A Technical Writing career can be quite lucrative, but in today’s economy it is important to not only have the skills, but be willing to take a lesser salary in order to get your foot in the door and to improve your chances of having a long term career. The job seekers that are willing to be a little financially flexible, along with possessing exceptional skills, will be the ones who can count themselves in the ranks of the employed and will be that much ahead of the game when the economy turns itself around, as it must and always has.

The financial aspect will depend largely upon the area that you live in and the number of technical writers looking for jobs in that area. You may have to take your cues from potential employers and from others who are similarly qualified and looking for work.

When it comes to skill, aptitude and training though, you are in control. When looking for work, your resume should reflect everything that is expected of and required of a technical writer:

So, what does a Technical Writer actually do?

According to set standards, some of which are always in place and some of which will be specified according to the clients’ wishes or the contract, you will organize materials and complete requested writing assignments.
You may be required to edit, make changes to or standardize someone else’s material.
You may be required to maintain the files and records of all of your work and the subsequent revisions.
You may be required to review already published materials and make recommendations for changes in content, the scope, and format or even in the methods of reproduction and dissemination.
You may have to liaise with vendors, publishers, customer representatives or company executives in order to develop material for publication, including setting technical standards.
You may have to conduct interviews of production personnel, read notes and journals and study other resources in order to become familiar with the production methods and the technologies utilized.
You may be required to select diagrams, charts, photographs and drawings for illustrative purposes or you may be required to draw or assemble the same.
You may need to analyze previous documents and study the current technical aspects in order to determine if revisions to the existing material are necessary.
You may be required to arrange for preparation, duplication and dissemination of the material, as well as actually assisting in the layout of the material for publication.

If you have all of the above skills, which can actually be gleaned from any number of other jobs you’ve held and if writing is something you excel at, then read further. On the other hand, if you have done nothing similar to the above and especially if you struggle to put sentences down on paper or on a computer screen, then you might want to consider another career path.

When it comes to the knowledge requirements for being a Technical Writer, it depends upon what area you will be working within, except for one thing: You must have an excellent knowledge of the content and the structure of the English language (or the language that you will be working in) to include the spelling and meaning of words, grammar and the rules of composition. This is not something you can fake your way through. If you are from a foreign country and English is your second language, there are many ‘tells’ that can be obvious in the written form. You must be fluent. I’m not saying that you cannot do this if your are ‘foreign born’; I’m only saying that you should be honest with yourself when looking at your skill and the quality of your work when it comes to the English language, or any other language.

Other knowledge requirements may include a knowledge of computers and electronics, toys, education and training, or communications and the media. Technical Writers write on technical issues, sometimes for technical professionals and at other times for the ‘end user’ that may not be technically savvy in any way, shape or form. You need to be knowledgeable enough to interpret the specifications you are given and to write them in the specified format required. A lot of this knowledge can also come from past jobs or experiences. For example, a mom may be able to write quite well on the applications of or assets of specific toys and how to put them together.

The skill requirements are a little less stringent, coming mostly from experience. It doesn’t necessarily have to be Technical Writing experience; work experience from many sources can accumulate a vast skills base. When it comes to Technical Writing, the more you can demonstrate the following skills, the better your chances of employment within this career field:

Writing-this goes without saying
Reading Comprehension-this is also a “no-brainer”.
Critical Thinking-this is using logic and reasoning to be able to differentiate between alternative solutions, approaches and conclusions.
Decision Making and Sound Judgment-this is one thing that is useful in any job that has required you to work unsupervised.
Active Learning and Listening-this means you are able to understand and implement available new information and to give your full attention to other people, not interrupting at inappropriate times and being able to understand the critical points, asking questions when necessary. Quite a bit of this will be obvious in the interview process, especially the listening part. Be aware of your own listening skills-an adjustment may be necessary.
Communication Skills-this is a critical element. You must be able to effectively communicate very complex and even the simplest ideas and processes to every level of intelligence.
Time Management-Especially in today’s economy, you must be able to manage your time effectively and if you are in a supervisory position, to manage others’ time as well.

