Also known as ghostwriters or copywriters, content writers are often employed by businesses to create marketing content, product descriptions, whitepapers, brochures, catalogs, manuals, and other written works.

Content writers may be employed by a company as a freelancer or assigned to a project as an employee or contractor of a copywriting firm. Some companies employ in-house copywriters, while others outsource these tasks to contractors or freelancers.

In most cases, copywriters will work closely with company personnel and are responsible largely for the wording rather than the content, but many freelancers specialize in one or more industries and will conduct research into the content as well as the writing.

Traditionally, copywriters possessed a Bachelor of Science degree in English, which is generally the case for in-house copywriters, but freelancers often learn the craft from online courses or through mentors, and clients often prefer writing samples over more formal copywriting credentials.

Copywriting agencies often combine content writing services with a larger range of editorial services that may include copy editing, fact-checking, speechwriting, page layout, graphic design, and web content. Content writing services focusing on web content are sorted into our SEO Content Writing category.

Copywriters and content writers are closely related to technical writers, who are also appropriate for this category. A technical writer is a professional communicator charged with transferring information between two or more parties. Technical writers will typically research and create information through a variety of delivery media, producing online help sections, whitepapers, design specifications, project plans, and software test plans, as well as training material. Often, engineers, scientists, and other professionals are involved in technical writing projects but are likely to employ professional technical writers to develop, edit, and format the material.

Ghostwriters are also used to write literary works, journalistic works, or speeches, with the end product credited to another person as the author. Politicians, celebrities, and other famous people will often engage a ghostwriter to write the entirety of their autobiographies, memoirs, magazine articles, and other written material, while others might hire ghostwriters to proofread and edit these works.

Consultants or career-switchers will sometimes hire a ghostwriter to write a book on a topic in their professional area in order to enhance their credibility in the field.

Ghostwriters will often spend months researching, writing, and editing fiction or non-fiction works for a client. In return, they are paid based on a price per hour, per word, or per page, through a flat fee, or a percentage of the royalties from sales.

Pharmaceutical companies have been known to engage professional writers to produce papers, and then pay scientists or physicians to attach their names to these papers, which are then submitted to medical or scientific journals.

Content writers, ghostwriters, copywriters, technical writers, and others who provide writing services to businesses or industries are the focus of topics in this category.

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