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Here's to (Writing About) Your Health!
by Jenna Glatzer
You may have noticed that health publications have nearly the
highest pay of any online markets. But you may also have fallen
prey to the old adage, "write what you know" -- and what if you
don't think you know anything about health? Are these markets
closed to you?
I used to think so. I had studied communications, not medicine.
How could I write about those elusive things that only doctors
knew? To me, stitches were for needlepoint, and tongue
depressors were what I used to build dollhouses. Yet today I
receive regular assignments from health publications. Here's how
it began:
Write About What You Know...
My brother has Down's Syndrome, and when I mentioned this in a
query to the editor of a small disabilities website, she gave me
several assignments related to Down's Syndrome and other
developmental disabilities. The most meaningful was the story
of a young girl with Down's Syndrome who couldn't get on a
waiting list for a heart transplant.
In the course of this research, I became quite an expert on
transplant policies. I had to learn why organ rationing is so
fierce -- and why so many people are turned down for even the
smallest excuses. This inspired me to propose articles about
organ transplants to other markets. The story offered all kinds
of angles: political, medical, human interest, ethical, regional,
international - the possibilities were endless!
What amazed me more was that I was suddenly getting well-paying
assignments from health markets. I felt like a fraud, as if I'd
snuck in the back door, and that sooner or later they'd discover
I didn't have the right "pedigree." But finally I realized that
most health writers don't have any special background: They just
understood a few simple plans of attack that I hadn't recognized
earlier.
Pick a Topic that Interests You
Instead of looking at the health market in broad terms, break it
down into areas that interest you or relate to problems you've
had. Does your spouse snore? Are you concerned with bad breath?
Do you wonder what all those herbal remedies really do? Are you
concerned about your risk for Alzheimer's Disease? Would you
like to overcome your fear of needles?
These are all health topics. They don't need to sound clinical;
you won't be writing for medical journals. You'll be writing for
people just like you -- people who don't have medical degrees --
so you need to pick topics that will interest them. You'll also
want to write about those topics as you might write on any other
subject -- in a way that won't send your reader to a dictionary.
Most importantly, make sure your piece has a service angle. How
will your article help the lives of readers? They don't need
"just the facts;" they need your article to provide a solution to
a problem.
Locate Experts
Of course, you're not expected to come up with those solutions by
yourself. Your next job is to find out which experts will be
willing to speak with you and help you flesh out your article.
You can find plenty of experts online. Yahoo offers a listing of
medical associations online. Many have "member bios" on site, or
a contact e-mail for someone who can refer you to an appropriate
member.
Also, do keywords searches related to your topic. For example,
for an article I'm writing for a pediatrics website, I needed to
find an expert who could talk to me about how to help obese
children lose weight. I searched using keywords "child
psychologist" or "pediatrician," plus "obesity," "overweight
children," or "losing weight," and instantly found more than
ten experts appropriate for the article.
You can also contact your local university and ask to speak to
the department chairperson or a professor in the appropriate
field. Explain your situation and ask for an interview, and/or
ask for recommendations for appropriate interview candidates.
Finally, don't overlook the obvious: Your local yellow pages are
a fine source of potential interviewees!
Make The Pitch
With a few facts and a few experts behind you, you're ready to
query the markets. Find the contact information for the
appropriate section editor, and send your perfect query letter --
no more than one page, including a strong hook, a short synopsis
of your intended piece, and the names and titles of experts you
plan to quote.
I would suggest that you "test the waters" by querying smaller
markets first. It will make it easier to get your foot in the
door with the dollar-a-word markets if you can list a few health
publications in your credits, and show a clip or two that prove
you can write for this niche market.
Do Your Homework
The main reason health writers get paid well is that their work
requires research. Not only do you have to understand the
information, you have to know it so well that you can explain it
to someone else. You will often end up reading technical,
difficult heaps of information and learning to translate it for
the "everyman." If you can learn this skill, you'll be well on
your way to a terrific new career turn.