Abilities, to some, may be included in the Skills category and are more often than not a skill already present within you. In some of these cases, you either have ‘it’ or you don’t:

Speech Clarity-this goes without saying. Others must be able to understand you, be it over a phone line or face-to-face.
Written Comprehension and Expression-you must not only be able to write, but must be able to understand what you read, regardless of how simple, technical or complex.
Near Vision-this is something that can be corrected if you don’t possess it. If you are accepting a job that you know requires consistent perusal of small print or diagrams, just swallow your pride and get those eyes checked. Many are completely surprised with how bad their eyes are until such time as they have new lenses in front of them. J
Deductive Reasoning-this is the ability to produce answers that make sense when applying general rules to specific problems.
Oral Comprehension and Expression-this is the ability to not only listen and comprehend what you are hearing, but to express yourself well when conveying ideas, relating technical requirements and/or explaining complex processes.
Originality-counts big time! In order to stand out from the ‘run-of-the-mill’ technical writer, you must be able to devise unusual or clever ideas about any given situation or subject and be able to develop creative ways to solve a problem, if one occurs.

Now, you’ve been given a lot to think about. Go through your resume. Think about the jobs that you’ve held prior to this point and be able to address any of the above topics in an interview. There is also every chance that you will not just go through one interview, but through an interview process that may move you up the food chain. You may be interviewing with someone else while someone you have already interviewed with sits in. It is important that you not just ‘memorize’ specific answers to specific questions, but become completely comfortable with ‘tooting your own horn’ and with what jobs or experiences have provided you with particular skills, aptitude or abilities. Going in armed with confidence is often the key to landing the job you want.

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In today’s episode, we’re going to look at several ways of getting started as a freelance writer.

The first method is to write for free. This is a great way of getting started and is a method I’ve used many times in the past. It might even lead to a job with that publication.

Once you get a feeling for writing, and more importantly, working within the style guides of different magazines, you can move on from there.

When I began writing, I had many options. My decision was to specialize. I chose to stick with photography and computer graphics software. Both of these can be highly technical areas and if you write for these publications, you’ll be expected to do in-depth research. In this field, I started with reviews (which can be really time-consuming). Later on, I progressed to “how-to†articles, which were much easier (and enjoyable) to write.

Write book Reviews

This is an easy way of getting your writing career going and will give you referral material for other jobs. When you’re in the early phases of writing, getting credibility is very important. This will increase your value in the eyes of editors.

When writing a review, create a strong opening paragraph. When writing the review, let the reader know what the book is about without giving away the story.

Write Profiles

This is one of my favorite forms of writing. You get to interview a person and tell their story. It’s also an easy way of writing, if you do it correctly. I had one writing gig (Streaming Media World) and the vast majority of my work was interviewing people.

Over time, I became quite good at it and could create articles quickly. Most of the time I recorded telephone interviews, which I’d transcribe and edit later. If I had enough lead time, I’d do an email interview, which made life easier.

Everything you need to know is in the chapter: “How to Create Content from Interviews.”

Look for Editing Jobs

If you have good writing skills, consider looking for work as an editor. Here are some compelling reasons why:

• The pay is better
• The hours are generally better
• You don’t have to write everything from scratch
• You get to learn a new skill and improve your writing

So there you have it, 4 ways of getting your career going as a freelance writer.

See you next time.

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Most people write articles with a specific purpose in mind. Some write to increase traffic to their website and others write to generate income. Some write for the sheer joy of it, for the publicity, or to see their name in print.

Whatever your reason for writing, I hope you achieve success with it. However, if you are just beginning your writing career, keep in mind that it is not a sprint; it is a long distance race. Whatever your goals, you will not achieve it with your first article (unless you just wanted to see your name in print).

The most successful article writers have over a thousand articles in print. Many of them submit numerous articles each day. However, when you reach that point, your articles will work very hard for you. Good articles written six months, or even a year ago, continue to work today. So, if you want to be successful writing articles, regardless of your goals, you’ve got to write often.

If you write to generate income, you may not make a penny until your twentieth or even thirtieth article. However, if you stick to it, you can make a lot of money or generate a lot of traffic to your website. In addition to submitting articles often, it matters which ezines you submit your work to. If an ezine specializes in Internet information and you submit an article on knitting, it is unlikely that your article will generate many page views. If you are writing for a particular niche, and you should be, submit to sites that specialize in your area of expertise. As you make more and more submissions, you will become recognized as an expert in your field. Once you achieve expert status, you will get increased page views and your articles will be syndicated (published in other ezines) much more often.

