I’m a strong advocate of freelance writers specializing in one or more niches as a key way to boost their income. That’s why I created the short self-guided course “Find Your Freelance Writing Niches: Make More Money for Less Work.”
I just published a succinct SlideShare presentation that lays out the key reasons why you’ll make more money as a specialist than as a generalist:
Your Take
Do you agree or disagree with the points I make in the presentation? What are your specialties? If you’re not specializing now, why not?
On a side note, this was my first SlideShare presentation. It actually took several hours to create, even though the material was pulled from my niche course. I pared down the text, which didn’t take long. But finding the images was time consuming, as was the actual design.
I did enjoy it, though, and I’ll likely do more SlideShare presentations in the future.
John, I’m not as big a believer in niches as you are and I still fit as a niche writer… I think beginning writers often worry too much about finding the ‘right’ niche. My experience tells me that if folks will write and market they will find their niche or niches.
Anne, I agree that beginners should pursue several different areas that interest them, and then their niches will become apparent. However, some people just sort of drift into areas of writing they neither enjoy much nor earn much money from.
Unfortunately, I think your diagnosis is correct, John. The path of least resistance can be a road to nowhere (and lousy pay/dissatisfaction).
I don’t know if I’d describe myself as a specialized generalist or a generalized specialist, but I’ve always had several niches in order to mollify my ADHD brain.
Jake, there are times I wish I had more niches. And I might actually start exploring one or two new ones in the near future.
I am new to this exciting world of blogging and I agree that finding your writing niche is important as it distinguishes you from others and helps you write about things you are passionate about. Right now I am writing on several subjects in order to find my true calling 🙂
I second what Anne said above. One of the best ways to identify your “niche” is to start writing and see how people respond. As you learn more about what resonates well with your market and what they actually like about your content, you start to get “in a groove” and your niche is much more obvious. Sometimes when you start out though, you can’t really put your finger on just who you would interest the very best. In time though, as you write more content and get feedback, it becomes much easier to see which target market responds best to your material.