjoyable introduction to how to write about science.
A Field Guide for Science Writers (1st ed.), eds. Deborah Blum and Mary Knudson (out of print)
A Field Guide for Science Writers (2nd ed.), eds. Deborah Blum, Mary Knudson and Robin Marantz Henig
These two editions have very different content, and both are a mine of information for the aspiring science writer. They cover different markets and types of writing in detail, with contributions from leading science writers.
Finding Markets
Everyone knows about the big general science magazines like Discover and National Geographic, which are prestigious and pay well, but are also hard to break into. Mid-range specialized magazines like Archaeology and Astronomy may be better targets for some, but they don't have equivalents in all science disciplines.
Fortunately, many magazines accept science stories with the right angle. A forestry magazine might be interested in an article on how a study on bird ecology impacts forest management. Alumni magazines frequently publish articles about science by professors or alumni of the institution. Ecotravel is a booming trend frequently covered by travel magazines.
Don't discount other ways to make ends meet--writing about science for nonprofit organizations, private labs, and businesses is the bread and butter of many science writers, if less glamorous than being a staff writer for Discover.
Break In!
As with any other writing niche, science writers can break in with good, timely writing and perseverance. So research those markets, start sending queries and don't give up!
Melissa Barton is a freelance writer and editor, specializing in science and travel writing. She's written about science and health for magazines like Geotimes, Student Health 101, the Colorado College Alumni Bulletin and for nonprofit and government organizations. Visit her online at Rosetta Stones Freelancing. Article source here.
Science writing is one of the most exciting niches in journalism--science writers get to travel, meet intelligent and interesting people and report on new developments from the dramatic and groundbreaking to the quirky and peculiar. Science writers may specialize in one of the traditional natural and physical sciences--biology, geology, physics, and chemistry--or write about anthropology, archeology, medicine and health, engineering, space and planetary science, mathematics or the environment.
Breaking into the science writing field can be daunting due to the scarcity of mid- to low-range markets, but the field is rewarding. You don't have to have a science background to be a successful science writer. John McPhee, famous for his lyrical geology articles in The New Yorker (some of which are collected in the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Annals of the Former World), studied English, not geology. If you do have a science background, that can help you, but overcoming your training to use technical language may be an obstacle.
Education
While almost every writers' organization seems to offer travel writing courses, science writing courses are rare. Health and medical writing courses are most commonly taught, but colleges and universities occasionally offer more general science or environmental writing courses. Be sure to look carefully at the instructor's publications before deciding whether to take the course. Seminars on science, environmental and medical writing are sometimes offered at regional or national conferences. These courses and seminars can be a great introduction to the field or help you polish your skills.
Some science writers, particularly those aiming at a staff position, may find a graduate degree is the way to go. Graduate degrees are expensive, however, so consider your options carefully. Some respected science and medical writing graduate programs are offered at MIT, Columbia, University of California--Santa Cruz and Boston University.
Professional Organizations
Several professional organizations provide networking opportunities and resources for science writers. Many offer discounted student membership, and some resources are available to nonmembers.
- National Association of Science Writers
- American Medical Writers Association
- Society of Environmental Journalism
Read All About It
In addition to the basic freelance writing books, these books for science writers provide more specific information about everything from finding stories and markets to tips for conveying complex technical information clearly.
Ideas Into Words: Mastering the Craft of Science Writing, by Elise Hancock (2003)
This slim book leans more towards craft than marketing, and provides a solid and enjoyable introduction to how to write about science.
A Field Guide for Science Writers (1st ed.), eds. Deborah Blum and Mary Knudson (out of print)
A Field Guide for Science Writers (2nd ed.), eds. Deborah Blum, Mary Knudson and Robin Marantz Henig
These two editions have very different content, and both are a mine of information for the aspiring science writer. They cover different markets and types of writing in detail, with contributions from leading science writers.
Finding Markets
Everyone knows about the big general science magazines like Discover and National Geographic, which are prestigious and pay well, but are also hard to break into. Mid-range specialized magazines like Archaeology and Astronomy may be better targets for some, but they don't have equivalents in all science disciplines.
Fortunately, many magazines accept science stories with the right angle. A forestry magazine might be interested in an article on how a study on bird ecology impacts forest management. Alumni magazines frequently publish articles about science by professors or alumni of the institution. Ecotravel is a booming trend frequently covered by travel magazines.
Don't discount other ways to make ends meet--writing about science for nonprofit organizations, private labs, and businesses is the bread and butter of many science writers, if less glamorous than being a staff writer for Discover.
Break In!
As with any other writing niche, science writers can break in with good, timely writing and perseverance. So research those markets, start sending queries and don't give up!
Melissa Barton is a freelance writer and editor, specializing in science and travel writing. She's written about science and health for magazines like Geotimes, Student Health 101, the Colorado College Alumni Bulletin and for nonprofit and government organizations. Visit her online at Rosetta Stones Freelancing. Article source here.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Consumer Health Blogs
One aspect of medical writing that I haven't seen much material on is writing consumer health blogs. You know, there are a lot of books on the craft of medical writing (style, grammar) and the basics of scientific writing (how to write a journal article, regulatory documents, etc.). But what about health blogs?
Let me take a crack at this, then.
To see what bloggers around the world are posting about your health topic, do a search on Technorati.com.
Finally, you may want to skim over the legalities for bloggers.
Thanks for reading!
Let me take a crack at this, then.
- Health blogs should provide short articles on specific topics. Ideally, they should include pictures or photos and links to expert sites for more information. For example, a writer may create a cancer blog with varied articles, but link to their photoblog, providing cancer and cancer related photos.
- Health blogs should allow the reader to interact with the writer/blogger through either a forum or email.
- Health blogs must avoid giving a reader the impression that the articles are giving a diagnosis or sound medical advice. Always include a line or phrase advising the reader to seek the advice from a doctor or medical professional and to discuss the article with them. Remember: giving the wrong impression in this area could result in very serious consequences for the writer, the publication and the reader (s).
To see what bloggers around the world are posting about your health topic, do a search on Technorati.com.
Finally, you may want to skim over the legalities for bloggers.
Thanks for reading!
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