Diet and Fitness Writers

Diet and fitness writers may work in other fields full time and write on health or fitness topics in their free time. Once a writer is published, he or she can build a portfolio, gain a reputation as a writer, and possibly move into writing full time. Freelance or self-employed writers earn advancement in the form of larger fees as they gain exposure and establish their reputations.

Other diet or fitness writers find their first jobs as editorial or production assistants. Advancement may be more rapid in small companies, where beginners learn by doing a little bit of everything and may be given specialized writing tasks immediately. In large publishing houses or firms, duties are usually more compartmentalized. Assistants in entry-level positions are assigned such tasks as research, fact checking, and copywriting, and it generally takes much longer to advance to full-scale writing duties.

Promotion into positions of higher responsibility may come with the assignment of more important or specialized articles and stories to write, or it may be the result of moving to another employer. Mobility among employees in this field is common. An assistant in one publishing house may switch to an executive position in another. Or a writer may switch to a related job, such as personal trainer or dietitian, as a type of advancement.