Once upon a time, a youngish writer had dreams of being a sought-after fashion writer. She wanted to write for Woman’s Day, Ladies’ Home Journal, and Redbook. She thought that was success, and she knew if she could break into even one of those magazines, she’d be able to call herself a real writer.
That writer works every day, and she brings home a nice four-figure salary each month. She’s been published in scads of magazines, but guess what? She’s yet to be in any of those magazines she once deemed critical to her success.
So what happened? That writer – okay, me – fell into specialized writing. I swear it was an accident. I needed to work in journalism. The job came up. It was very specialized. I got the job. I became good at it. I began to love it. Now, I work all the time in that field.
Frankly, I think most specialized writing happens accidentally. There are instances where the path to specialization is a no-brainer, such as a computer geek wanna-be writing for computer and technical publications or nurses becoming writers for nursing publications. But the majority of us are generalists. The majority of the jobs are for generalists. So the job ads have most of us applying for the same dang thing. Those who specialize get a much lighter field of applicants to compete with, and they score a few more jobs as a result.
Look at your past experience. Are there any gigs that stand out as similar, such as business writing, corporate profiles, white papers, proposals, etc? If so, any of those areas could be built up into a specialty area.
Use your past experience to find a specialty niche. If you don’t have a specialty yet, don’t be afraid to stretch into a new area. I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but if you have to take a lower pay in order to learn something, do it (but be smart about how low you can afford to go). Don’t look at these new areas as GASP! over your head. Anyone can write this stuff if they approach the gig with a healthy curiosity and the ability to ask the right questions of the experts being interviewed. Only a few areas are too tough for a beginner, and those wouldn’t accept you without the clips anyway.
Go on. Explore! Tell me right here – what have you done in the past that interested you enough or you performed well enough at to build into a specialty? Or what do you want to specialize in? Anything fascinate you enough to make you want to learn more?
5 responses to “Isn’t That Special?”
Ooh, non-profits. My favorite people ever. Actual world-savers and superheroes. They’re awesome. I have to learn how to write grants. It’s my next big task. Up until now I’ve been doing all their promotional material, but I cannot tell you how often I’ve been asked if I write grants when I tell people I write for non-profits.
Great post, Lori.
We all have dream, Tei. :))
Actually, grant writing courses abound. You could probably get hooked up with one online.
Go for it! Live the dream!!
Specialty niche – yes, yes, yes. Perhaps it’s anecdotal, but my fellow writers who specialize seldom lack for work, whereas those I know who are generalists often struggle to get enough work. For my own niche (alternative health), I always had an interest in it, but didn’t target those prospective clients specifically. Then, a few years ago, when I had a chronically ill child and institutionalized medicine had nothing to offer him, that interest became a passion. Today, my son is robustly healthy and the vast majority of my work is in the alternative health industry.
I am totally agree with you on that topic “most specialized writing happens accidentally” Lori.
Sounds like what happened to me.