I love fresh perspectives. That’s why I search for freelance blogs pretty regularly.
Unfortunately, I rarely come across a freelance blog. Instead, I see the same advice:
- How to Start Freelance Writing
- 10 Tips for New Freelancers
- How to Start Making Money Freelance Writing
- How to Launch Your Freelance Writing Career
The obvious keyword stuffing aside, what do all these articles do?
The spew the same, tired information. To beginners. If you’re a veteran writer wanting to get a new perspective, tough beans, right?
That may be somewhat of an overstatement. There are great blogs out there for writers who have already done the heavy lifting. But there aren’t many, and a few of them are recycling ideas that just don’t fit. Not really.
One idea is this —
Find a profitable niche.
To me, that’s bad advice.
Those of you who don’t do niche writing know it’s not a necessary recipe for success. Yes, it makes it easier to market, but there’s something about that particular phrase I’ve highlighted that bugs me even more than the idea of forcing people to think that niche work is the only way to go:
It’s the word “profitable.”
Why does that bug me? Because what’s profitable today may be gone tomorrow. Suppose I decided in 1998 that my niche was going to be Y2K.
Yep, that was a short-lived niche, wasn’t it?
It’s doubtful that most niches will fade in importance like that one, but any time a writer puts the emphasis on profit, she misses the most important ingredient to freelance writing success:
Job satisfaction.
Suppose you choose to write in the office equipment industry because darn it, there are new things coming up constantly, and new technologies being added to the office environment ….
And you’re asleep because you hated working in an office and you hated even more the fact that the copy machine was older than you were. You hate office equipment and it hates you. But you specialized because you read somewhere it was profitable…
And now you hate your job.
Another problem with this profitability thing:
[bctt tweet=”Chasing a #freelancewriting niche based solely on the profitability of that area means that you’re chasing a fad.” username=”LoriWidmer”]
Imagine you decided to hop on board the mini-disk train back in 1997, believing the hype that they’d replace CDs. Or suppose you became an expert in all things CD-related. Right now, you’d be unemployed.
While some niche writing will have more opportunities available than others, a good writer can make a good living at nearly any niche. I say nearly any because you never know when something that’s all through the news and airwaves today will be gone tomorrow (will anyone in business be using Six Sigma in ten years?). Like shoulder pads in women’s suits, what seems like a good idea today is tomorrow’s punch line.
If you’re interested in establishing a niche for yourself, how do you decide what to focus on?
Make it broad enough.
I could have focused on just workers compensation when I started in my niche. But by concentrating on the entire insurance industry, I’m able to stave off any boredom and expand my background significantly. Likewise, if you want to specialize in cats, why not specialize in animal care or the industry supporting veterinary services? Go beyond your immediate likes to something you can expand into later.
Make it interesting enough.
To me, writing about insurance and risk management interests me. It’s challenging enough, but yet familiar. There’s not one industry that doesn’t have an element of risk management to it. For you, writing about technology could be exciting. Or you could love the intricacies of law, or the electrician trade, or gardening, or …. Whatever it is, make sure you’re happy doing it. You control that, you know.
Make it challenging enough.
For me, boredom comes when I’m doing repetitive work. I had a job years ago in which I had to follow a “formula” of sorts — so many keywords had to fit into an 800-word article, and I had to mention two advertisers …. that was my clue that writing for advertorial magazines and blogs wasn’t my thing. I needed more of a challenge. So I started pitching article ideas that took me beyond my comfort zone. Challenge breeds deeper interest and a better level of understanding, in my opinion.
Make it something you want to do.
There is zero point in jumping on the niche bandwagon if you don’t want to be stuck in any area for too long. This is particularly important if you’re seeing, like I am, the endless “Go into this niche NOW!” or “One Niche You Need to Focus on Now!” advice that’s stunk up the internet for a decade or better. (And it would be fun to go back and see just how well those recommended niches are doing now.)
Do it because you want to — not because some stranger tells you you have to in order to be successful. If you’ve been at this freelance thing for any length of time, you know what a load of garbage that kind of advice is.
Do you have a niche? If so, what is it? How did you choose it? If not, why?
Have you seen any niches being pushed as “moneymakers” of some sort or another?
5 responses to “Avoiding the Freelance Niche Fad”
I’ve only ever worked in the environmental science/agricultural science field. I specialized in this without thinking about it because it was what interested me back more than 20 years ago when I started freelancing. I’ve always had a very clear idea of what I did and didn’t want to write about. I took what I knew, and who I knew, and ran with it, and I’ve never regretted it. It turns out that having this specialty is more profitable every year and still very satisfying to my soul. I feel like I’m fighting for the environment every day, and that’s critical for me.
Joy, your niche is also broad and, in my opinion too, interesting. You’re running a smart business that I imagine challenges you as much as it rewards your soul.
I agree. Our environment trumps every other thing we tend to concern ourselves with. Without a healthy environment, there’s no point.
I’m currently reading a book that suggests you get narrow with your niche because some niches are simply too broad. I can see both sides of this (what you’re saying vs the book’s advice). I’m on the fence as to whether or not to narrow down or go broad. I suppose there is still a place for both. The other advice the book gives is when you can marry two niches together in the same article as it can create clips for two different niches. I’ve never specialized in one thing over the other but I don’t think it will hurt me to pick a focus or two.
Hi Nikki! Good seeing you.
I can see both sides, too. Some niches ARE too broad. I know a writer who bills themselves as a “business” writer, yet they do the “4 Things Businesses Can Do to Buy Insurance” kind of articles. Not exactly the same as something like “Solving Supply Chain Disruption by Using On-time Delivery” type of thing.
On whether to go narrow or broad, why not both? If you’re having success in the broader focus, you can maybe narrow your focus on occasion. You know, test the waters and see just how lucrative that can be for you.
The book you’re reading sounds interesting! I might like to read that. The idea of marrying two niche areas is a good one — Like marrying benefits consulting writing with insurance writing. That became a mini-niche for me for a few years.
The beauty of what we do is that we can do whatever interests us. Niche today, general tomorrow. 🙂
Even if you can’t “marry” two niches for the long haul, look for places your niche or niches overlapp with other areas. Each one is an opportunity to break into a new niche. That’s how I wound up writing about the TV industry.