The Benefits Of Niche Writing For Niche Markets

“A special area of demand or desire for a product or service.”

Thank you to Websters for that definition of a niche. Now what does that have to do with writing?

If you are an online writer then you might want to pay close attention to this article. I’m not going to tell you that you must do this. I’m not going to tell you that you should do this. I am, however, going to tell you that you really should consider doing this. The ‘this’ that I refer to is niche writing, and it is a logical approach to the online writing world.

Niche writing is writing about a specialized field of interest. Instead of writing about cooking recipes, one would seek a niche and write about Hungarian cooking recipes or gluten-free recipes.

Why would you do that you ask?

Online writing is all about getting a piece of the pie, or in the case of writing a piece of the possible readership. An online writer has two choices in a realistic world: they can have a small piece of a large pie, or they can have a large piece of a small pie. Rarely does a writer get a large piece of a large pie. Sure it happens but the stars need to be perfectly aligned for it to happen.

Let me put it another way. If you are a recipe writer, then know from the start that there are literally hundreds of millions of recipes on the Internet right now. What do you think your chances are of your recipe being read by millions of people? Can you say next to zero? The numbers are too great and your odds are too astronomical.

But….what if you are a writer of Hungarian recipes? By choosing that niche you have now made the competition pool considerably smaller, and that means that your chances or being read are considerably larger. Get it?

Of course, you still have to be able to write well, and you still have to do other things to increase your readership, but you at least start with good odds by narrowing down the scope of your writing endeavors.

But I don’t want you to just take my word for it. I’m going to introduce you to a writer who has made a name for herself in the niche market. Say hello to Deb Hirt of Stillwater, Oklahoma!

Deb Hirt is a writer and lover of birds who lives in Stillwater, Oklahoma. For those of you who are geography-challenge, Stillwater is in north-central Oklahoma and it has a population of 45,688, making it the tenth largest city in the 28^th largest state in the United States. To say that Stillwater is not a large metropolitan area would be a gross understatement. Stillwater is a dot on the map in the great, vast expanse of the Great Plains; it certainly is not a haven for famous writers nor is it a central location for national or world media. In fact, its greatest claim to fame may be that it is the location of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Boomer Lake is an artificial reservoir in Stillwater. It was completed in 1925 and has a surface area of 251 acres, a watershed area of 8954 acres and a shoreline length of 8.6 miles. It is a relatively small lake in a relatively small state, and at first glance one would think that writing opportunities do not abound in this tiny area of the world.

But one would be wrong in thinking that!

Now Deb could have written a series of articles about birds. That is, after all, her passion, but she would have been one of millions who write about birds. She could have narrowed it down a bit and written about birds of the Midwest but again, the pie was too large.

What Deb did was begin writing a regular feature called “Life At Boomer Lake with Deb” and she has been writing these articles for over a year now. Each week a new article is posted detailing the different varieties of birds found that week at Boomer Lake. She includes some wondrous photographs of those birds because, well, Deb is a wondrous photographer.

She also includes information about worldwide trends in the bird world, information that would be, and is, interesting to anyone who finds birds fascinating. For example, this past week she included information about Hummingbird Migration and the dangers facing the Sage Grouse in Canada.

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn't really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That's because they were able to connect experiences they've had and synthesize new things.”

Steve Jobs

Build it and they will come. Those words beautifully summarize the job Deb has done with this very special niche. Not only do the residents of Stillwater read her articles, but those articles have now gained attention statewide, region wide and yes, nationwide.

Deb instinctively understood that the love of birds was almost universal, but she also understood as a writer that she needed to build her platform on a solid foundation and then add to it over time. Her message reaches far beyond the tiny community of Stillwater, Oklahoma, and yet Stillwater and Boomer Lake are the heartbeat of that message. It is a beautiful example of niche writing and one that should be remembered by anyone looking to establish themselves as a writer.

Today Deb writes a monthly article for Moonmagazine.org and she has also been featured in the Audubon Society newsletter. Audubon has also hired her to do a monthly Boomer Lake feature for their newsletter, coming soon to a computer near you. Interestingly, the local newspaper showed no interest in her birding column, but such is the nature of newspaper syndications.

An added note: Because of the notoriety she gained from her articles, Deb is also now selling her photographs.

Thank you, Deb, for allowing me to showcase you in this article.

Now, for the rest of you writers out there…..it makes no difference where you are located. You can be in a writer’s utopia like New York City, or you can be kicking back in the sweet countryside of Woodstock, Vermont…there is a niche waiting for you and all that is needed is a strong flow of creative juices. A year ago I had never heard of Boomer Lake, Oklahoma. Today there are thousands who not only know of Boomer Lake but look forward to hearing about it weekly. Such is the power of niche writing with a universal common theme.

So what is your thing?

Let’s try one for fun! I have another writer friend, Bill, who will eventually write a book about travel in Italy. I say eventually because he has a full-time job right now and his writing career is on hold for a couple years. But let’s use his situation for our purposes. I don’t think Bill will mind.

Bill has traveled extensively through Italy, and he has the photos and memories to prove it. What should he do?

I just Googled “travel Italy” and was rewarded with 955,000,000 entries. I don’t know about you but I consider that pretty stiff competition in the writing business. So we need to narrow it down a bit. Instead of writing about the more famous cities of Italy, perhaps Bill could write a book about out-of-the-way towns that nobody has heard of that offer great value for the tourist dollar. Perhaps he could write about great meals for under $20 in Italy. Perhaps he could write about the best tourist attractions in Italy that nobody has heard of.

Do you get the point? Ernest Hemingway liked a fight as much as anyone, but even he wouldn’t take on odds of 95 million to one.

Narrow the field, give it a common denominator we can all relate to, and the competition will shrink and you will have found your successful writing niche.

Never underestimate the power of your creativity!

2013 William D. Holland (aka billybuc)

“Helping writers to spread their wings and fly.”