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In this episode of the GradBlogger podcast, we talk to Maya Gosztyla about her journey from blogger to freelance science writer. We discuss her reasons for starting a science blog and what the transition to science writer was like. We also discuss the unexpected things that happened as a result of her blogging and her recommendations for anyone wanting to become a freelance science writer.
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Introduction
Chris Cloney: 00:08
Welcome to Episode #10 of GradBlogger, where we’re helping academics change the world through online business. I’m your host, Dr. Chris Cloney. In today’s episode, we have an interview with a special person, Maya Gosztyla. She’s an alumnus with her undergrad from Ohio State University, and she’s an incoming Ph.D. student at the University of California, San Diego. Maya, thank you for coming on the show today.
Maya Gosztyla: 00:32
Thank you. I’m happy to talk to you.
Chris Cloney: 00:34
Today, we’re going through Maya’s journey from blogger to freelance science writer. I like this path for academics: dipping their toes in the water with a side hustle, in preparation for entrepreneurship. I’ve recommended it to a couple of people over the years when they say, “I don’t know how to get started.” I ask them if they like writing and if they do, I say, “Go check out Upwork and see if there are some job postings that you can apply for.” I haven’t done that myself because I’m not that great of a writer. But Maya has done it and is going to share that journey today.
She started her science blog, ALZScience.Wordpress.com, three years ago. It’s about the science of Alzheimer’s Disease and brain health. A year ago she mentioned to me that she used her blog as the portfolio to launch her side hustle as a freelance science writer. She asked if I thought it was a good topic for GradBlogger listeners and I responded with an emphatic YES because I think it can get results for them. So if you have a blog, this interview will show you how you can potentially expand it into something more. If you’re interested in freelancing, this is a good way to get started.
What made you start a science blog?
Chris Cloney: 01:55
Maya, can you tell us why you decided to start a science blog in the first place?
Maya Gosztyla: 02:03
It evolved gradually. When I started, I was a member of the Junior Committee of the Alzheimer’s Association. A lot of cities have these. It’s a bunch of 20 to 30-year-olds who get together once a month and help to plan events for the Association. They especially target young professionals to get them to come. That’s a demographic where people don’t often care about geriatric diseases, so we focus on getting young people involved.
Maya Gosztyla: 02:34
My role on that committee was the Science Officer, as none of the other people were scientists. I was an undergrad at the time, so I wasn’t a scientist per se, but I knew how to read scientific papers, and I translated them into ‘normal’ speech.
During every meeting, I would look at whatever had been published about Alzheimer’s Disease in the past month give a little synopsis on what it meant and what significance it had. People on the committee liked that because they found it useful and it wasn’t information they could get anywhere else.
I thought that I could write up these synopses and put them in a newsletter so that people who didn’t come to the meeting could also get them. Then someone else said, “Oh, maybe you should make a permanent archive of these synopses on a website.”
I did that and eventually realized that I was writing a blog that could also be read by people who weren’t on the committee. So I just jumped into it. I added social media and started promoting posts and inviting guests to post on the site. And it just grew from there.
It wasn’t something I set out to do, but it ended up being a super awesome part of my undergrad career, and something I still enjoy doing and hope to keep doing throughout grad school as well.
Why in your undergrad?
Maya Gosztyla: 04:57
It was super useful for me because it forced me to keep up to date on things that were happening in the field, but as an undergrad, you don’t necessarily need to do that. You’re not as in-depth on your research yet. So I think it’s made me a lot more knowledgeable on the subject as well.
What did you learn over the first few years of blogging?
Chris Cloney: 05:46
So you did that for three years. What did you learn over the first couple of years of doing that type of blogging?
Maya Gosztyla: 06:01
Yeah, I think the biggest thing that became clear to me is that even though I was certainly not an expert on Alzheimer’s and neuroscience in general, I was still an expert compared to 95% of the population. That was important for me because I was worried about putting this blog up there, and having ‘real’ scientists come in and say, “Oh, no. This is wrong. You’re not an authority. You have no right to say this.”
