Media & Writing

Our first conference (“Philosophers in Media”, 200+ attendees) and one of our last workshops (content marketing) were both about this. The skills a philosophy degree drills, writing clearly, learning fast, seeing the shape of a problem, are the same ones professional writing careers run on.

The lay of the land

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Paid writing splits into a few worlds. Content marketing, where companies publish articles and guides to win customers, is by far the biggest job market. Technical and UX writing covers documentation and product copy. Journalism and publishing are smaller and more competitive. Public philosophy, essays and books for general readers, is usually a side door rather than a first salary. Search for content marketer, content writer, copywriter, technical writer, editor or communications associate. This field cares about portfolio over credentials; three published pieces do more than any CV line. Start publishing anywhere public, and treat freelancing as the apprenticeship. That is the route Alex Yates took from a Frege dissertation to full-time content marketing.

Philosophers who’ve done it

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• Alex Yates, PhD — wrote a doctoral dissertation on Frege’s philosophy of logic at St Andrews, then built a career in content marketing, first freelance and then full-time; spoke at our June 2023 workshop
• Leonardo Werner — community contributor who published an essay on augmented reality with us

From our events

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• From Philosophy to Content Marketing with Alex Yates (June 2023)
• Public Engagement and Public Writing for Philosophers with Joshua Habgood-Coote (January 2022)
• Philosophers in Media — full conference, 200+ attendees, 10+ speakers (March 2021)

Start here

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• Content Marketing Resources — the follow-up round-up from Alex Yates’ workshop
• Practise in public: our guest essays on Heidegger and digital technology and augmented reality started as community members doing exactly that