If you’re like most freelance writers with a dream, you do one kind of writing “by day” — the kind you get paid for — and another “by night” — the kind you love and dream of doing full-time.
If that’s you, you’re doing twice the work you need to, and you may be hurting your chances of advancing toward that dream career.
Be more choosy to make your dream career a reality.
When you’re starting out, many steady blogging jobs ask you to “be able to write with authority on a variety of topics”. You become trained to believe that in order to make money blogging, you have to know how to write about whatever a client wants you to write about. You become very skilled at internet research.
But what about the reason you write in the first place?
What about those topics you love with such passion that you pour hours every week into unpaid posts for your own blog? What of the things you choose to read about in your spare time, that you talk about in days-long Twitter conversations with people halfway round the world?
You don’t have to be a jack-of-all-trades blogger to make money. You can be choosy and stick to the topics you love. Here’s how.
Choose Your Freelancing Ground
Think about the paid blogging you’re doing now.
Do those pieces help drive traffic to your blog? Do they drive sales for your book? Do they garner consulting clients?
If not, why not? Maybe it’s because you’re being paid to write posts about real estate trends, but your blog, books, and consulting services are focused on your real passion: self-improvement for twenty-somethings.
Does this sound like you?
As a blogger, you’ve probably already learned how powerful guest posting is as a marketing tool. You might already be leveraging that power, pitching ideas regularly to top blogs in your niche to build your perfect audience. You’ve got a Big Idea and you love every second you pour into your passion projects.
As a freelance writer, you’re probably ecstatic to be able to say you make your living writing — and desperate to keep it that way.
You’ve studied the best practices and tips for freelance blogging. You scour job boards daily and bid on anything you think you can cover — from real estate trends, to tech tips, to travel writing about places you’ve never seen.
But you’re not as proud of your paid work as you are of your own blog, and that’s a shame. Try this instead:
Write Half the Words for Twice the Benefit
When you’re blogging for clients, you might adopt the idea that paid blog posts have nothing to do with your own self-promotion. But if you focus on freelance blog opportunities in your desired niche, you can double-up your efforts and gain exposure and credentials while making money.
Instead of scouring job boards and bending your “expertise” to the whims of the market, connect with blogs you love, and keep your eye out for the types of paid writing that you love so much you’d do them for free. They’re out there!
To make a living writing about what you love, you have to make a commitment to your niche. Know what you love to write about, and what you want to be doing for a living. Find the opportunities to make money on that path with the skills and experience you already possess.
Stay focused, and know that your dream career does exist.
When I discovered Be a Freelance Blogger and picked up Sophie’s free Ultimate List of Better-Paid Blogging Gigs, I finally made that commitment. Now I’m building my own dream career, sharing advice for budding writers, and not compromising on the work I love.
You can commit yourself to staying on that path; refuse to work out of your niche. Once you create these boundaries for yourself, you’ll be astounded by how suddenly you’re able to find paid opportunities writing about what you love!
You don’t have to settle. With a simple promise to yourself, you can build your dream career without relying on assorted “expertise” to make money.
Are you making money writing about what you love?
Photo: Sasquatch I
This soooo hits home for me. When I first started as a baby writer, I wrote on every topic available (seriously, everything from wedding trends to home buying to termite control and more) and thought that I was doing my clients a favor by being able to cover so many different areas. Really, what I was doing was giving them weak sauce content that only brought a surface level knowledge to their websites.
Since choosing a specialization, I’m able to dig deeper and make it a priority to invest in my own education. Not only does this make me a better writer, it makes me more appealing to clients (and better compensated as a result). And really, nothing makes me happier than never having to write another word about termites again… 🙂
Ha! Termites. I wrote oodles of online content about dust mites and carpets for one of my first freelance clients. 🙂
I started my writing blog solely for writers who want to have a career writing what they love. Writing is my biggest passion, but writing about things that bore me isn’t. Not writing about everything kind of stunted my income level for a bit…but I’m finding my own ways around it. 🙂
Some people make a living this way — I don’t know how they do it! The amount of time it takes me to research obscure topics like that makes the meager pay for those projects worthless.
