There is an ongoing argument in the writing world as to whether a writer should forge a ‘niche’ for themselves or not – i.e. should they focus on one specific industry to write for and therefore hone their skills purely in that area, or should they do a bit of everything.
This question crops up time and time again in the freelance Facebook groups that I follow. Some of the more experienced members who have had the benefit of time to really drill down to what they are good at are huge advocates of this approach – they extoll the virtues of “becoming an expert in your field” because “you can charge more” etc. etc. If you go down this road, you are playing the long game – and that’s fine, if you know what niche you want to focus on and accept the fact that it may take some time to earn those ‘expert’ stripes. The exception to the rule is if you need copy that converts, and industry-specific knowledge puts you ahead of the game in terms of audience engagement.
What’s my niche again??
I am in no doubt that for some writers, the niche approach has paid dividends – particularly those who have a genuine passion for the industry they write for – hooray for you! But this doesn’t work for me at the moment – I’m too nosey and I like learning new things. Finding out something different every time I sit down to research an article is what inspires me. There is no shame in this, it’s just a different approach. Yes, there are some subjects that I know more about that others – parenting for instance (a combined effort between looking after my own kids and writing for Families) and heritage (I have my past-career to thank for that) and I’m fast learning the ropes with online retail too – but I don’t want to close myself off to other options just because I ‘might’ become an expert in my chosen field. After all, there’s no guarantees that you WILL become an expert – and what if you get fed up with your industry? Or your industry hits a recession? External factors may come in to play that are totally beyond your control – where does it leave you? With expert knowledge in an area that is out of fashion or out of money, and you’re back to square one again asking yourself “what’s my niche?”
Spread the writing love…
Spreading yourself across several industries or interests also gives you the chance to work on different tones of voice in your writing – a lingerie company aren’t going to want the language or tone you use when you’re writing for the family market (and I should know, as that’s what I’m currently doing!) Diversifying and switching between styles takes some skill, as I’m finding out.
So, whilst other writers are mulling over the eternal niche question, I’ll be doing a bit of what I fancy and seeing where it gets me. I may not always feel this way, but where I’m finding my feet as a writer, I’d rather keep my options open and add a few strings to my bow – that way, if I miss the bullseye once, I’ve got another shot at it.
You can test my diversity by giving me a chance to work with you on your content, feel free to get in touch for a chat.
P.S. The random cat picture is because I couldn’t find a decent image of a confused person, so you got a confused cat instead.
P.P.S. The cat has some relevance because I have just had an article published in Your Cat magazine – see here – do you like how I got that in there…?!