Your Guide To The Richmond Writing Scene

The 2018 Inc. 5000 featured 28 Richmond-area companies, including eight first-time entrants. The list highlights the nation’s quickest growing private businesses and featured 20 Richmond companies who made repeat appearances. Still, a forum held in Richmond noted the city’s population growth over the past two decades was slower than similar localities like Nashville, Tennessee and Raleigh, North Carolina. According to a senior vice president of marketing for the Greater Richmond Partnership, more marketing on the city’s behalf could help since 42 percent of CEOs outside the area didn’t have a perception of Richmond.

Making a Living as a Richmond Writer

According to Glassdoor, the base salary for a web content writer averages $46,333 per year while a copywriter can expect to average about $47,000 a year. A content marketing manager in Richmond, on the other hand, can earn an average of $75,447 annually.

Both of these job sectors in the Richmond area are poised to match the projected growth of the industry as a whole since the city’s visibility needs to improve and its advantages highlighted. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates that the field will grow faster than average with a 10 percent increase of such jobs between 2016 and 2026. This means the industry will add about 23,800 jobs within the sector over that decade.

In addition to Glassdoor as a resource for finding content writer jobs, Indeed often lists dozens of available positions in the Richmond area. Not only does the city itself need to boost its marketing, but the businesses that call it home will continue to need highly-skilled content marketing copywriters that can convey and deliver the desired message.

Educational Opportunities for Writers to Advance in Richmond

• University of Richmond’s School of Professional & Continuing Studies offers programs and classes that cover a multitude of genres including technical writing, creative fiction, non-fiction and more.
• Virginia Commonwealth University has established two primary tracks for its Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree: fiction and poetry. Admission to the three-year, 48-credit program is highly competitive.

Writing Meet Up Groups in Richmond

• Richmond Writers’ Meetup, ongoing. Whether you’re looking for a structured writing plan to craft a novel, group writing time or information about local classes, meetup.com is a good place to start your search.
• Shut Up & Write!™ Richmond meets up on a biweekly basis while the RVA Writing Events group posts a variety of group events happening in the area.
• Writing Workshops via Eventbrite, ongoing.  From business writing and memoir writing to master classes with internationally-renowned creatives — and everything in between — you’ll find it all here.

Richmond Conferences for Writers to Consider in 2019 and Beyond

• Agile Writer Conference, late January. Though this annual conference has already taken place in 2019, you can make plans to enjoy the tracks for 2020 that promise to help you, “Get Writing. Get Published. Get Sold.”
• Hanover Book Festival, April 27, 2019. Now in its 12th year, this annual book festival is sponsored by the Virginia Writers Club and offers author workshops, demonstrations and more in a family-friendly environment.
• James River Writers Conference, October 12 and 13, 2019. For 17 years, this highly-anticipated and popular event has been offering writers, publishers, editors and others unique industry opportunities including access to Master Classes on Friday, October 11.

Workshops, Classes and More for Writers in Richmond

Looking for an interactive way to hone your skills? Want to network with others in the industry? Check out these upcoming Richmond-area events.

• Virginia Museum of Fine Art (VMFA), check website for updates. Located in the heart of downtown Richmond, the VMFA Studio School offers supportive, seminar-style creative writing classes on an ongoing basis.
• Visual Arts Center,  check website for updates. In addition to offering year-round classes and workshops for both adults and youth, the Visual Arts Center also provides a Family Studio Program where families can write together.
• Life in 10 Minutes, check website for updates. The driving force behind Life in 10 Minutes, Valley Haggard, offers both one-off workshops and writing classes that meet weekly.
• Fountain Bookstore, check website for updates. A Richmond icon since 1978, Fountain Bookstore offers author meet-and-greets and other writing-focused networking events.

The Best Places for Writers to Write in Richmond

• Library of Virginia, If you need to research an element of your writing, it’s likely that you’ll find the information you need here. The Library’s Reading Rooms are open Monday through Saturday from 9AM until 5PM.
• Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Open year-round except Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and offering half-price admission during the late winter season, you’ll find the serene setting conducive to your current writing project.
• Hollywood Cemetery is a historic garden cemetery that’s been in use since the 19th century. Featuring rolling hills and valleys, as well as stunning displays of stone and ironwork, it’s open year-round to the public from 8AM until 5PM.
• GatherVA, This co-working space is open 24 hours a day and currently offers three Richmond-area locations with a fourth coming to City Center in summer 2019.

With close to a dozen Starbucks in the Richmond area, you could always head to your closest one, but city dwellers with a literary bent also head to area favorites like Rostov’s Coffee & Tea in The Fan and Black Hand Coffee where you can enjoy people watching as you work on your next plot.

Digital Marketing Agencies in Richmond

Richmond’s digital marketing agencies know that written content still fuels much of the marketing industry. There are a number of companies in the area that might have a need for professionals writers including:

• Workshop Digital
• Prophet
• Elevation
• Capital Results

Richmond Boasts Some of the Best Writers in the World! 

Being a writer in Richmond means you’re in good company! Though he was born in Boston, Edgar Allan Poe was orphaned at an early age and raised by a Richmond, Virginia couple. Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Ellen Glasgow, crime novelist David Baldacci and fiction writer James Branch Cabell were all born in Richmond.