Another word of advice for the fledgling author, submit your articles to the largest ezines. It doesn’t do you much good to submit twenty articles to xyz site and receive a total of seven page views. To prevent this, I will check my article stats at various sites from time to time. If recent page views are down substantially, or if they show that fifteen of my articles have not yet been published because they are still pending approval, I will usually drop them from my submission last. You don’t need to check you stats with every submission, but it is a good idea to check them each month or two.

My final bit of information is this; submit each article to at least forty or fifty sites. This is particularly important if you write to generate income or traffic. Make sure you include those in your niche as well as the largest ten or fifteen sites. In order to do this efficiently, you will need some sort of automated submission software. If you try to do it on your own, it will take you several hours just to make the submissions. Using the automated software, it should only take you about twenty minutes.

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You are probably reading this article because you are looking to publish your won ebook.  It may be because you think that the offline publishing world is constrained, rigid and old fashion, and to be honest you are probably not far from the true.  The thing here is, is that you can write about a topic that you have a passion for, want to actually write about, and can publish your work on the internet for the world to see.

Many authors who have their work published in print do indeed like to write some ebooks and sell them (or even given them away for free) on the internet as much of the red tape associated with the offline world is removed.  This does mean however, that many internet sites offer worthless ebooks for sale that have  been poorly written and have little content that has actually been written with passion and enthusiasm.  It has probably been contracted out by a ghost writer and not actually written by the person who is selling it.  Using the online system of producing an ebook has meant that people like you have found it easier to start in the writing world and have moved forward to producing guides and content in the offline world – essentially becoming published authors both on and offline.

However, ebooks have become common place over the internet in the past year or so and many have been referred to in the news, on blogs, and recommendations popping up on publishing sites.

Overall, the actual hard-back (or soft-back) book won’t ever die out, as many people love reading a novel curled up on the beach with the sunshine blazing overhead, well, I know for one that I will continue doing this for many more years to come!  The thing here is though that many people are believing that they can write an ebook and enter the writing world, becoming a leading author.  And to a certain extent this is actually true, you are published and you have authored a book, but there is always an element inside an experienced author that has great passion for being published and your book sitting on the shelf in a leading bookstore in your local town.

Is the world going to change for the better?  Well, who knows.  The better will be to have more prominence on ebooks throughout the glob, well the good ones of course; but, this also brings us to the point of credibility – how do you know that someone is credible in their writing if they have published an ebook.  The short answer is you don’t, which has become a huge problem for publishers trusting content rights and copyright.

The great thing with ebooks is that if you are a budding writer and do want to start a writing career then an ebook is the right way to go.  Filling your ebook with mindbogling useful information for your reader will nearly ensure you will be getting people banging your door down for more serious content.  Also, you should look at writing ebooks not just for your own personal subjects, but also for other people who want to contract your services.  There are many people in the world that simply can not write at all and the thought of putting together a 70 page ebook (or book) will send them into hay wire, so publishing yourself as an author here can stand you in a good position for referrals too.

The main stage in your ebook writing is to never give up and knowing that entering the writing world through writing ebooks will put you at a huge advantage in launching your writing career.  You should also not forget to have your ebooks proofread and copy edited by a reputable company, as doing so will enable you to notice any mistakes or hiccups in your writing.

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Believe it or not, article writing does have a professional code of ethics. Not following these ethics could get you banned from the major article directories. The problem is new article writers may not understand this code of ethics thus causing his/her article writing career to start off badly. Here are five things you should know to make sure you are an ethical writer and stay on the good side of the article directories.

1. Duplicate content. The first code of ethics is “thou shall not copy.” It is not allowed for a website to have duplicate content displayed. This means if you submit an article to an article directory and then only change a small portion of it and submit it again, it is most likely to be rejected. This is true whether you wrote the article or not. It is best if you want to create an article from your previously written material to do so by rewriting the complete article.

2. Plagiarism. Do not steal other people’s content. There may be a tendency to want to copy portions of someone else’s content. You may say “it was just a sentence or small paragraph.” No matter…do not do it. If you are quoting from someone else’s work, make sure you give the author credit. It is best to stay away from quoting others’ content as this is frowned upon by most article directories.

3. Take responsibility. Take a moral responsibility for the articles you write. If you feel the information you are writing is not true or honest, then do not write it. Once an article is published to the Internet, remember it stays in cyberspace forever. If your name is tied to the article and it is completely untrue or bogus, then you may be remembered for it forever.

4. Too pitchy. Do not make your articles all about sales. If they sound too much like a sales pitch, people will not want to read them. Make your articles interesting and entertaining. This will cause readers to be drawn into the article and want to read to the end.

