How To Become A Manual Writer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a manual writer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Dr. Scott Blanchard Ph.D.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a manual writer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $37.79 an hour? That's $78,605 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 3,100 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a manual writer?

Dr. Scott Blanchard Ph.D.

Professor of English, Misericordia University

Keep an open mind, and realize that the business world can have some quite exciting opportunities.

ScoreManual WriterUS Average

Salary

6.1

Avg. Salary $78,605

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.8

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.35%

Asian 8.61%

Black or African American 6.49%

Hispanic or Latino 7.68%

Unknown 4.96%

White 71.90%

Gender

female 37.31%

male 62.69%

Age - 45

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 45

Stress level

4.8

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.2

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.6

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a manual writer

Explore manual writer education requirements

Most common manual writer degrees

Bachelor's

65.6 %

Master's

18.0 %

Associate

14.8 %

Start to develop specific manual writer skills

Skills	Percentages
Technical Manuals	55.16%
Aircraft Maintenance	20.61%
Technical Data	12.93%
Adobe Indesign	11.30%

Complete relevant manual writer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New manual writers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a manual writer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real manual writer resumes.

Research manual writer duties and responsibilities

Manage arts and entertainment editorial calendar, assign stories to multiple freelancers and plan daily coverage.
Work closely with reliability and maintainability engineering to support the FAA FMEA and MTBF requirements.
Perform turnaround of failing environmental plants.
Write and edit fiction and non-fiction text to accompany products release and distribute internationally.

Prepare your manual writer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your manual writer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a manual writer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable manual writer resume templates

Build a professional manual writer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your manual writer resume.