Popular scientific writing?

["Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

David Bazell (welcome to the list!) reports: <<I am a physicist/astronomer
who would like to break into the field of technical writing as a career.  I
have experience writing scientific articles, proposals, and software
documentation.  What I would like to do is to spend more time explaining
scientific and technical concepts to the public.  I assume this qualifies as
subspecialty in technical writing.  I have been told (and I believe) that I
am good at explaining things to people.  I have also been told that the
papers and proposals I have written are well written (though some of my best
proposals have been turned down!).>>

Where to look for work depends on whether you'd prefer to freelance or work
as a full-time wage slave; I opted for the latter route. If you're into the
freelance gig, one excellent market is the popular science magazines (and
particularly New Scientist); they pay well, and give you great exposure if
you're looking for publication credits that will sell people on your ability
to write popular science. (I'm hoping to break into this market this year,
time permitting.) But whether you're freelancing or working in the wage
slave gig, the trick is to find people who are doing scientific research or
its close cousin, technology transfer (translating the science into terms
that people can use to actually implement the science). One of the more
obvious places to look is in academe, and particularly in semi-commercial
research institutes spun off by university researchers; I've regularly seen
surveys that claim scientists and engineers consider writing up their
research for publication to be one of the top 5 most unpleasant aspects of
their job. That means they're probably willing to pay you to do this
unpleasant work for them so they can focus on their research; for example, I
currently work as an editor for Japanese researchers trying to publish their
results in English peer journals, and because the work is in my area of
expertise (plant physiology and forest ecology), I can actually provide
substantive advice on the results and their presentation, in addition to
heavy editing to convert the Japanese-influenced English into fluent
English. I'd bet you can find similar work in your own profession, and can
subsequently branch out as satisfied customers begin to pass your name to
colleagues.

<<I would also like to hear what suggestions people have for marketing my
skills.  For example, does the publication of articles in peer reviewed
scientific journals qualify as technical writing?  The only people who read
the articles are other scientists with similar interests and background, so
making the articles intelligible to a lay audience is not important.>>

Peer-reviewed articles is your proof to other scientists that you can write
successfully in your field--and perhaps theirs. That's an important
credential to establish your credibility with them. It's less useful if
you're trying to write for people who read (say) Popular Science, since
scientists have been stereotyped as "those who can't write intelligibly" and
rarely get published in such magazines. <g> But if you can take a
peer-reviewed article and publish it in Discover, heavily modified to suit
the needs of the different audience, you establish a reputation for being
able to write for both a professional and an amateur audience. Scientific
American might be a great place to start, since they publish fairly
technical stuff by working scientists but written at a level that regular
readers can understand; check out recent issues to see the kinds of things
they publish and what has already been published. Attending the annual
meetings of various professional societies (e.g., in Physics or other areas)
is a great way to network and contact people who need help getting published
or funded; best of all, if you can get invited to speak on a panel
discussion or give your own session on writing for the public (etc.), you
have a captive audience of potential customers. Bring lots of business
cards!

<<On the other hand, proposals on cross disciplinary topics, as some of mine
have been, are often reviewed by people not directly in
the field.  Therefore, making them understandable to a broader readership is
important.>>

Try doing a Web search for agencies that provide funding to researchers; as
a researcher yourself, you undoubtedly know the main suspects, but there are
many others. The fact that you've had proposals rejected in the past
shouldn't discourage you, because it's the status quo; about 10 years ago, a
colleague (Dan McKenney, Canadian Forest Service) published a peer-reviewed
study that calculated the costs and time requirements for obtaining research
funding. I don't recall details, but recall being highly surprised at how
much time researchers spent trying to obtain funding, and how expensive this
search was because of the number of rejections. But if you've successfully
obtained funding in your own field, you can use that to persuade others to
use your services, particularly if they hate writing and you already know
the ropes.

<<I read the article "Getting Started in Technical Writing" which had
information from people entering tech writing from different fields.
Physics was not one of them.>>

Neither was forest biology, but that's where I found my job. Have you tried
contacting any of the national laboratories (e.g., NSERC in Canada and NASA
in the U.S.)?

--Geoff Hart, FERIC, Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
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