By Ilan Fuchs, Ph.D.
Faculty Member, Legal Studies
Many of the students in the University develop a taste for writing. After all, it is a skill that we instructors focus on so much in our undergraduate and graduate classes.
But not all writing formats are the same. For instance, academic writing is very different than writing prose. Similarly, journalism has its own style of writing.
But writing is a passion for so many people. Like many other skills, your writing can be perfected with constant practice.
But how many people in today’s economy can support themselves as professional writers? Is becoming a professional writer a feasible goal? To answer those questions, I recently talked with Joshua A. Krisch, who has made writing his career.
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Joshua Krisch’s Perspective on How to Become a Professional Writer
Mr. Krisch is in a unique position to share his personal experiences in developing his impressive career. He got his B.A. in biology from Yeshiva University and a master’s degree in health sciences from Cornell, followed by a master’s in science journalism from New York University.
His career has taken him to some of the biggest names in science publications. Mr. Krisch has published articles in Popular Mechanics and VICE, covering topics like robotics, software, biotech, and space.
Mr. Krisch then moved on to write for Scientific American, where he covered science policy. In addition, he has worked for The New York Times, where he wrote about science for both its print edition and its online website.
Mr. Krisch has also been a freelancer, writing about science for Ivy League universities like Cornell and Harvard. Today, he is one of the writers for Rockefeller University, a significant science research hub in New York City.
Dr. Fuchs: Let’s begin with the most obvious question. Is your career the exception? Can you make a living in today’s economy as a professional writer?
Mr. Krisch: All of my colleagues seem to! Most staff writers in my field make between $50,000-$100,000 per year, with editors and those writing in niche fields making more. Freelancers are generally paid $1-2 per word for print articles (women’s magazines pay the best!) and $50-200 per online news story.
As for whether you’ll find work, it really depends on what you want to write. All but gone are the glory days of foreign correspondents globetrotting on a big paper’s dime, or travel reporters climbing mountains and sitting on beaches for free so that they can write a few lines in National Geographic about an exotic destination.
As a rule, positions writing about travel, food, and entertainment are very competitive and vanishing rapidly. In the era of blogs and social media, no company wants to pay for a writer to have a good time and write about it—everyone is already doing that on Twitter for free. Jobs writing about politics, domestic or foreign, are also extremely competitive.
There are two types of writing with which you can always making a living, even with relatively little experience. First, spot news writing. An entry-level job writing short, punchy news articles for some media company pops across my feed a few times a day, every day. All media organizations need a steady flow of short stories, and most companies maintain a large stable of staff and freelancers who are capable of churning out several formulaic news stories per day.
Second, there is always work for niche writers—people with expertise in a particular technical field or, in my case, in science. If you can write with authority on a subject that most writers are afraid of, you’ll always find work.
Dr. Fuchs: How do you start becoming a professional writer? How do you create a portfolio?
Mr. Krisch: You absolutely need a portfolio of published writing. I’ve never heard of someone landing a staff job or even finding freelance work with a major media company without clips of their writing.
And those clips need to have been edited by an editor and published. Your own writing, done privately, isn’t enough.
But it needn’t be clips in the New York Times. Find someone who will edit and publish your writing, no matter where it will go.
Another good way to start, especially if you’re a member of the armed forces, is to seek out magazines or websites that accept first-person submissions from those with firsthand military or technical experience. I know that the Navy publishes a monthly magazine that accepts submissions, and I assume the other branches of the armed forces have similar outlets. These are all great ways to build a portfolio of published writing that you can then show to potential employers.
Dr. Fuchs: Many people in our student body are members of the armed forces. How can they utilize that in the context of professional writing?
Mr. Krisch: The armed forces often give you the sort of niche knowledge that can be parlayed into a successful writing career. First of all, there’s always a market for military writing. Check any magazine stand, and you’ll see tens of publications churning out articles about the warfare and its tools.
But the armed forces also tend to bestow deep knowledge in one of those “niche” areas we were discussing earlier. If you know a trade, there is almost certainly one magazine and a few websites that will pay you to write about the finer points of your field for professional audiences.
There are tons of jobs in trade publications—magazines and journals geared not for the general public but for people who are working in specific fields. I would find those publications and pitch yourself and your portfolio there.
Even if that’s not where you ultimately want to work, it’s a great way to build a portfolio and make the connections necessary to launch a career writing for larger publications with general audiences. And trade journals pay well, often better than the big-name publications.
Dr. Fuchs: How important are academic credentials in the pursuit of a writing career?
Mr. Krisch: Many of my colleagues have no academic writing credentials whatsoever. Especially in science writing, a good ear for the craft combined with real experience in the lab is often better than extensive writing experience with no knowledge of the field. If you’re doing niche or technical writing, your prior experience may well be a greater asset than any graduate training in writing or journalism.
At the same time, I benefited greatly from my master’s in science journalism. I had access to mentors at the top of the field, got to meet editors who wanted to see my work and hire me straight out of school, and classes that helped mold me into a professional writer. Forming connections is a big deal in writing, and there aren’t a whole lot of great ways to make those connections outside of higher education.
In summary, you definitely can write professionally without a degree, and many do. But a degree sure doesn’t hurt.
Dr. Fuchs: How do you hone your writing skills as a professional writer?
Mr. Krisch: Write every day. Read every day. You need to write a lot to get good at it.
It doesn’t really matter what you’re writing. Journaling, blogging, whatever. The simple act of sitting down every day for a period of time and forcing yourself to produce is how you become a writer. The difference between a professional writer and everyone who sort of enjoys writing is the ability to do it consistently, even when you don’t want to.
As for reading, be more selective. Read the sort of writing that you want to do. Find authors, articles, and styles that speak to the writing that you hope to do professionally, and read it endlessly until that tone and flow of writing is in your head.
The bottom line is that you teach yourself to write by writing every day. You teach yourself to write in a particular style or voice not by practicing writing in that style, but by reading it from someone else.
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