Niches For Riches?

To niche or not to niche - that is the question

"Don't bend; don't water it down; don't try to make it logical; don't edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly."
Franz Kafka

"Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depth of your heart; confess to yourself you would have to die if you were forbidden to write."

Rainer Maria Rilke

This post considers the subject of whether it is best to stick to only one or a very limited number of niches in our writing. The advice to “niche down”, is widely given on Medium and elsewhere, when writers investigate how to succeed on the platform and with our writing generally. But is it valid? Are niches really the way to riches?

Some commentators on Medium recommend trying to target your writing at a particular niche, then you can build a reputation for expertise in that field, and along with that, a devoted following.

As so often, there are mixed views on this. Others recommend pitching articles in many different topic groups, to cast your net wide, as it is really unpredictable what you will catch.

Most of the advice on niches, centres around building up a reputation for expertise in a particular niche. I am fooling no-one on that score, so as usual have ended up breaking all the rules as these articles illustrate –

Ditching niches

Niche crashing

Consultancy or craic?

It may partly depend on our motivation for writing on Medium. If it is to showcase your work, and build a portfolio to earn money in a particular field as a consultant or expert, then clearly the advice to focus on that field makes sense. By publishing regularly in a very limited number of topic groups, you can establish a reputation, or come to the attention of others with similar interests, and this can help with the networking that is often important to get work as a freelancer or consultant.

In this fascinating article, described as the ultimate guide to niches, Liz Huber provides a detailed guide recommending why it is important to become a niche writer:

“The market is overcrowded, and the only way to stand out is to do exceptional, unique work. But this is only possible if you focus on a highly specific niche and become the best at what you do…….

……..Because of the internet and globalisation, products and services are more accessible than ever and thus, competition is fierce. The only way to avoid competing on price is to find a niche and become the best at what you do. To define your niche, think about the WHO, WHAT and HOW of your product or service, and make sure to check your niche for profitability with the checklist above.”

The Ultimate Guide to Niches

Liz continues:

“If you want to make real progress towards your goals, you need to use your time, energy, and resources very wisely. But when you don’t have a clear niche, it’s difficult to find the necessary focus to make real progress. That’s why it’s so much easier to go after a specific niche. When you know exactly which target group you want to serve and what you can offer them, you are able to direct your energy much more effectively to the things that really matter.”

You may even become one of Medium’s “top writers” in a specific topic group, and appear high on the list of writers, though that does require constant effort, to avoid dropping off the list.  So far from writing being an enjoyable outlet, it can be like a hamster on a treadmill, ever pressured into churning out multiple similar articles just to keep your crown.

Ditching Niches - Are Niches A Distraction? The craic

For me, half the fun of writing, is that it is different from the day job, which for many of us involves having to focus on a limited specific task, while composing articles opens up the whole world of potential subjects.

I recently wrote a short piece, intended to be humorous, about the subject of niche-crashing, about finding a new audience for our work. After a while on Medium, we get a feel about the subjects that certain writers share, and it can be really refreshing for example, when Umair Haque writes a fun article about his dog, rather than the end of the world and creeping Fascism for a change.

In the same way, if writing for enjoyment, it is suggested that writing about the full range of the human condition rather than just one niche, is actually a good thing. It stops us become repetitive or stale, and encourages neuro-plasticity.

So unless you are aiming to become a consultant expert in a particular field and market work, it is suggested that ditching niches makes sense, and choosing completely new subjects to write about keeps it fun and lively both for the writer and the reader.

So throw off your niches – you have nothing to lose except your (temporary) top-writer status!

A split personality

A compromise that may work for some, is to have more than one Medium account. That way you can build expertise and a reputation in a particular subject, but still have the freedom to go off-piste and stray outside your niche when you feel like it.

Yet another possibility is to save your work into themed lists and encourage readers just to subscribe to a particular list rather than everything you publish.

Whatever your view of niches, it is likely that the debate will continue!

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This post is an extract from my new e-book:

"The Medium Story - The Ultimate Guide to the Medium Publishing Platform""