The first paragraph hit me right on the face. It’s what I’m doing right now. Thankfully, I like my so-called daytime writing because they’re somewhat related to my niche and I’m learning. The problem lies with my “obsessive” personality. My regular-paying writing job is taking most of my time away from my favorite topics. (Or maybe I’m still adjusting.) It’s my own fault for not managing time as well as I want to.
[A little shameful admission: I don’t focus much on my website and blog as much as I used to because “they don’t make me any money.” There’s no incentive. LOL. Although it’s not like I’m monetizing them. ]
Being a jack-of-all-trades writer is what got me into erotica writing ( a Jon Morrow-recommend writing exercise by the way ;)) in the first place, so I can’t really say that I regret that phase. But yes, choosing a niche is definitely the way to go. 🙂
You make a great point, Glori, that opening yourself to all kinds of writing can be a good experiment to help you find some new styles of writing you love.
I’m sorry to hear you’re focusing less on your own blog, but it’s a responsible choice. What I’ve slowly built up to over the past year is incorporating my niche (writing) into paid work wherever I can. You’d be surprised how, when you’re determined, you can weave your passion into any topic. You might even become more valuable to clients for that, because of your unique point of view of expertise.
I’m finding that I’m at that point as well. I think that in the beginning I branched in so many different topics because I wanted to find out a) what I was good at writing b) Figured out topics that I didn’t know I would like writing about. I find that I can spin a lot of topics to relate to my niche, e.g. writing about travel related expenses on PF blogs, or using yoga as a personal development tool.
As someone who has been a newspaper columnist and freelancer in the past, I haven’t felt compelled to throw myself into the “anything and everything” arena. I already have a decent portfolio but as everything within is over two-decades old, feel it is too dated to present to prospective clients. I have a starving website that has generated a regular magazine assignment but I am cognizant that I could be doing a lot better for myself. My website has proven to be a learning experience, fraught with mistakes and glitches. I’m in the process of switching the format from Weebly to WordPress and the learning continues. I am thankful for the great experience and patience of Sophie, Wendy, Sarah and others. Without your knowledge and expertise, my freelancing future might be less hopeful than I feel it is at this point. I thank you so much.
Rick Myers
I am ashamed to admit that I once wrote about hemorrhoid remedies. Glad those days are behind me! Thanks for the inspiration and motivation to keep rocking it!!
I will refrain from cracking jokes about “starting at the bottom”. Almost.
Awesome, Sophie! I’m kicking myself for not thinking of that. lol
Hey, Dana! Nice to see you on Sophie’s blog. I agree that as a writer, in order to get paid you have to write about what *others* want. I was just talking about this with my husband. I do get to write some of what I love – features, geeky news and getting paid for it at one magazine thank God! But I do desire more, enough to pay the bills, you know?
Thanks for the piece. Yesterday, we talked about what I *really* wanted to do. Deep down, it’s travel writing, but I think I have a ways to go before I can set my foot down on this niche.
Great guest post, Dana!
My only concern is most writers love writing — so they love writing about writing. I’m not sure how sustainable it’d be for every writer who loves writing to write about writing. (I promise, I’m not trying to do any keyword stuffing!)
On a related note, it’d be awesome, Sophie, if you could either create or seek out content about writers discovering their niches. Maybe even a piece on “How to discover your niche” or something of the sort.
The whole idea of “developing a niche” is so important, but almost everyone seems mum on exactly how to do that. Likewise on what niches, specifically, are viable for monetizing.
Robert, you’ll be pleased to hear that I’m currently writing a post titled “WTF is my niche?” to answer exactly that problem. 🙂
Yaaaaaaaay!
Go to Paid to Exit, Trailblazer, Fizzle, there are lots of websites that offer programs to find your niche.
I am sure Sophie’s will be good too.
That’s a good point, Robert. If you want to write about writing, it’s certainly important to narrow your niche WITHIN that topic; what unique angle do you offer?
Beyond that, this is the reason I also encourage writers to love other things! We have to have something to write about, something to inspire our stories, so we have to get out and explore the world, take up other hobbies. For example, I’m surrounded by stand-up comedians and constantly at shows, so I turned that into paid journalism work by pitching stories on local comics to local weeklies.
I will admit I am guilty to the variety niche writing. I have tried to stir away from it, but sometimes it just gives me a nice change. Especially if its something rally quick and easy.
Though, I probably need to take this article more to heart, and really try to settle in more on a targeted and specific niche. Sometimes easier said than done.
