12.27.08
Work at Home: Health Writers Needed
Are you a licensed medical professional with writing experience? Do you want to help patients and their loved ones learn more about their condition? About.com, a subsidiary of the New York Times Company, is currently expanding its Health channel and is seeking writers to cover a number of topics, including asthma, chronic pain, colon cancer, dental care, ENT, muscular dystrophy, podiatry, schizophrenia, and urology, to provide a friendly, yet informative, voice that gives insight into the causes, diagnosis, and treatment of the conditions.
To become a Guide (our name for our writers), you’ll need to be a doctor who works directly with patients, or a nurse or health educator with extensive experience educating and treating patients, and preferably have published medical writing experience. As a Health Guide, you would create original content that covers topics like what a particular condition is, how a condition is diagnosed, how to work with a doctor or specialist, and what treatment options are available. You’ll also be responsible for a blog that showcases your unique writing style, a discussion forum where you act as community leader, and a bio page that highlights your professional and personal expertise.
All About.com Guides are considered freelancers who set their own schedules, giving them the flexibility to log on from anywhere in the world to work at their own pace. There are no timesheets to fill out, so working for About.com gives you the flexibility to write when you want, allowing you to work around a full-time day job. Compensation is based on page views; the more traffic you get, the more money you’ll make. All Guides in their first two years make a minimum of $725 a month, and the average Guide makes $1,000 a month.