You must keep your readers’ interests in mind or otherwise your articles become useless. It is more ethical to help your reader solve a problem or concern and save your sales pitch for the resource box. When writing articles, keep your readers’ concerns at the forefront of your focus.

5. Unethical focus. Stay away from unethical topics. Do not use articles to promote unethical or illegal behavior. Not only could the article be rejected, but it could also make you very unpopular. Once you position yourself on a controversial issue, then it goes viral on forums and the blogosphere, your reputation could be done in quickly. Even more so, your view could be deemed wrongly by children or weak-minded people causing him/her to take irreparable actions.

Make sure you use article writing and article marketing ethically. This way, readers will be overjoyed to learn you have written a new article and your reputation will be a shining star for others to follow. There are more tips and techniques to ensure your ethical article writing. Want to know more?

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Technical writing is a bit of a misunderstood profession that is carried out by very competent and talented professionals. A technical writer’s job is to take information about a product, process, or service and present it in a way that is able to be understood by whatever the intended audience would be. For example, if a technical writer were asked to write instructions on how to assemble a piece of furniture the first question the technical writer would ask would be about the intended audience. If it is determined that the average consumer would be the intended recipient then the information would be presented in a way that is easily understood by someone who is not an engineer or technically inclined. The technical writer’s understanding of the product may be limited but it is their job to know the intended audience and collect the information necessary to get the point across.

In most cases a technical writer is not the person that created the product, process, or service. If we continue by using the furniture example above the technical writer is not the engineer that designed the furniture and they are not the person that created and packaged the pieces that make up that furniture. The technical writer is a translator that takes information from the engineer and the production people and puts that information into the format that has been requested. If a more technical set of documents was required then the technical writer would need to have enough of an understanding of the product to be able to put engineering terms into a format that is useful to other engineers.

While it is the job of the technical writer to translate and collect information it is not the technical writer’s job to create any kind of industry jargon or lingo. In that way technical writing is not creative writing at all. Technical writers are asked to take the information they are given and put that information into a pre-determined format. Any of the new terms that are created regarding a product, process, or service are created by other people and that information is then given to the technical writer to be placed into the document.

A technical writer is not usually an engineer although for many fields that employ technical writers it is not unusual for writers to have an engineering background. It is difficult for a writer to take scientific and engineering information and convert that into a form to be used for a specific audience without some understanding of the engineering or scientific concept behind the information.

A career in technical writing can sometimes offer little in the way of career advancement but like any other writing career a value can be added to the technical writer based on their ability to create useful documentation based on the information given. Many times engineers and scientists get used to working with a particular kind of technical writer and when the engineers have a demand for your services you can usually look at that as job security.

For more information on technical writing, visit http://technicalwritingguide.com.

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A writer has the creative ability to draw word pictures. They have the ability to communicate through the written word. A writer’s work can be to write articles of fiction woven by a vivid imagination or to write articles covering non fiction like educational resources, news, reviews, technical documents, or articles on science, environment and health. Work could also entail creating summaries or huge tomes, writing for the web, researching on specific topics, or reporting on meetings and conferences.

When choosing writing as a career choice you must consider whether you want a full time job or whether you would like to freelance.

If you decide on freelance writing, the first thing you need to do is create a resume that highlights your talents. The second most important aspect is to create a list of clients. Networking, communicating well, and building a good relationship with clients is essential to freelance writing. Today the World Wide Web has opened up many more opportunities for freelance writers and there are job sites as well as sites where one can register and bid for projects.

If you choose to work full time you have a great many options. You could be a journalist, web content writer, or resume writer. These are just a few examples of the umpteen choices a writer has.

To be successful you must understand what the industry needs and sharpen your skills accordingly. Study the different writing styles as well as what constitutes good writing. To get the “perfect” job write a prize winning resume, next send out your resume with    a brief but succinct covering letter to potential employers. Scan the classifieds as well as online job sites for vacancies that suit your profile. Consider registering with one of the agencies or online sites that specialize in jobs for writers. Another option is a paid job coach, agency, or resume blasting service.

When you go for an interview be sure to take along with you writing samples, a resume, and any publications in which your work has been featured. Do your homework well and find out about the potential employer and the kind of writing they need. You must be able to convince the company why you are a good candidate.

As a writer you must constantly update your skills to suit developments in the writing industry. Read writing tips given by experts, do a writing course, attend workshops and seminars.  Become a member of professional writer’s guilds.