Thanks for the encouraged!
I love the idea of being able to freelance in my own specific niche (personal development) rather than others in which I don’t have any real interest.
But as a brand new freelancer (as in I’ve yet to get a single client while I build my portfolio, aka my blog) is it advisable to branch out to earn some money in my early stages?
Or do you still recommend waiting it out while establishing the necessary connections in my niche?
Or maybe both?
Early on, probably both. Just know what your goal is, so you don’t get caught in a rut doing work you don’t care about without any end in sight. If you read up and down the comments, you’ll see some of the varied and humble beginnings we all had before settling into work we love.
I disagree with the “niche” thing, unless the topic is something you love and WANT to focus on. I consider myself a “Renaissance Writer” (in fact, I was paid to write an article on that topic a few months ago)– I can write well on a variety of topics, in a variety of fields I find interesting. If I come across something that interests me, I work up a pitch or proposal and get paid to learn about it, write about it, and communicate that excitement to the audience.
When the economy first tanked a few years back, many of the “niche” writers I knew couldn’t get hired, because there was no money left in their “niche” — but, because I can move between topics, I kept working.
There are things I love to write about and know well. There are also things I love learning about. One of my central clients right now is in an area that fascinates me, but I knew very little about when I started with them — now, I’m well-immersed, and selling both fiction and non-fiction in that area. I got the job because of the quality of my writing — I kept it and expanded it because of my learning curve and my excitement about the organization’s mission.
For me, a wide range of experience is more satisfying.
Someone who hesitates to hire me because of my broad range of topics, or, as I like to call them “areas of specialized knowledge” is probably not someone with whom I’d be a good fit anyway.
I think there’s a continuum from “totally one-track-mind niche specialist” through to “authority on a wide range of topics”, stopping off at scenic points of view like “diverse client base” and “expert interviewer of expert sources” along the way. Where you fall on that continuum depends on personality type, career history and your specific ambitions.
I’m irritatingly polymathic, so I thrive on a combination of markets, niches and specialisms that are only tenuously related. Other bloggers I know stick to just one in-demand topic and make a full-time living from it.
Dana’s idea of finding paying markets for your favourite topics makes a lot of sense to me – if you’re likely to blog about a certain story no matter what, then you might as well get paid for it!
I agree no one should force themselves into a niche if it’s not something they love — and if you love to write about many things, go for it! I could probably consider myself more “well-rounded” than “narrow”, as I write about several topics like careers, freelancing, motivation, comedy, publishing, marketing, etc. – but I tend to keep that related thread of writing to tie it all together.
Love this post. Would really like to connect with you both (Dana and Sophie)! I am a freelancer in the Content Writing world.
Nikki, if you’re on LinkedIn you can send me a connection request there. And join the new Freelance Bloggers community on Google+, it’s just getting started!
Thanks, Nikki! Found you on Twitter – happy to connect 🙂 You can also join the community on Facebook: http://facebook.com/diywriting
Brilliant post Dana!
In the beginning of our freelance career, it sounds so unbelievable. How can it be as simple as choosing not to take work that comes our way?
I feel it’s a rite of passage for every freelancer. But the faster you learn that it’s okay to let go of work that doesn’t interest you, the better off your freelance business will be. And it definitely helps to hear it said by other freelancers!
Another thing I’ve noticed is that any topic of interest can be taken into so many different directions and can be expanded to include a lot of related topics. So you’re really not boxing yourself in. You’re just not writing about termites 😉
🙂 Yes! It’s actually a lot of fun to read, for example, a magazine’s editorial calendar, and figure out how I can spin a writing topic to fit a theme that seems totally unrelated. It helps you stay competitive by pitching unique ideas, and helps your writing stay fresh by forcing you to think outside your own box.
Aligning your vocation with your passion really is
the key to a balanced and profitable writing career.
Funny thing about choosing a niche, though:
It’s very attractive. More than you realize…
When you specialize, you commit to a niche.
Commitment is downright irresistible. And
strange as it may seem, the more focused
you become within your niche, the more gigs
you could end up getting outside your niche.
The decision to commit attracts everyone,
not just the folks you are targeting. I know
this sounds counter intuitive, but it’s true.
Have you ever liked someone from afar and
passed on getting involved with them, but the
moment they started seeing someone else you
became interested? Well, they didn’t change.