Maya Gosztyla: 06:30
And of course, that never happens. No one’s going to come out and do that to you. Even so, although I don’t even have my Ph.D. yet, I still know more about Alzheimer’s and dementia than the average person. At this point in my career, I would never write a blog that’s intended for other scientists, but I think I’m definitely qualified to write a blog that’s intended for non-scientists.
What was your biggest struggle?
Maya Gosztyla: 06:56
Realizing that you don’t have to have your Ph.D. yet to be a science communicator. In fact, it probably becomes harder if you start after your Ph.D. because you’ve forgotten how to talk to people who aren’t in your field.
That was a big thing that I learned. Another thing was discovering how much fun writing is. I wanted to be a science fiction writer for most of my childhood but I pushed writing away as I went toward my STEM career. Blogging reminded me how much I love writing and how cool it is to take these high-level topics and figure out how to make them not just understandable, but interesting enough for people to want to read about them.
Chris Cloney: 07:51
You couldn’t have said two more important things. One is that you don’t need to be an expert to do this. I’m talking via email with a lady who decided not to do her Masters or Ph.D., but she wants to do science writing. She’s nervous because she’s not an expert, but what I tried to explain a bit to her was that imposter syndrome is going to be there.
I have it today. As I built my business, I thought somebody was going to call me an idiot and a lightning bolt was going to strike me, but it never happened. That imposter syndrome is always going to be there. If you did get your Masters, you’re just going to be upset that you don’t have your Ph.D. If you do get your Ph.D., you’re going to be upset that you’re an introvert instead of an extrovert, or an extrovert instead of an introvert. If you do get that figured out, there’s going to be the next thing. You don’t have enough X, Y or Z. The imposter syndrome just shifts to the next step, whatever the next step is. So remember: you don’t need to be an expert to get started. It’s more important to get started today.
Take us through your journey of becoming a science writer
Chris Cloney: 09:00
Can you take us through the journey a bit? You had this blog you were writing. Now, the way you described it, it doesn’t seem like that’s such a huge jump to being a freelance science writer. Can you talk to us about that?
Did you start it wanting to make money?
Maya Gosztyla: 09:12
I decided pretty early on that I didn’t want to monetize the blog, at least not at this point in my career. This was mainly because my target audience is considered vulnerable to advertising. I mainly wrote for middle-aged to elderly people, and I did not feel comfortable advertising things that I knew nothing about and didn’t use. I also felt that my readers were coming to my blog to get information and I wanted to avoid advertising to a population known to be susceptible to scams. I may change this policy in the future if I find a product I want to promote, but for now, I’m not doing any advertising.
What role did having a blog play in all of becoming a science writer?
Maya Gosztyla: 10:01
After I’d had the blog for around two years, someone reached out to me on Twitter and said that he liked my blog. He had a FinTech company that was related to Alzheimer’s Disease and he said, “I like your writing. Would you be interested in writing for us? We’re about Alzheimer’s and dementia.” It never occurred to me that other people would pay me to write. I imagined that I would only make money through this blog and never even considered freelance writing as an option.
Maya Gosztyla: 10:38
I ended up doing it and found that I enjoyed writing for other people as well.I ended up joining Upwork shortly afterward so I could find other people to write for. I’ve been doing that for about a year now, and it’s been a great way for me to keep the blog demonetized and open. I can write whatever I want without worrying about advertising and still use it as a launching point to get clients. In fact, many of my clients find me through my website and then later go on Upwork to hire me, instead of the other way around.
What recommendations do you have for someone interested in becoming a freelance science writer?
Chris Cloney: 11:53
Do you have any recommendations for somebody who is interested in moving on to become a freelance science writer? How should they dip their toes in the water?
