When I started freelancing, I was a pure writing whore. I’d write anything for anyone for almost any price. It’s what most writers do. Their brain says get paid to write with little thought given to branding the career.

Defining your specialty, choosing your niche(s), at first blush feels like setting limitations on potential work. What if there isn’t enough work in the niche(s) you like? What if you don’t feel like enough of an expert in the niche(s)? What if you go all out in one niche only to learn there’s more work in another?

When you start a business, you have to define yourself.

My son opened a strength training gym. I joined. I love it. The members, however, are slow coming in. But those coming in are sticking around. Why? Because they like the focus. They like that someone catered to what they love . . . functional strength training. They found their niche. He provided a niche. The union is usually longer-lasting in these situations.

Your goal is to land consistent paying work, repetitive customers, and establish a name for yourself. That’s harder to do when you do everything.

Those needing freelance writers prefer to connect with writers who understand their needs. Finding each other is the biggest obstacle. Lucky for you, the online writer, you have keywords, SEO, Indeed, LinkedIn, Upwork, and more that assist you in finding the markets that fit you.

But which niche(s)?

You can create your own niche, particularly if you are an expert in that world. Or you can look at the top niches in freelance writing and see if you can shoehorn yourself into those arenas via a combination of current knowledge, research, and hard work. In fewer words, you become the expert you wish to be.

Start off by mining your life. List top six-ten areas you enjoy or are proficient in. For me, that would be:

Writing / Mysteries
Agriculture / Gardening / Nature
Chickens
Nutrition / Diet
Dogs / Dachshunds
Parenting / Grandparenting
Newsletters / Email Marketing

And that’s off the top of my head. If I were freelancing most of the time, I’d narrow that down to one or two and stick with them. These days, my freelancing falls into writing / mysteries.

For instance, I have a column in the local magazine centered around WORDS. I interviewed a 90-year-old who wrote his memoir. I emphasized the importance of words in making a good first impression. I explained the many ways to record family history and get it published. I covered the area book clubs. I also write a monthly blog for Writer’s Digest around . . . freelancing. FundsforWriters is about writing for a living. I believe my niche is solid.

But maybe you don’t quite have your preferences defined and wish to see what niches are open or most available. When you research the most popular niches, you find the following:

Travel
Tech
Healthcare / Mental Illness (to include addictions and recovery)
Education
Finance
Food
Beauty
DIY (do-it-yourself)
Parenting
Pets
Human Resources
Logistics / Supply Chain

The best part about niche writing is the competition is less. Most of the other writers are shot-gunning their work everywhere, hoping for anything. You be the smart one who knows what they are doing and in what direction they are heading. Then set up your website and social media to emphasize exactly who you are so that your expertise pops up more readily in a search engine.

People don’t know who you are or what you do until you clearly define it.

BIO:
C. Hope Clark is a freelancer, editor to FundsforWriters.com, and award-winning mystery novelist. www.fundsforwriters.com / www.chopeclark.com 
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