Check Your Facts
Typically, writers are advised never to show their interviewees a
copy of an article before it is published. With health writing,
though, it's imperative that you have a professional read your
piece to make sure that all your facts are accurate.
Once you find an expert you like, you can use this person again
and again to proofread your work, as long as he or she is willing.
Be sure to reward this person with as much publicity as you can.
You may even offer a barter of some kind -- maybe you can rewrite
their office's boring brochure in exchange for proofreading.
When you submit your article, be sure that you've enclosed a
source sheet that gives contact information for anyone you've
quoted. Also include footnotes for any specific data or medical
advice that you found in books, magazines, newspapers, online,
etc.
Strike While the Iron Is Hot
As soon as your first piece has been accepted, don't wait for the
editor to come to you with a new assignment. Query again! Think
hard -- what else interests you within the health field? Remember
how diverse a topic this is. How about the benefits of
aromatherapy, or massage therapy, or wax treatments? How about
the dangers of electrolysis? How about the real differences
between HMOs?
Being a health writer isn't so much about writing what you know --
but writing what you can learn. Happy learning!
Copyright © 2000 Jenna Glatzer
This article originally appeared in Inklings.
Online Health News and General Information
(From: Writing for US and UK Health Publications, by Rachel Newcombe)
- Englemed
-
http://www.englemed.demon.co.uk/
- Daily health and medicine news.
- Newswire
-
http://www.newswise.com/
- Medical, scientific, business and life news.
- Medscape
-
http://www.medscape.com/
- Healthfinder
-
http://www.healthfinder.org/
- HealthGate
-
http://www.healthgate.co.uk/
- Internet Health Library
-
http://www.internethealthlibrary.com/
- British Medical Journal
-
http://www.bmj.com/
- The Lancet
-
http://www.thelancet.com/
- OMNI
-
http://omni.ac.uk/
- Alternative Medicine Link
-
http://www.altmedicine.com/
Additional Health Information Resources
by Joseph Hayes (this material originally appeared in Inklings)
- 48 Hours
- http://www.48hours.net/
- A constantly updated source of health-related news that has
been released within the last 48 hours
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- http://www.cdc.gov/
- Medical World Search
- http://www.mwsearch.com/
- Search full text of nearly 100,000 Web pages from thousands of
medical sites
- The Mayo Clinic Health Oasis
- http://www.mayohealth.org/
- Medical Matrix
- http://www.medmatrix.org/index.asp
- Literally thousands of health information topics. Registration
is free, and you can sign up for e-mail updates.
- National Institutes of Health
- http://www.nih.gov/
- News and information about health, dietary supplements,
alternative medicine and clinical trials
- The Routine Autopsy
- http://www.neosoft.com/~uthman/Autop.html
- Dr. Ed Uthman has set up this detailed description of postmortem
exam procedures as a resource for writers
- U.S. National Library of Medicine
- http://www.nlm.nih.gov/
- Through the NLM site, you can access more than 9 million published
articles via MEDLINE, HealthSTAR, PREMEDLINE, AIDSLINE, AIDSDRUGS,
AIDSTRIALS, DIRLINE, HISTLINE, HSRPROJ, OLDMEDLINE, and SDILINE
databases
- American Medical Writers Association
- http://www.amwa.org/
- Founded in 1940, with more than 4,000 members from around the
world, AMWA provides conferences, certificate programs, and a
freelance directory of medical communication services. Membership
is $95. This organization might be worth your effort to join,
if this is your journalistic calling.
Copyright © 2000 Joseph Hayes
Jenna Glatzer is a full-time writer with hundreds of national and online credits
including Salon.com, Writer's Digest, and Link Magazine. She is the author of The
More Than Any Human Being Needs To Know About Freelance Writing Workbook
(http://www.absolutewrite.com/workbook.htm), and the Editor-in-Chief of
http://www.AbsoluteWrite.com. Sign up for the free newsletter and receive the Top-Paying
Online Markets Report free!
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