Maya Gosztyla: 12:02
I definitely would suggest being active on social media. As I said, the first person to reach out to me was through Twitter, and I was fairly active on Twitter. That was also how I found this podcast. Twitter seems to be the social media platform that people in STEM use the most, but I feel that if you have a LinkedIn profile or other online presence and interact with people, it’s a great way to find clients and build your network. So that’s a good one.
Maya Gosztyla: 12:34
When you’re first starting out, it can also be helpful to join Upwork or another freelancing website because it helps you to get your foot in the door. It’s harder to get clients when you don’t have much of a portfolio yet. Even though I had this blog, they sometimes still want to see that you have experience doing paid work for clients instead of just writing whatever you want.
Chris Cloney: 13:22
I’ve never been a hiree in Upwork, but I’ve hired many, many people. Probably around 10 over the last two or three years for different things. Two of my team members started on Upwork and now they work outside Upwork with me. So it’s a great platform for finding and connecting with people. I can’t recommend it enough.
Chris Cloney: 13:50
They do take a 20% cut from freelancers but if you haven’t gotten started, 20% of zero is zero. And 80% of zero is also zero. At least it gives you access to an audience that needs people to do work. So I think that’s a great starting place.
Chris Cloney: 14:08
Another thing that I think scares people about Upwork is that you have to go on there and create a profile. You have to put yourself out there. Do you have four or five tips that you can think of for succeeding on Upwork and getting clients through that platform?
Maya Gosztyla: 14:24
The biggest thing that took me the longest to figure out is that you should charge way more than you think you should charge. When I started, I was charging $10 an hour or something like that. After you factor in the Upwork fee and paying self-employment taxes if you’re in the United States, something like 30% of your income gets taken. You’re making below minimum wage.
Maya Gosztyla: 14:48
My rationale was that I didn’t have any experience yet, so I needed to have low rates or else nobody would hire me. Actually, what happens is that you end up getting the clients who have a shoestring budget or are people that you don’t want to work with. They may be disorganized or they don’t always know exactly what they want. They may also take a long time to pay you or to respond to your messages.
Maya Gosztyla: 15:13
Although I got plenty of job offers, they weren’t that great and they weren’t worth my time for the amount of money I was making. So I dramatically increased what I charge. Nowadays, I’m in the $40 to $50 an hour range, and I’ll probably go higher once I have some more experience.
I still get plenty of job offers. People reach out to me. I don’t even apply to jobs anymore- I just get emails from people who want to hire me. The clients I get now are so much better quality. They treat you better and they’re often larger companies, which is also nice for networking if you’re interested in working for a company eventually. It has worked out a lot better for me.
Maya Gosztyla: 15:51
That would be one tip: charge more than you think. Don’t undervalue yourself because if your rates are low, they’ll think that you’re not worth hiring.
Chris Cloney: 16:02
I love it. When you said you started with a $10 rate, I wrote down wrong people with a question mark. I was going to ask if you felt like you were getting the wrong clients?
Maya Gosztyla: 16:14
Yes, most people who hire at those lower rates are often individuals. They’re not companies. Not that there’s anything wrong with working for individuals on Upwork, but a lot of times they just don’t know how this works. I had a couple of people ask for extra work for free. Real clients will know what you’re worth and they’re going to offer that as a minimum. So don’t be afraid to charge what you’re worth.
What recommendations do you have for someone on Upwork?
Chris Cloney: 16:39
Yeah, I agree. Any tips on setting up a profile or using the platform?
Maya Gosztyla: 16:48
The profile is definitely important. Definitely put a lot of time into that. Upwork has to approve your profile, and a lot of people get turned down. I think I got rejected on the first try. They want to see specific examples of your work, like a blog or a writing sample.
I think your photo is important. Have a nice, professional photo up there because it’s the first thing people see next to your name. Having a good tagline is important, too: these are a few words that describe what you do. Use words that people would search for and are unique to you. I mention genetics in my tagline, and all the jobs I get now are specifically from people who want someone to write about either dementia or genetics because those are the two areas of experience that I mainly have. So finding your niche is important there, as well.