Their focus did. The same dynamic is true
with choosing your niche. But the cool thing is
that as freelance writers, we still get to pick
with whom we work. So it can the best of both
worlds. It’s all about narrowing your focus to
widen your options…
This is a great article, Dana. And hats off to
Sophie for hosting you. Well done, Ladies!
Thanks, Michael. That’s an interesting analogy! You’re right: We get to pick with whom we work. A lot of freelancers forget that we’re supposed to be *free* in this work – that’s why we DON’T work for an employer! But money and fear can really drive people to thinking they have no choices.
Wow, spot on blog post, Dana. I use to bounce around in various writing niches but now I’ve narrowed it down to that I really love: health & fitness and technology & social media. I’m happy with those two niches and figure I’ll stay there a while.
Congrats, Allie! Glad to hear it.
I picked up the guide and I’ll be honest, it’s complete and utter rubbish. Did it take about five minutes to put together? Utterly useless. I really regret subscribing to your newsletter and am going to unsubscribe because it’s worthless. kthx.
Unsubscribe at will, Bad Wolf. If a list of fair-paying markets is utterly useless to you, then we’re definitely not a good fit. Kthxbai!
Thanks for the great post, Dana! Committing to a niche has been hard for me due to multiple interests, but I agree it’s the best way to focus and get better-paying work. For years my day-job has been digital project management and user-experience design, snoozy stuff for most folks. When I started freelance writing in 2006 I wanted to get away from those topics. But I’m finding ways to humanize them and getting gigs to write about the parts that I love. It’s definitely a journey of discovery!
That’s so cool, Mary, that you’ve turned a dull topic into something you can write passionately about! And, if you have multiple interests, IMO, go ahead and write about them. It’s just a matter of always loving the work you do, never settling for less than that.
Dana, I just love this post! I actually have a slight disagreement with it, though.
I guest blogged on Sarah Russell’s Write Your Revolution blog about how I “wasted” the first few months of my freelancing career hoping to specialize in just geek niches. I made contacts with editors at many geek sites, was able to pitch ideas… but the money simply wasn’t there.
Since branching out, I’ve had far better luck with paying clients when I write about lifestyle and online/social media topics (which both of my current clients are about). Now, you may still tell me, “But, Bree, you still have a niche.” Yes, that’s true. I don’t write about termites or healthcare or education or lots of other industries. But I still don’t get paid to write about what I love: geeky things.
I’m not giving up here, however. I’m sticking to earning money with my lifestyle and online topics as I blog about geeky dreams on the side, all while building up my repertoire with geeky connections. Hopefully, this will pay off where I actually CAN write and get paid in the niche I love.
Best of luck working toward your “geeky” topic, Bree 🙂 We’re in similar boats: Our niches-of-passion are pretty over-saturated, so low-paying. I’m working at it bit-by-bit, but just changing my mindset has gone a long way in finding new paying markets, and every single accepted piece helps!
Yes, “over-saturated” and “low-paying” are the words I should have used but didn’t. 🙂 Best of luck to both of us then.
This is eye-opening advice. Even though I feel I should know this type of thing, it’s hard to implement. Holding out for the right gigs and really focusing in on your niche, seems counter-intuitive to making money, when in fact the opposite is true — like you pointed out. I love what you said about “writing half the words for twice the benefit”. Very thought-provoking phrase, and something I’m implementing a lot more this year.
Thanks, Carrie! You’re right; it’s easy to say but hard to actually make yourself do it. I still waver occasionally, but (as I mentioned in previous comments), now when I take on an assignment or gig out of my niche, I always let the client know that my expertise is writing/publishing and work the topic in where I can.
This is an inspiring post for sure! I have spent enough time writing for crappy sites that pay almost nothing. I found your advice to be a light at the end of the tunnel! I’m still floundering somewhat with this whole blogging business, but this is definitely something worth pursuing…thanks for the great advice!
So happy to hear that, Sheila! Nothing wrong with starting small; just know where you want it to take you.
PS- Your site is adorable 🙂
Hi. This is so inspiring.
