Writer - myFootpath

The Basics of a Writing Career
Though anyone who puts pen to paper or, these days, utilizes a word processor is a writer, becoming a professional writer entails a much higher commitment to the written word. Our society relies on such professional writers both to entertain and inform us. A writer may be employed by a company for a salary or work freelance, selling his or her writing to different publications as it is written. Broadly, a writer falls into one of three categories: fiction, non-fiction, or technical.

A fiction writer–often referred to as an author, novelist, or poet–may write the novels, short stories, or poems we read for entertainment. Such writers may also create screenplays or work as one of many staff writers for a television show.

A non-fiction writer might write memoirs, personal essays, travel essays, or any number of informative and entertaining pieces on real life occurrences.

Finally, technical writers are fast becoming highly valued as the people who can to translate the jargon of a specific field, such as law, medicine, or economics, into language the rest of us can understand.

How to Get Started as a Writer
Anyone can be a writer, but a degree in communications or English may be of help. Writing workshops abound and writers can even earn an advanced degree, the Master’s of Fine Arts, from many schools. Technical writers do well have degrees or strong backgrounds in their specialty field. Nevertheless, the best training a writer can have is practice. Publishers will often want samples of what a writer has previously published or names of places where that writer has worked. Writers just starting out may have to publish wherever they can until they build a solid resume of work.

Featured Online Schools for Communication Degrees:

• Kaplan University – Request Information

Compatible Personality Traits
Love of writing, strong language skills, good communicator, eye for detail, able to handle the stress of deadlines, willing to work odd hours.

Salary Expectations for a Writer
Salaried writers earn an average of $48,640 a year, with the middle fifty percent making between $34,850 and $67,820 a year. Salaried technical writers earn an average of $58,050 a year, with the middle fifty percent making between $45,130 and $73,750 a year. Because income for freelance writers is entirely dependent on the number of pieces sold to publishers, salary for them may vary dramatically from year to year. Nonetheless, those freelance writers with a good reputation for meeting deadlines and writing popular pieces stand to earn more than freelance writers without such a reputation.

Job Outlook for a Writer
Because many people feel drawn to writing as a career, competition can be keen. Technical writers and those with multimedia skills stand the best chance of finding a salaried job. Freelance writers and those who write fiction may have to work for years before being able to support themselves on writing alone. Many such writer may have to have other means of financial support, likely another job. Nonetheless, the high turnover rate of those attempting to be professional writers means that there are always new openings for those trying to get into the field.

Slightly off the Footpath
Editor
Interpreter
Translator
Journalist
Web Designer
Advertising
Publishing

Source:  http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos089.htm