Editor’s Note: On Monday, freelance writer Danica Davidson shared how diversification has helped keep things interesting and broadened her network. Today, author and veteran freelancer Kelly James Enger explains why she prefers to specialize.
Like many freelancers, I started out as a “writer-of-all-trades,” covering every subject I could think of. When I went fulltime in January, 1997, I was desperate for clips and experience. So I tried to come up with as many ideas as possible, pitching dozens of markets in the process.
About 18 months into my fulltime freelance career, though, I decided to change my approach. I no longer tried to write about any topic I came across that I thought I could pitch. Instead, I started to focus on a handful of topics that interested me personally, and that there were hundreds of high-paying markets for—namely, health, fitness, and nutrition—and began specializing in those areas.
In the years since then, I’ve met hundreds of other freelance writers, and have discovered that the majority of the ones who make a good living freelancing fulltime (say, more than $50,000 a year) have taken a similar approach. They specialize. Maybe they write about fitness and health. Or business and technology. Or food and nutrition. Or parenting and health.
But regardless of what they specialize in, they’re created niches for themselves. In a career that spans more than 14 years, I’ve found multiple benefits to specializing. As a specialist, you can:
- Nail more assignments, even as an inexperienced writer. Specializing means that you have more depth in a subject than other freelancers, so you’re more likely to get an assignment than a writer new to the subject.
- Make more money. Editors and other clients will pay more for experience—and if you ask for a higher per-word rate, you can justify it with the fact that you’re already well-versed in the topic.
- Pitch timely story ideas more efficiently. When you’re freelancing, you have to be able to come up with timely story ideas, and specializing makes it easier to do so. You’re not trying to keep up on every subject out there, which is impossible anyway.
- Save time researching and writing. As a freelancer, your time is your most valuable asset. When you specialize, you cut down on your research time because you’re not always getting up to speed on a particular subject. Sure, you’re always learning new things, but the “learning curve” is not nearly as steep.
- Build a platform. Today, this is one of the biggest reasons to specialize. Specializing lets your build your brand, so to speak, and create a lucrative niche. You’re competing against millions of other freelancers. Developing a specialty makes you more memorable and helps set you apart.
- Sell more reprints. Many writers don’t bother with reprints because typically the markets that purchase reprint rights don’t pay that well. But when you specialize, you can create an inventory of work you can offer to reprint markets, producing multiple sales. For example, in 2010, I had one reprint market buy seven stories from me for different issues throughout the year for a total of $520. Another reprint market bought five stories at $150 each. Reprints take little time to market, and that money quickly adds up!
- Branch into other types of writing (like books, blogging, and corporate work). This is another excellent reason to specialize. I started out writing for magazines and newspapers. However, as a health/fitness/nutrition specialist, I’ve also coauthored books; ghostwritten books and book proposals; freelanced for companies like The Pampered Chef; and broken into motivational speaking on topics like healthy habits and stress management. None of those things would have happened if I didn’t have a strong niche as a health/fitness/nutrition writer.
However, let me make one point—specializing doesn’t mean you must only cover topics related to your specialty. I occasionally stray outside my niche, and enjoy covering topics that are completely new to me. But the majority of my work—whether it’s articles, books, ghostwriting, speaking, or reprints—all fall into my specialty, which makes me more efficient than a generalist, and means I make more money in less time. And for me, that makes specializing well worth it.
Kelly James-Enger is a speaker, author, ghostwriter, and freelancer who’s written more than 800 articles that have run in more than 55 national magazines. She’s the author of books including Goodbye Byline, Hello Big Bucks: The Writer’s Guide to Making More Money Ghostwriting and Coauthoring Books; Six-Figure Freelancing: The Writer’s Guide to Making More Money; and Ready, Aim, Specialize! Create your own Writing Specialty and Make More Money, second edition. Visit www.becomebodywise.com for more about her, or check out Dollars and Deadlines, her popular blog for writers who want to make more money in less time.
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This has been a fantastic exercise in point-counterpoint (thanks for hosting, Susan!), and both of you presented thoughtful arguments. It would be interesting to know, as per your comment, how many freelancers consider themselves generalists versus specialists. I may have to add that to my Freelance Forecast survey for next year!
Funny enough, your approach was almost exactly the opposite of mine: When I went fulltime back in '99, I focused on the topics/markets in which I had a solid foundation from 10 years in corporate life. I quickly realized that there was far more interesting stuff out there — and part of the reason I'd left the magazine staff world was because I was bored to tears.
As with so many aspects of freelancing, you need to find which approach works for your personality and style, and makes you feel confident. But it's always important to understand, and perhaps borrow some ideas from, the counterargument.
Thanks so much for the tips…I definitely qualify as a "topic hopper," though like you I prefer writing about health and nutrition the most. Also, specializing allows you to immerse yourself deeper than ever before into your specialized fields because you have more time to focus on those particular topics.
~TRA
http://xtheredangelx.blogspot.com
The groundwork for the points you outlined are intelligently, well thought. It got me thinking in new ways about specialization, and the pros to implementing such a system.
Take care, keep writing.
I like this post but it leaves me with questions. I am new to freelancing and have lots of articles out there on parenting and getting kids to read. But I also have lots of experience to share in articles for crafting, administrative, corporate, small business and more. Should I really stick to one topic? Just curious.
@Kristi: I'll be interested in Kelly's response, but I suspect she'll say that you can have multiple specialties. So, if you're passionate about parenting, small business, and crafts, for instance, you could make those your specialties.
I sort of disagree with you (respectfully of course), unless you are talking strictly about technical writing:
http://8pmwarrior.com/2011/01/creativity-and-the-case-for-the-%E2%80%9Djack-of-all-trades%E2%80%9D/
This information could not have come at a better time for me. I'm new to online writing and my first opportunity has found me fielding whatever topics are thrown at me. It too is interesting from the learning aspect. But, much like the medical field, focusing on one area of specialty makes one immensely more valuable and knowledgeable of course. Besides, in this line of work, time becomes our friend as we amass more and more insight, feedback and procedural information on our chosen field of interest after years of exposure to it. Having a solid knowledge and experiential base is really time saving and easier on the nerves in the end. Thanks so much!