Do I need a specialized writer?

According to DoubleVerify, 55 per cent of people report consuming more content, such as news and social media, than before the pandemic. As content discovery and consumption increases, this poses the ultimate challenge to publishers – understanding their audience to such an extent that they can generate a high volume of content while maintaining a high quality of content to engage their readers. Below Dr. Michael James, freelance medical writer at Kolabtree , explores why publishers utilise freelance content writers.

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Non-scientific publishers with science features often turn to highly qualified freelance writers in order to augment their content supply, sourcing high quality content from subject matter experts from various domains and backgrounds. Particularly as content consumption is on the rise, publishers are increasingly searching for talent that can bring fresh ideas that meet audience demand. The question is, why are publishers outsourcing content writing over hiring in-house staff?

Topical expertise

Freelance content writers often offer expertise in a particular field of science, be it lab management or biochemistry, which can be hugely beneficial when trying to create content for a specific feature. Finding a freelancer with topical expertise allows publishers to produce high-quality, factual and topically relevant content for their platform. For example, hiring a science writer who typically covers environmental news cannot produce the content needed for a molecular biology feature.

Non-scientific publications like The Guardian also produce content on a wide range of scientific topics, which can make it difficult to hire in-house staff that can offer the expertise needed to create articles on such a variety of topics. Instead, hiring freelancers with expert knowledge for one-off or short-term projects can be more beneficial for publishers, particularly if they’re using freelancers to produce content on tech, culture, food and other topics.

Remote working

Another reason publishers would hire freelancers to create topical content is due to the shift towards at-home work. According to CIPD , over three-quarters of employers offer hybrid and remote working, which gives freelancers more options than before. More and more employees are moving towards freelancing to expand their skills and create a more flexible work-life balance. While sourcing in-house staff can be difficult for some businesses, publishers can use freelancers to their advantage.

Freelancing helps content writers build experience by allowing them to carefully select projects that expose them to a wider array of experience than typically found in-house. This in turn gives publishers access to a global pool of highly-skilled experts to choose from. Publishers can look for freelancers that match the skill set they’re looking for per project.

Finding the experts

According to World Bank data, 46.4% of all workers are self-employed. As freelancing continues to be a popular career choice for specialists, finding the right freelancer for your project can be difficult. There are a multitude of platforms where publishers can find experts that fit their needs, such as UpWork, Fiver and Kolabtree. Using multiple platforms to find freelancers can make it harder to narrow down applicants so it’s better to advertise on just one.

Highly specialised industry experts are often difficult to find on a short-term basis, so publishers need to start advertising early on to find the right freelance content writer. To help filter our irrelevant applicants, it’s important to have a well-defined and clear role that you can easily match to the right freelancer. When looking for a scientific specialist, Kolabtree provides access to over 20,000 scientific researchers, academics and industry consultants in 2,000 scientific disciplines. Publishers can post a project and find a host of freelancers that can fit the position needed.

To find freelance science writers on demand, visit https://www.kolabtree.com/ and post a freelance project for free.?