Maya Gosztyla: 17:54
In terms of applying for jobs, I don’t worry about having a completely unique cover letter for every job, and that’s mainly because I get a decent number of invitations to jobs. That will usually start happening once you get a few clients- it’s a snowball effect.
I would go for quantity over quality. Most people who hire on Upwork don’t spend that much time reading your cover letters, in my experience. They usually have specific questions to ask you. I would advise you to put out as many applications as you can when you’re first getting started and not worry as much about the cover letter as you would for like a real job. In my experience, it’s not worth putting in hours and hours of work for that.
Chris Cloney: 18:38
Wow, that’s a ton of great tips. I’ve seen some of them when I’m using the platform. I thought of two that I might add.
One, Upwork does take a big fee, but as soon as someone goes to hire you, don’t talk to them on chat, and then get them on Skype and ask them if they can work off Upwork. I’ve had that happen a number of times, and normally I just drop that person.
Chris Cloney: 19:02
I brought three people off of Upwork to work for DustSafetyScience. Two of them are still team members. One’s been there for two years and the other one’s been there almost a year now. After we did a couple of projects together and worked through things, it was great to bring them aboard, and we’ve given them raises and different things. So that’s one thing that turns me off: getting people on the phone who want to get off Upwork right away.
Chris Cloney: 19:43
The other one is: I agree with you about the cover letters. Don’t waste time writing them, but do read the job description. If I’m posting something that I think will get a lot of responses, I put a trick in it, like “Respond with 3Cs at the top of your cover letter.” It’ silly, but it helps me make sure they’re not spambots. It also allows me to take 50 applications and narrow them down to 20 without having to read anything. So, those would be two tips I’d add to the mix.
Maya Gosztyla: 20:22
I do often end up going off Upwork with clients, but I don’t usually want to do that for my first job with them. Upwork has certain protections built in. If the client doesn’t pay you, they have measures that make sure you get your money, so at least with the first job, I always want to do it through Upwork. I want to make sure that this is a trustworthy person who is going to pay me. I also wait for the client to ask if I would like to go off Upwork. I don’t usually propose that myself. Alternatively, I might simply ask for a rate increase to cover that 20% that they’re taking off. So yeah, while it is something that’s possible, I wouldn’t jump into it super quickly.
Chris Cloney: 21:05
I agree. You want to build a relationship and then move from there. It gets complicated. As soon as you leave the Upwork platform, we have to decide how we’re going to pay. If you’re going to send a PayPal invoice, are we going to pay via credit card? Bank transfer? It adds another layer of friction at the start of the relationship. Is it going to lose you some jobs? Maybe you make more money net. I don’t know. I haven’t run the numbers from that side.
Chris Cloney: 21:32
But if you want to get good clients, I’d recommend trying to develop a good relationship and finding someone who is going to be with you for the long haul. A year, two years, three years. Then who cares about the 20% loss in the first job, right?
Maya Gosztyla: 21:44
Yeah, definitely.
Besides becoming a science writer, what other unexpected things happened as a result of your science blogging?
Chris Cloney: 21:45
Very cool. That was a pretty deep overview of Upwork, and I have a list of at least 12 tips that we pulled out of that, so that’s great. Besides the freelance writing that came out of this, and doing that as a side hustle, were there any other expected things that resulted from starting your blog and communicating science online?
Maya Gosztyla: 22:09
The thing that I didn’t expect was how super helpful it was to me in grad school applications. In my interviews, I had probably two or three people say that they have read my blog, which was amazing. I didn’t think any faculty were reading the blogs, to be honest! It was a conversation starter and I think that it must have been helpful in getting through those interviews. I had something to prove that I know what I’m talking about, that I know how to read papers and communicate them in a deep way.
Maya Gosztyla: 22:42
I would definitely encourage undergrads to think about having a science blog if they’re considering graduate school. I think it’s looked upon well, especially if you have it connected to your Twitter and your LinkedIn.
