Finding Your Niche

Let me tell you from first hand experience: There’s not a lot of demand in the freelance world for literary analysis.

I’m not saying that you’ll never find a job relating to literature. And hey, if you want to go through the query and print publishing process, you may be able to get something published in a literary magazine. Normally, though, you aren’t going to find freelance work online relating to literature. Unfortunately for most English majors, that’s where most of their experience lies, since that’s what we all tend to write about in college.

So what are your topic options?

For some people, finding a niche is a non-issue. You don’t need a ton of experience to write about certain topics. However, as you begin to dive into freelancing, you’ll find that you’ll have much better chances at getting jobs you want if you have a niche. In other words, become and expert on a topic, and apply for jobs that have to do with that topic. Some examples that are pretty popular include raising children, food and drink, medicine, and law.

And though some may argue me on this topic, no, I don’t think that you have to be super knowledgeable about a topic to write a general article about it. You just have to be able to do research – and that doesn’t mean looking up subjects on Wikipedia. As you zone in on a niche, though, you’ll have to do less and less research because you’ll already have a base of knowledge.

So how do you find your niche? Here are some tips:

• Look to your hobbies to find your niche. For example, I always loved football, so I began taking on sports writing jobs.
• Write about topics covered on the websites you like to read. You’re probably already up to date on the news, so it’s a natural choice.
• Take a class at a local college or community center to start learning about a topic.
• If you have a part-time job, that could be a source of experience for a niche. For example, I work part-time at a day care, and after I work there for a few years, I’ll have enough experience with kids to write about it, even though I’m not a mom.

Don’t get too specific with the topics you’re willing to cover with your writing. You might have tons of experience bird-watching, but you’ll increase your net worth as a writer is you write not just about birds, but about pets in general. Similarly, you could be an expert at karate, but you’ll find more jobs if you learn more about martial arts in general.

At the same time, don’t be too broad. If you have legal experience and like to write about law-related topics, it might do you well to specialize the same way a lawyer does. You’ll be much more impressive for a drug recall writing job if you’ve written about the legalities of recall situations in the past.

Being a new freelance writer is tough – I understand better than most people, since I jumped right in with both feet after college without having a backup plan. Having a niche (or more than one) can really help you be the most desirable candidate for a job.

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