For writers of all genre who want to write, and the readers who love them. Find what you want to know.
To Specialize, or Not to Specialize?
by Mary Anne Hahn
Okay, so you’ve decided that you want to write for fun and profit, and not necessarily in that order. Perhaps you’ve already abandoned your day job to pursue your dream of the full-time writing life, or maybe you just want to test the waters part-time until you have the guts (and money) to jump in with both feet. In any event, you’ve decided that you want to start your own writing business.
Now what?
You head for the nearby library, rush to your favorite bookstore, or jump onto the Web to see what other writers are doing. And you find that there are so many opportunities “out there” for writers, it makes your head spin. “Make a Gazillion Bucks as a Copywriter.” gushes one book title. “Big Profits From Short Pieces.” promises another. Book after book, web site after web site, take you down pathways paved with gold, fortunes made from writing everything from greeting card verses to computer manuals. Your excitement builds.
Although some ideas appeal more to you than others, it is tempting to want to dabble in them all. Let’s face it, we writers are a creative lot, and eschew the thought of being tied down to a particular type of writing. Who wants to churn out press releases all day, or catalog copy, or annual reports? Variety, after all, is the spice.
Besides, why close yourself out of several money-making opportunities by concentrating on one? Couldn’t you be a sort of one-stop writer, a one-size-fits-all kind of scribe, able to satisfy whatever kind of customer calls upon you for your services? Why limit your customer base or market to a certain kind of person, or company, or publication, when you could peddle your skills to the whole world?
I subscribed for years to this very line of thinking, and my writing resume shows it. I have published over a dozen non-fiction articles, put together a newsletter or two, created a few radio spots, won a short story contest, developed training manuals and revised job descriptions. I’ve written telephone scripts, business correspondence, procedure documents and users’ guides. I am the first person my friends think of when they need a resume, and yet those same friends also expect that I’ll someday produce a string of romance novels. So I’ve had a versatile writing career, yes. A lucrative one, no.
The reason is pretty obvious, if you think of your own experience as a consumer. Certainly, many of us shop at discount department and variety stores, never knowing what kinds of bargains we might find at these places. But where do we go when we need something specific, or of high quality? The department store may or may not have a particular book we want to read, but chances are excellent that a bookstore will have it. The variety store may carry tools, but a hardware store will more likely carry exactly what we need for that fix-it project. In health matters, we go to general practitioners for routine check ups, but prefer to have specialists treat any serious conditions. Moreover, we’re often willing to pay top dollar for the expertise and reliable reputation that the specialist, or specialty store, provides.
The same holds true for people in need of a writer. The celebrity seeks an experienced ghostwriter for her tell-all autobiography, one with a track record of completing entire books and getting them published, while the political candidate needs a seasoned speech writer. Software companies want writers skilled at putting together user-friendly technical documents, while advertising agencies look for samples of creative copy. These writing styles differ as greatly from one another as, say, a watercolor from an oil painting, or reggae from a symphony—and our potential markets and customers know it. So although we might be fully capable of switching gears from one form or writing to another, few people are going to gamble on us if there is a tried-and-true specialist out there for hire.
So yes, I am advocating that one of the first things you do if you want to start a profitable writing business or career is decide what kind(s) of writing you will specialize in offering. Start out with as narrow a scope as possible—keep in mind the mechanic who works solely on Mercedes transmissions—and become the very best at whatever type of writing it is that you’ve chosen. Once you have established yourself in one area, you can always diversify into others.
At the very least, you’ll be able to write that book: “How I Made Millions as a (Fill in the Blank) Writer.”
AGENTS & EDITORS
- 60 Calls for Submissions in June 2021 – Paying markets
- Agents: Knowing When To Hold One and When To Fold
- Getting Offers from Multiple Literary Agents
- Literary Agents List
- Preditors and Editors
- Publishing, Writing Terms, Acronyms
- Tips for a Successful Editor Appointment
- Want More? Here’s How to Get It
- What NOT to Do When Beginning Your Novel
- Windup for the (Story) Pitch
- Write the Perfect Book Proposal
CALLS FOR SUBMISSION
- 2023 MAR Calls for Submissions
- 2023 FEB Calls for Submissions
- 2023 JAN Calls for Submissions
- 2022 DEC Calls for Submission
- 2022 NOV Calls for Submission
- 2022 OCT Calls for Submission
- 2022 SEP Calls for Submission
- 2022 AUG Calls for Submission
- 2022 JUL Calls for Submission
- 2022 JUN Calls for Submission
- 2022 MAY Calls for Submission
- 2022 APR Calls for Submission
- 2022 MAR Calls for Submission
COMPUTER TIPS
- ASCII Characters
- Building Your Web Site and Doing It Right
- Don’t Be a Victim-Scams, Identity Theft, Urban Legends
- Don’t Spread Scams
- How to Annoy Your Website Visitors
- Knowing Your Target Audience
- Stopping Viruses from Propagating Through Your Email
- The Top 10 Email Errors
- Word Processors Through Time: Before MS Word & Google Docs
FORMATTING & GRAMMAR
- Achieving 250 Words / 25 Lines Per Page
- And Sammy, too? Oh, No!