Maya Gosztyla: 22:57
The other thing that’s been great is the network that it’s helped me build. I work with scientists and I hang out with a lot of scientists but it’s opened up this whole new world of science communicators: podcasters, YouTubers, and bloggers, who have a common goal of making science accessible to non-scientists and helping them to navigate this world where there are all kinds of people who may be trying to take advantage of them and give them false information online.
Maya Gosztyla: 23:27
It’s been cool to meet all these people, virtually for the most part, but I have met people that I know from various science communications through Twitter. It was so cool, and I’m looking forward to getting more involved with that group in the future, too.
Chris Cloney: 23:48
That’s awesome. Those are great outcomes, and the network’s a big thing. When I travel now, it’s so rare that I don’t grab a coffee with somebody that I know virtually. People I know on Twitter, a podcaster in my space, or whatever. I’m travelling to San Diego in late July, so maybe we can grab a coffee there at some point, too.
Chris Cloney: 24:13
That just shows how it goes. So when I travel now, I try to find somebody in my network that I meet and grab a bite to eat with or something. It’s a big way to grow your network, and I can’t agree with that more.
Chris Cloney: 24:27
I think that might be a good place to end this episode. Is there one big thing you want to leave the listeners with? These are academics who are thinking about starting a business, and what we’re about here is doing it in a way that you can change the world. So things like corrected false information and helping groups that are underserved are important topics for GradBlogger. Is there one big thing you want to leave that audience with?
Maya Gosztyla: 24:58
The thing to realize about blogging is that it can be whatever you want it to be. If you just want to have a demonetized and completely independent blog where you write whatever you want, that is completely fine. That’s an acceptable use of your time. It’s still going to be beneficial to you and to your readers as well, even if you’re not directly making any money off of it. Or if you want to start a side hustle like I did, or make this your full-time job and start a business, these are all types of science communication, and they’re all great things to be involved with.
Maya Gosztyla: 25:33
Don’t be afraid if you want to just be a scientist and you don’t want a career as a science communicator. That’s completely okay. You don’t need to choose one or the other. You can have both things.
Chris Cloney: 25:46
I couldn’t agree more. That’s a great way to end off. I just want to mention that in late July in San Diego, as well as in June in Waterloo or Toronto, Ontario, we’re going to be doing some meetups for GradBlogger. I don’t know if it’s going to be an event with speakers and a presentation or if it’s going to be grabbing a beer at a bar or something. But if people are interested in that, definitely stay tuned on social media. If you’re in those areas, we’re going to try to get a couple of people from the community together, at least to talk about building a business.
Chris Cloney: 26:53
So Maya, I just want to say thank you again. It has been important for me to see the other side. As I mentioned, I’ve done a lot of hiring on Upwork. At one point, I had seven writers with DustSafetyScience. I did that on purpose because I wanted to load the website with about 100 posts in two months. But trying to manage seven people writing was a little ridiculous. So we’ve brought that down to just myself and another on the team now.
Chris Cloney: 27:24
It’s good to see the other side and know the answer to questions like:
- How can people become a freelance science writer?
- How can you use your blog to do whatever you want to do, whether it’s pure science communication, building an independent research company, helping with your scholarship applications or your Ph.D. application?
Those are all viable ways to go. I appreciate you sharing, and hopefully, we can grab a bite to eat or something when I get into San Diego in late July.
Maya Gosztyla: 27:51
For sure. Yeah, thanks for having me. And if any of your listeners have any questions, or just want someone to bounce ideas off of, especially if they’re undergrads who are getting into this field, they can feel free to reach out to me. My Twitter is the same as my website.
Chris Cloney: 28:09
Certainly. Maya also has a personal website, a Facebook account, and a LinkedIn profile, If you want to find her on Upwork, her profile is here. Thanks, Maya, we appreciate you talking to us today, and we will be talking soon.
Maya Gosztyla: 28:32
Great. Thank you.
