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Poets, Lyricists and Creative Writers Career, Salary and Skills

Poets, Lyricists and Creative Writers have a BLS-reported national median annual wage of $76,910 based on the 2025 OEWS dataset, with reported national employment of 47,940. Wage data is published for 166 locations.

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Occupation description

Create original written works, such as scripts, essays, prose, poetry or song lyrics, for publication or performance.

O*NET code

27-3043.05

Job zone

4

Typical education

Bachelor's Degree

Experience

Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years

National salary and employment

Median annual

$76,910

Hourly median

$36.98

Employment

47,940

Data year

2025

National salary distribution

$44,310
10th
$58,230
25th
$76,910
Median
$101,950
75th
$139,870
90th

Top skills

SkillImportanceLevel
Writing4.755.75
Reading Comprehension4.254.75
Speaking3.883.88
Active Learning3.753.75
Critical Thinking3.753.75
Active Listening3.623.75
Judgment and Decision Making3.253.25
Social Perceptiveness3.123.50
Complex Problem Solving3.123.25
Monitoring2.753.00
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Typical tasks

  • Write fiction or nonfiction prose, such as short stories, novels, biographies, articles, descriptive or critical analyses, and essays.
  • Develop factors such as themes, plots, characterizations, psychological analyses, historical environments, action, and dialogue to create material.
  • Revise written material to meet personal standards and to satisfy needs of clients, publishers, directors, or producers.
  • Choose subject matter and suitable form to express personal feelings and experiences or ideas, or to narrate stories or events.
  • Prepare works in appropriate format for publication, and send them to publishers or producers.
  • Conduct research to obtain factual information and authentic detail, using sources such as newspaper accounts, diaries, and interviews.
  • Confer with clients, editors, publishers, or producers to discuss changes or revisions to written material.
  • Plan project arrangements or outlines, and organize material accordingly.
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Technology

  • Adobe Acrobat
  • Adobe Creative Cloud software
  • Adobe Illustrator
  • Adobe InDesign
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Apple iWork Pages
  • Ashley Software Writer's Blocks
  • AutoCrit Editing Wizard
  • Bare Bones Software BBEdit
  • Blogger
  • Contour Storyteller
  • Facebook
  • Google Drive
  • Literature & Latte Scrivener
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Poets, Lyricists and Creative Writers salary by location

Areas with the highest reported employment for this occupation.

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Related careers

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Career and skills data: O*NET 31.0 (onetcenter.org). Salary and employment data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS, 2025 (bls.gov/oes). Figures are published survey estimates, not real-time market data.