In your opinion how important is a niche?

1. 91

   emi sueposted 8 years ago

   In your opinion how important is a niche?
   
   And if possible, please explain why you believe a niche is/isn't important.

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2. 85

   Medvekomaposted 8 years ago

   There's a group of underused ones where it doesn't really matter which one you choose, you'll end up writing what you love and probably getting small to no traffic. These are like philosophy, history, local folklore, etc.
   
   Now that's one thing. The other thing are the nichés that bring the traffic, like traveling, personal finances or beauty. These have twice or three times the viewers of other niches, but then again, it all boils down to what one wants.
   
   In my opinion, I never truly cared about nichés except for experimenting with traffic. Yes, I did notice that my history hubs receive around 1/10 the traffic my travel hubs, and around 1/100 the traffic my fan theory hubs did. That in mind, I prefer writing about stuff I like and am passionate about, because chaining myself to a prolific but distant niché would ruin the whole point of writing. It'd just become a badly paid job.

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   1. 91

      emi sueposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I can definitely relate to your post.
      I think it is better to write what you care about than to lock in to one niche that you may lose interest for or wear it out.
      I can see the importance of niches to keep one target audience coming back. Though

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3. 78

   dashingscorpioposted 8 years ago

   
   
   Having a niche offers one the opportunity to become known as an expert. The more you do something the better you become at it.
   With regard to writers when one hears the name Stephen King they think of horror novels, John Grisham legal novels, J. K. Rowling children's novels ("Harry Potter").
   The niche simply rewards loyal readers with what they expect!
   Jackie Collins was known for writing novels that deal with Hollywood and sex scandals...etc Her fans would have been very disappointed if she suddenly started writing horror stories or Sci-Fi novels.
   We see the same thing happen in the music industry. A pop, rock, or R&B singer most likely could sing Country music.
   However if they became massively successful in one genre of music they risk alienating their fans by changing up.
   People who love Country music aren't likely to buy their record either as they may feel the artist is not a legitimate Country artist.
   Essentially a writer's success usually leads to them being placed in a "niche box". The unknown writer has freedom to explore genres.
   Some famous writers have been known to write books under a pseudonym or pen name just to experiment with doing something new or out of their known genre. Success creates one's niche!

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   1. 91

      emi sueposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Very good examples for why a niche is so important! Thanks for replying.

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