mentoring
for medical writers
Ready to take the next step in your medical writing journey?
New to medical writing, or ready to take your freelance business to the next level?
Whether you’re exploring medical writing for the first time or you’re already freelancing and feeling stuck, the gap between where you are and where you want to be can feel overwhelming.
Do you need another degree? A bigger portfolio? A better website? If you’re new, you might not even know if you can break into the industry, or how. If you’re established, you might be caught in the feast-or-famine cycle, or trying to grow and never quite finding the time.
Either way, the next step feels harder than it should.
That’s where mentoring comes in.
I mentor writers at all stages of their journey – and across all sorts of backgrounds:
- Early-stage freelance medical writers who want to grow with confidence and clarity
- Healthcare professionals (nurses, pharmacists, doctors, allied health professionals) transitioning into medical writing
- Health journalists and editors branching into freelance work
- Students looking for their next step after graduation
- Academic or research staff moving into commercial or content-focused writing
- Agency or in-house writers wanting to go solo
What we can cover
- The craft: what good medical and health writing looks like, how to develop critical judgement, how to read evidence and represent it honestly
- The market: how the health and medical communications industry is structured, what different clients need, where the opportunities are
- Positioning: how to describe what you do clearly and credibly, how to design your professional messaging, website, and LinkedIn
- Practice-building: setting rates, finding and keeping clients, navigating the commercial realities of freelance work
- Career direction: honest discussion of the realities of different routes — freelance, agency, in-house, hybrid
Case Studies
Freelance Vs. Agency
The Mentee: A writer at a career crossroads used a structured mentoring session to gain practical CV and portfolio guidance, and agency recommendations aligned to their interests.
Mentoring ~ career direction
Outcome: "I've come away from the session with more clarity to help my decision making. I would definitely recommend Rachel as a mentor to anyone who is in a similar position."
repositioning a scientific editor
The Mentee: A scientific editor with deep expertise wanted to update their positioning and relaunch their LinkedIn presence. We clarified their offer, redesigned their professional messaging, and built a sustainable content approach.
mentoring ~ positioning and ongoing collaboration
Outcome: Relaunched LinkedIn presence, sharpened professional positioning, ongoing monthly strategic partnership.
From advertising to health writing
The Mentee: A senior advertising professional with two decades of agency experience wanted to move into health and medical writing. We developed a health writing positioning and rebuilt their website and LinkedIn presence, mapping a practical route into the market.
mentoring ~ career pivot ~ online presence
Outcome: Repositioned professional identity, updated website and LinkedIn, clear route into health communications identified and actioned.
How does mentoring Work?
You get a 60-minute session tailored entirely to you. We’ll tackle your biggest questions and challenges, whether it’s reviewing your portfolio, fine-tuning your pitch or figuring out your rates. You’ll walk away with clear direction and actionable next steps.
Not ready for mentoring yet? Try Make Sense: For Writers
This five-part series on the medical writing market, essential skills for medical writers, and what it takes to build a career in medical and health writing grounded in quality and genuine professional judgement is for you
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS – start here
Background
I have been working as a writer since ~2010, so a little while now. My first writing role was at Yell Adworks (the company with the big yellow book, which probably ages me). I also wrote copy for a camping start-up and an Art magazine, before I landed my first role in medical communications, in the Strategic Communications Team at a health economics consultancy. This was back in 2012.
For just over as decade, I worked ‘agency-side’, working my way up to leading a team of six writers (and numerous freelancers) at a leading healthcare communications agency.
I’ve worked across all manner of projects, with hundreds of clients, and many different writers. I know how to write to brief, to budget and on time. And I know how to mentor other writers to be their best writing self.
If you want to work specifically in the medical communications field, it is a good idea to get some experience under your belt. This will help you build a network, make a name for yourself, and *importantly* learn how to write.
That said, I do not think agency experience is the only way to break into the industry. Many health writers are healthcare professionals with years of clinical experience. Others come to the table with other experiences, like health journalism. If you want to write health blogs, for example, you may not need years of agency experience to do this.
What you do need to do:
- Network
- Build a portfolio
- Create an online presence
- Define your offering and why people should use YOU (rather than the thousands of other ‘medical writers’ out there).
Winning work
When I first started as a freelancer, these were my priorities:
- Reaching out to existing contacts (this is where it helps to have built a network)
- Setting up a presence on social media, including LinkedIn (priority) and Instagram (which I no longer use) – then searching for (and adding, with an intro message) my ideal clients
- Created this website, outlining my services and as a home for my portfolio
- Joined several Facebook groups where work is frequently shared
- Wrote a standard ‘cold pitch’ email
Today, I have a steady stream of repeat clients, so I rarely cold pitch. I DO keep my website and LinkedIn up-to-date, and regularly reach out to clients I have worked with before, just in case they need something new. I always want to be the first freelance medical writer they think of when they have a project to outsource.
As an aside, I do not look for work through companies like Upwork or Fiverr as these jobs will generally pay far lower than my standard rate (see below). However, I do not outright advise against this. Just make sure you are discerning and know your worth!
I currently have seven regular clients. This is the maximum numbers I work with at any time. Between four and seven works well for me. Too many and I cannot give them enough attention; too few, I start to worry about flow of work.
I work with all of these clients on a project-by-project basis. Previously, I have also worked on retainer contracts (e.g., 2 days per week for 6 months).
Money
There are several different ways you can charge for your services. Each client may have a preference, but it is up to you how you would like to charge yourself out.
- Hourly or day rate – You get paid by the hour or the day, depending on the time that you work
- Fixed project – You agree a fixed price for a scoped project
- Retainer – You agree a monthly price for a series of deliverables
Mostly, I charge a fixed price by the project, or in some cases, by the day. I generally find hourly pricing is not cost-effective for me, as the quicker I do the work, the less I get paid. However, you may find this works for you – especially at the start of your freelancing journey.
Freelancers will charge different rates depending on their experience. In general, this ranges from between £350 to £600 a day. Some freelancers charge by the word, but as I do not do this, I cannot comment.
I personally charge a variable rate, which averages out at £575 per day or £80 per hour, depending on the work required and the type of client. I decided my rate based on my own experience hiring freelancers. I have increased my rates once in the past two years in line with inflation.
Do your research. What are other writers in your field charging? How much experience do they have? Could you be charging more for your services? If you are overbooked, you may need to up your prices. If no one is booking, then maybe they need to be lower.
Check out this blog post for more on setting your rates with confidence.
Business set-up
I am set up as a Limited Company. My previous employer (who hires many freelancers) told me to do this. Many small companies are happy to work with sole traders, but bigger corporations may require you to be a limited company.
As I work with pharmaceutical companies and other large corporations, I am required to have professional indemnity insurance up to £5 million.
I have my own contract, but I will also sign my clients’ contract if required. I always check the terms, and let them know if there’s anything I am unsure about. Don’t be afraid to ask questions – I usually look closely at termination clauses, who owns the work product, whether you can add the work to your portfolio, and conflict of interest stipulations.
If there’s something that really doesn’t work for you, it is ok to walk away.
Starting out
I have a blog about this… go check it out.
