Medical writer vs content writer

The differences between medical writers and content writers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a medical writer and a content writer. Additionally, a medical writer has an average salary of $93,842, which is higher than the $58,918 average annual salary of a content writer.

The top three skills for a medical writer include medical writing, patients and clinical research. The most important skills for a content writer are digital marketing, wordpress, and web content.

Medical writer vs content writer overview

	Medical Writer	Content Writer
Yearly salary	$93,842	$58,918
Hourly rate	$45.12	$28.33
Growth rate	6%	4%
Number of jobs	59,516	19,621
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 57%	Bachelor's Degree, 77%
Average age	46	42
Years of experience	2	2

What does a medical writer do?

As the name entails, medical writers produce technical, educational, promotional, and technical content. They typically work with physicians, scientists, and subject matter experts to produce documentation that defines product usage and research results. Their duties and responsibilities may vary, but they perform some common tasks, including developing documentation related to clinical trials, creating monographs, and developing promotional materials. Medical writers are also responsible for creating grant proposals, writing newspaper and magazine articles, and creating presentations for conferences.

What does a content writer do?

The job of content writers is to create the best possible written or visual content ranging from blog posts to press releases. They produce the content for various types of websites, including social networks, news aggregators, and e-commerce sites. The job of content writers is not limited to writing, but also ensuring that the content connects or is relevant to the website pages. They are expected to set the tone of the website and revise the content upon customers' or clients' requests. They are also responsible for assisting in the creation of style guides.

Medical writer vs content writer salary

Medical writers and content writers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Medical Writer	Content Writer
Average salary	$93,842	$58,918
Salary range	Between $63,000 And $137,000	Between $40,000 And $84,000
Highest paying City	Washington, DC	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Virginia	California
Best paying company	Biogen	Cisco
Best paying industry	-	Finance

Differences between medical writer and content writer education

There are a few differences between a medical writer and a content writer in terms of educational background:

	Medical Writer	Content Writer
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 57%	Bachelor's Degree, 77%
Most common major	Biology	English
Most common college	University of Southern California	Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Medical writer vs content writer demographics

Here are the differences between medical writers' and content writers' demographics:

	Medical Writer	Content Writer
Average age	46	42
Gender ratio	Male, 33.6% Female, 66.4%	Male, 39.8% Female, 60.2%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 6.6% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 7.8% Asian, 8.7% White, 71.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%	Black or African American, 6.0% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 7.8% Asian, 5.0% White, 75.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage	11%	16%

Differences between medical writer and content writer duties and responsibilities

Medical writer example responsibilities.

Develop network of science contacts at NASA to inform stories and generate new leads.
Manage, and assist in the recruiting activities of, CRO resources preparing regulatory documents on behalf of APGD.
Create and maintain account profiles for contributors, including writing of biographies, gathering headshots, and creating and managing accounts.
Create manuscripts, abstracts, and PowerPoint slide decks for a prominent pharmaceutical client.
Prepare CSRs, IB updates, protocols, protocol amendments, and statistical analysis plans.
Draft scientific content for abstracts, posters, manuscripts, and slide presentations (CNS )

Content writer example responsibilities.

Implement and manage Salesforce and Marketo for client to establish lead nurturing campaigns.
Maintain guest blogging strategy and policies to achieve a consistently diverse authorship and to grow readership.
Manage the editorial production of the pamphlets, brochures and graphic material to target worldwide audiences including china.
Manage proposal process from RFP (request for proposal) receipt to writing and editing various contributions to final RFP submission.
Collaborate with overseas team and manage documents using SharePoint to conceptualize and generate new marketing content.
Produce a wide array of literature ranging from poetry to short stories.

Medical writer vs content writer skills

Common medical writer skills

Medical Writing, 11%
Patients, 8%
Clinical Research, 6%
Clinical Study Reports, 6%
Literature Searches, 5%
FDA, 5%

Common content writer skills

Digital Marketing, 10%
WordPress, 9%
Web Content, 6%
Blog Posts, 6%
Digital Content, 3%
Content Marketing, 3%

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Medical Writer vs Content Writer

Updated January 8, 2025

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