Train yourself in the use of personal computers and desktop or electronic publishing systems. Learn how to research competently using the World Wide Web. Have a working knowledge of graphic design, page layout, and multimedia software.

Statistics gathered by the US government indicate that 320,000 jobs were generally held by writers and editors of which more than 1/3 were self-employed. On an average, a full time writer could earn a salary of US,350 annually. And, if creativity flows from within you and your write a prize winning piece or best seller then you will soon be a millionaire.

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 Last week we started talking about writing groups and how the support within can help you on your road to writing success.  Every month I can talk to the group and express my fears, writing blocks and other issues and gain encouragement and even ideas to help me move on to the next step.

     Writing exercises and games are something we do in writing group to liven things up and get the creative juices flowing.  Some of my and others best short stories have come from writing exercises.  To me, these exercises cause me to go to my creativity and flow.  By flow I mean just start writing without trying to think everything through.  Like an artist, I go to the creative side of my brain instead of the logical side and before I know it the story is on paper.  Logic is okay in editing but gets in the way during the initial write.

    Connections made during writing groups can be fruitful.  Many groups have guest speakers such as editors, published authors and even publishers that can give you valuable insight into their world, what they think and what they want in a story.  Groups can also open doors to conferences, workshops and online groups that can again broaden your perspective on things and possibly allow you to meet someone who can help your career.

    One of our meetings was about getting your work professionally edited and an editor/writing coach from another state came in and talked about what she did.  I had brought along a small non-fiction work I had written in case the opportunity came to show her.  She glanced at it and asked me to send the first 10 pages by email for her to check out later. 

     She liked the non-fiction thoughts I had but asked me if I had ever considered taking these thoughts and turning them into a fiction story that might be more interesting for the readers.  Turning the principles I believed into fiction had not really crossed my mind but I decided to take the thoughts in one chapter and write a story.

     It quickly grew into fifty pages and we began talking by phone and email.  Her insights were invaluable and I hired her to edit my work.  My first novel is finished and edited with the second in the series two thirds of the way completed.  I have ideas enough for at least a seven book series and all of it grew from a writing group meeting where I made a life-changing connection. 

    So do not despise the day of small beginnings…classes, groups and just plain hard work.  You never know where these can lead…next week we will look at getting started writing through journaling…

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  Join a writing group?  Me?  Baring my soul through writing and sharing this with

people I didn’t know sounded like something I couldn’t emotionally handle but it seemed to be the next step on the road to becoming a career writer. The courses on writing I had taken were over and the ladies in the class thought it would be great to start meeting monthly to talk about and share our writings.  The instructor agreed to start the group in her home and we were all informed by email where and when it would be.

     I suffered up until the day of the meeting, going back and forth as to whether I would attend or not. Fears assaulted me as I worried about every little thing regarding the meeting.  Later I would realize that this was just one of the many steps and obstacles I would have to take if I wanted to continue to pursue writing.  Coming to crossroads has happened over and over again and each time I had to decide, “Do I want to step out in this area?  Is this a positive road in my journey to becoming a career writer?”

     You might say, “I can be a writer without classes or group involvement” and I am sure that some people have and you might to.  Writing classes and groups have been invaluable to me however, not just for what I have learned but for the connections I have made with different people.

     Going to the first group meeting was difficult and I soon realized that we all had different styles of writing, goals and areas we wanted to pursue with the written word.  We also all had many things in common such as worrying if others valued our writing, wondering how much time and money we wanted to invest in this and the big question, “How good am I?” 

     Working with others monthly in a group has helped me with these questions and others.  Every month we bring an original work, either something given by assignment or freestyle.  We listen and bring encouragement to the writer, first and foremost.  Our biggest critique is in clarity; is there something unclear or hard to understand in the writing?  Our group’s goal is to encourage and learn, not tear each other down.  We rejoice when others take big steps and encourage when some are struggling.  A few months ago we had an assignment to write a short story using three key words picked out of a hat and mine was so well received that I am turning it into a novella!  So you never know what could happen.

      Keeping in touch is important especially when feeling burnt out or discouraged by the slowness of the process of building this career.  Mostly we communicate outside of group by emails; after all, we are writers!

     Next week I want to go a little further in talking about writing groups and classes by discussing how connections with people who can help you can be made through these avenues.  One such connection led to the writing of my first novel…

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