I’ve just turned down a very lucrative contract after writing about cleaning dialysis centres in the industrial cleaning sector. I said No thank you to any further work – even though I have nothing else. Stupid, I know, but I just could not get myself to do it any more. It might be an age thing. I’m getting increasingly stroppy – hence the title for my very new blog, which is not making me a cent. You need to be so strong and confident to go for what you want! You are amazing.
Thanks, Chene 🙂 Kudos to you. That’s tough to do — but not so stupid! Having no work is one of the best motivators to find work you love 😉
PS – Awesome cover photo on your blog; it reveals such a story about the writer’s life!
Hi Dana,
The post struck a cord with any writer who wants it their way. I don’t want to write copy for gadgets. Or real estate. Or…I once wrote a post on the topics I didn’t want to write for.
But even if I’m against settling in every area of life, sometimes even I think about what might have happened if my passions were in the more profitable areas. Like finance…:)
Awesome, Pinar; I’m glad to see your whole blog dedicated to the topic! I wonder that same thing. Why can’t I be more interested in helping people with something that directly makes them money, instead of this “passion” nonsense? C’est la vie.
Inspirational! I thought I would be just a blogger then I started realizing I should be writing which was my first love. Now, it’s not just writing. It has to be writing what I love to write! This is a breakthrough to me 😉
After going through many posts of your blog I think it’s not a blog but a blogging academcy or we can say it first online blogging university. Apart from advising and mentoring it is better to start an online blogging course that is in hot demand in blogsphere because where you see newbie bloggers are just asking tips and tricks to move on success track.
I hear you, Edson. A lot of people have asked if I’m going to roll out a freelance blogger training course, so I’ve decided that I will! More details soon. 🙂
I love this idea, Dana, and I think you’re bang-on in terms of getting the most out of your efforts when you’ve got an established niche of your own. But I’d like to put forward a – not contrary idea – but potentially supplemental one:
Taking jobs you have less interest in initially can be an amazing way to discover talent or passion you didn’t know was there. I’d never have known I loved writing about marketing if it weren’t for a day job where blogging on that topic became a part of my schedule. And I never would have learned that I adored writing about personal finance and entrepreneurship if I hadn’t contributed to a local news site as a local biz and finance writer. I even got kind of a kick about freelancing for a moving site – it was all part of the broader “instructional” style that I really grok. But I don’t think I’d have realized that if I hadn’t taken gigs that were far from my initial passions. (Social issues!)
It can be a good way to test the waters of a new topic with low risk. (Although I’ll never be getting back those hours I spent writing for an internet dating site…*twitch*)
That being said – when a blogger is, as you mention, also pursuing their own track – your method is, I think, greatly superior. 🙂
You make a good point, Megan: This method is best for people who are trying to build a business and brand of their own, in addition to freelancing. If your career is strictly freelancing, then it’s probably a good idea to spread your wings — just get out sooner than later when you realize you hate the work you do!
Happy to hear you discovered those new passions — always exciting! I also have a background in social issues and nonprofit work, and I never thought I would be interested in marketing and copywriting, but I LOVE it!
Great post!
I love writing erotic romance, but I don’t necessarily love writing ABOUT erotic romance (and can’t find many freelance opportunities on that topic anyway *sad face*). However, I absolutely love writing about writing in general, mostly fiction writing. I find most of my readers are aspiring writers or authors themselves in need of tips and such. So, hey, I don’t mind writing about both if it comes down to it. I get satisfaction out of writing in general.
Good job on this post, Dana!
Brilliant post!
I have to admit, my first response was “oof, right in the stomach” — that’s the first place I felt your words. I wouldn’t say I’m guilty of straying in my freelance career (I focused a lot on technology writing) but I’m definitely guilty of looking at something and going “hmm, that sounds interesting” when I not only have zero cred in that field, I’ve done nothing to establish myself there!
I did see in the comments that Sophie’s brewing a blog post on finding your niche. As someone who is returning to writing after a burnout hiatus, I’m really looking forward to reading the niche-finding guide, then coming back to the tips outlined here.
Thank you so much for your writing!
Hi Dana,
Your post encourages me today. Sometimes, it’s hard to find the line between “writing what you want” and “writing that pays.’ Thanks for the timely reminder that you can have your cake and eat it, too.
Sometimes, a shift in perspective kicks things back into the right gear. Thanks for that change in perspective today.
You’re so welcome. Thank you for sharing; *that* makes *my* day 🙂