Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media · Holland code AEC
Writers and Authors
Originate and prepare written material, such as scripts, stories, advertisements, and other material.
Also called: Author, Copywriter, Freelance Writer, Writer, Advertising Copywriter, Advertising Writer, Content Marketing Writer, Freelance Copywriter.
O*NET 27-3043.00
At a glance
- US median annual pay
- $76,910
- Middle half earn $58,230 to $101,950. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
- Preparation needed
- Job Zone 4 of 5
- Considerable preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
- US employment outlook, 2024 to 2034
- +4% · As fast as average
- 135,400 jobs in 2024, projected 140,300. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which groups this with similar roles as "Writers and authors".
What the work involves
The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.
- Write fiction or nonfiction prose, such as short stories, novels, biographies, articles, descriptive or critical analyses, and essays.
- Revise written material to meet personal standards and to satisfy needs of clients, publishers, directors, or producers.
- Present drafts and ideas to clients.
- Edit or rewrite existing written material as necessary, and submit written material for approval by supervisor, editor, or publisher.
- Conduct research to obtain factual information and authentic detail, using sources such as newspaper accounts, diaries, and interviews.
- Vary language and tone of messages based on product and medium.
- Write articles, bulletins, sales letters, speeches, and other related informative, marketing and promotional material.
- Write advertising material for use by publication, broadcast, or internet media to promote the sale of goods and services.
Skills and knowledge it leans on
Skills
- Writing5.0 / 5
- Reading Comprehension4.1 / 5
- Active Listening3.8 / 5
- Speaking3.8 / 5
- Critical Thinking3.6 / 5
- Active Learning3.0 / 5
Knowledge areas
- English Language5.0 / 5
- Communications and Media4.4 / 5
- Administrative3.2 / 5
- Sales and Marketing3.0 / 5
- Computers and Electronics3.0 / 5
- Customer and Personal Service2.9 / 5
Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.
Who tends to enjoy it
How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.
- Realistic0
- Investigative38
- Artistic95
- Social31
- Enterprising63
- Conventional39
The same work abroad
Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.
European occupation titles (ESCO)
- book publisher · DE Buchverleger/Buchverlegerin · FR éditeur/éditrice
- advertising copywriter · DE Werbetexter/Werbetexterin · FR concepteur - rédacteur publicitaire/conceptrice - rédactrice publicitaire
- book editor · DE Buchredakteur/Buchredakteurin · FR directeur de collection/directrice de collection
- writer · DE Schriftsteller/Schriftstellerin · FR écrivain/écrivaine
- lyricist · DE Textdichter/Textdichterin · FR parolier/parolière
- speechwriter · DE Redenschreiber/Redenschreiberin · FR rédacteur de discours/rédactrice de discours
Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)
- Newspaper, periodical and broadcast editors (2491)43,100 employed
- Newspaper and periodical broadcast journalists and reporters (2492)45,100 employed
- Senior officers in fire, ambulance, prison and related services (1163)8,000 employed
Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.
Japan
Japan classifies jobs in its own way. The closest category that names the same work is “著述家，記者，編集者”, which may be narrower or broader than this occupation.
- Median monthly pay
- ¥352,700
- Middle half earn ¥267,600 to ¥479,000 a month.
- Workers in the category
- 43,770
- Regular employees in firms of ten or more.
Scheduled monthly pay before tax, excluding overtime and bonuses, so it is not comparable to the annual figures above. Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025, via e-Stat, under the Japanese Government Standard Terms of Use. The category match was made by hand.
Pay across Europe, for the whole group
Median annual earnings of all employees in “Professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.
| Country | Median pay |
|---|---|
| Belgium | €61,714 |
| Germany | €59,529 |
| Ireland | €56,877 |
| Austria | €55,374 |
| Netherlands | €53,595 |
| Sweden | €43,567 |
| France | €41,515 |
| Spain | €35,735 |
| Italy | €33,649 |
| Portugal | €26,072 |
| Poland | €14,380 |
Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.
Exposure to AI
This occupation sits in the higher third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +0.99. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.
Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.
Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (27-3043).
Related careers
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