- Changing Double Hyphens to EM Dashes in Word
- Edit Easier
- High Hopes–Avoiding Common Mistakes
- Misused Words
- Navigating In Your Novel
- Proofreaders Marks
- Research Links
- Rules for Writers
- Slang and Jargon Souces
- Tightening Your Manuscript and Trimming the Word Count
INSPIRATION-MOTIVATION
- A Dream Realized
- Dumb Little Writing Tricks That Work
- Finding Time to Write
- Five Ways to Promote Yourself
- Fun Inspirations 1
- Fun Inspirations 2
- Fun Inspirations 3
- Fun Inspirations 4
- How Not to Procrastinate
- How to Quit Writing and End up on the Bestseller Lists
- Love to Write: Here Is How You Can Build Your Career
- Making Time for Self-Care While Running a Business
- Moving Up the Rejection Ladder
- Pop Quiz: Who Are You?
- Rules for Writers
- The Art of Being Rejected–475 Words
- The Juggling Act
- The Literary Food Chain
- Write Better Naked
- Writer’s Conferences Do You Really Need To Attend?
- Writing By Moonlight
MARKETS
- 35 Online Work Ideas to Earn Good Money Whilst Studying
- Copyright Primer, Know Your Rights
- EBooks-Fears to Possibilities
- Finding Markets Fiction and Nonfiction
- Freelance Writing 101
- How To Be a (Shiver) Reporter
- How To Market Your Book After You’ve Written It
- Love to Write: Here Is How You Can Build Your Career
- Magazine Links
- Making Money As a Corporate Freelancer
- Market News–All Genres
- Newspaper Writing Resources
- Path to Self-Publishing Success
- Publishing, Writing Terms, Acronyms
- Science Writing Organizations
- Selling to Children’s Markets
- Submission Tracking
- Submitting to UK Markets
- Syndication 101
- To Specialize, or Not to Specialize?
- Why E-Books?
- Writing Groups List
- Youth Writing Markets
PUBLISHING
- 60 Calls for Submissions in June 2021 – Paying markets
- Copyright Primer, Know Your Rights
- How To Market Your Book After You’ve Written It
- Love to Write: Here Is How You Can Build Your Career
- Making Money As a Corporate Freelancer
- Path to Self-Publishing Success
- Publishers Websites
- Publishing, Writing Terms, Acronyms
- Submission Tracking
- The Great Limbo Mystery Question
VIDEO & STREAMING LINKS
WRITING TOOLS - APPS
- Dumb Little Writing Tricks That Work
- Free AI Tools That Can Be Used In Business Writing
- Helpful Books
- Knowing Your Target Audience
- Magazine Links
- Newspaper Writing Resources
- Reconsider Hand Writing
- Research Links
- Slang and Jargon Souces
- Unblocking Your Muze
- Word Processors Through Time: Before MS Word & Google Docs
- Writing Groups List
WRITER'S LIFE
WRITING CONTESTS
WRITING CONTESTS
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• ALL WRITING CONTESTS
- 2023 MAR Contests, Workshops, Webinars
- 2023 FEB Contests, Workshops, Webinars
- 2023 JAN Contests, Workshops, Webinars
- 2022 DEC Contests, Workshops, Webinars
- 2022 NOV Contests, Workshops, Webinars
- 2022 OCT Contests, Workshops, Webinars
- 2022 SEP Contests, Workshops, Webinars
- 2022 AUG Contests, Workshops, Webinars
- 2022 JUL Contests, Workshops, Webinars
- 2022 JUN Contests, Workshops, Webinars
- 2022 MAY Contests, Workshops, Webinars
- 2022 APR Contests, Workshops, Webinars
ABOUT WRITING CONTESTS