The Definitive Guide on How to Hire an Educational Content Writer

The incredible rise of the edtech industry, aided in part by lockdowns encouraging online learning, has led to an increase in the demand for educational content writers. This includes edtech companies hiring writers to pen educational material that helps their learners to upskill, or scientific research and education journals hiring life science experts to create top-notch scientific content, and a wide variety of other e-learning companies hiring subject matter experts across subjects like science, maths and design. Some of the world’s top education companies include test preparation companies like Peterson’s, publishers like Pearson, and e-learning platforms like Coursera. 

What do educational content writers do?

An educational content writer combines a vast knowledge of educational topics with a flair for writing, creating educational articles, journal guides, curriculum textbooks amongst other learning material. 

Educational content writers change their tone and narrative based on the audience they are writing for. An article for a science journal, for instance, has to be well-researched and contain updated information and numbers. However, whilst presenting the same topic in a school curriculum, the information has to be broken down into simple titbits suitable for students. 

A good educational content writer understands these nuances, and knows when and how to tailor the content accordingly.

Why do you need a freelance educational content writer?

Most education content writers work in-house for big e-learning companies, or reputed science magazines and journals. However, smaller ed-tech, life science and medical companies might also need their services for.

• Creating blogs and articles to educate their audience on various topics across life science and med-tech.
• Writing educational curriculum, journal guides and research material for students across various ages, right from middle school to college
• Creating study guides and reference material for teachers, academics and researchers to use as a frame of reference in their teaching and research careers.
• Work with schools and educational boards to create system-wide academic content and syllabi

Here’s where freelance educational content writers come in handy. With most freelance educational content writers charging between $50 to $80 per hour, this represents a tremendous cost-effective option for companies looking for such expertise. This can also prove to be great value for money for companies looking for frequent collaborations to craft educational material, or companies looking to experiment with content until they find out what resonates with their audience.

Here are some examples of freelance educational content writers and the projects they typically take up,

• CME writers who create content for continuous medical education programs, including frequent repeat collaborations.
•  Subject matter experts who develop content for educational learning material for higher academics courses. On Kolabtree, companies frequently hire mathematicians, biologists, physicists, and more
• Experts who can help with creating tests and scoring methodologies for exams such as SAT, GRE and GMAT

How much does it cost to hire an educational content writer?

According to the BLS, the demand for educational content writers is expected to grow by roughly 105 over the next decade or so. The median pay rates are typically somewhere around $70k per year, with education and experience likely to increase these rates even higher. 

Freelance writers, on the other hand, present a more feasible option in terms of spending. With most freelance educational content writers charging around $50/hour to consult on projects or draft compelling new material, this offers hiring companies a chance to look at these experts for a wide range of on-demand services such as writing blogs, creating guidebooks and churning out consistent e-learning content.

Writing a job post for a freelance education content writer

Writing the perfect project description is crucial to optimizing your search for the right freelance educational content writer. The right description will make sure you get proposals from experts matching your niche requirements, whilst incomplete descriptions might result in receiving lots of irrelevant proposals from experts who might not necessarily be the right fit for you. Here are some things you can focus on in order to optimize this process,

Requirements – Elaborate on your requirements in the project description. This includes the project scope, educational requirements you feel the experts need in order to take the project up, as well as previous work history that might make them the right fit for your project. You can also list the type of demographics, audiences and content type you want the experts to be well versed in before sending their proposals across.

Budgets and Deadlines – The next step is deciding on an ideal budget for the project. You can evaluate this using a variety of criteria, such as whether you want to pay hourly or per milestone, what the project output will be used for, and the level of expertise you require. 

Similarly, specifying your deadline and how soon you need to hire will help you attract bids from experts whose schedules match this timeframe, making sure project  coordination will not be a problem.

This is what your project description might look like,

Looking for a freelance educational content writer to write a guidebook on secondary school maths, including variations and graphic linear equations. The ideal applicant has previous experience penning material of a similar nature, or teaching experience on these subjects.. The article will be used as informational and educational content on our e-learning website.

Proposed Fee – $75/hour

Hiring Timeline:- Within a month – It will take time to decide on whom to hire or get the work started.

Ready to post a project? If not, you can browse through our freelance educational content writers and contact them directly.