Our Freelance Writing Needs Defined
We must make freelance niche types fit our needs, wants, values and lifestyles, and we also must make ourselves fit freelance niche types. Of our waking hours, we work more than we do anything else. I keep this in mind when college students come to me concerned about what to do for a living, and I tell them (because I want them happy) to do what they love. I also tell them (because I believe in the truth) to do what they are good at.
The same goes for freelance writers. If we are talented, we have a chance. If we have a severe work ethic we have a better chance. And if we are devoted enough and relentless enough (and??ahem--masochistic enough) about writing for a living, we will be able to put on our vitaes that we are indeed professional writers. But in order to do and be so, we best find the freelance writing niche types or type we will be spectacular at, staking out a corner in the niche market, one which we??ll bring passion to every morning as that damned alarm (later a wonderful thing) sounds.
Niche Defined
From the Italian-derived French for nicchia, "a shell-like recess in a wall," a niche is an inset, concave enclosure. It is this little enclosure we freelance writers need to find, study, practice, and own. It is the small area of specialty we make ours and offer to those in need. So the smaller (and therefore the less competitive) the better.
We in the freelance writing business and those of us working to get into it have plenty of industries to work with:
Advertising
B2B (Business to Business)
B2C (Business to Customer/Client)
Entertainment
Finance
Medicine
Non-profit
Publishing (online/offline)
Recreation
Research/Marketing
Real Estate
Science
Technology
Niche Types Defined
And for every industry there are tens of freelance writing niche types:
Creative Writing- I??ll say again from my lofty loft of opinions that I believe all writing is creative, as it is generative. My point is affirmed when we look at all of the kinds of writing projects a creative freelancer can do or get into, from magazine articles about bushwackers and George Bush to books about needlepoint and pine cone needles and needling family members to??
Ghost Writing- Ghost writing is a popular preferred choice of many clients, even those who have hung out a writer shingle (or banner) and outsource the assignments, collect them, pay us (hopefully well), and put their own names on the work, be it a booklet or a book, a piece of web copy or a piece of ad copy.
Proposal and Business Plan Writing- For profit or not, businesses need writers to create proposals that show need and get that need satisfied??monetarily. As there is with all freelance writing niche types, with proposal and plan writing a freelancer has the skill sets and experience to prepare documents that will be convincing enough that if the client needs hot soup sold in hell the writer will be able to deliver. I have written two successful proposals and a number of grant proposal reports (that ensured continuation of the grant). They are somewhat interesting, but only to those writers with a particular finesse for a cross between technical and creative/dynamic writing.
PR (Public Relations) Writing- PR writers do concept copy or concept to completion work in a number of media, writing ad copy, doing the layout, and designing such items as brochures, newsletters, press releases, media kits, and more, to achieve the ultimate goal for the client: name branding.
Technical Writing- Involving everything technical, from professional, consumer, and user manuals to white papers, technical writing depends upon a writer??s ability to organize, synchronize, structure, and develop the details of technical content.
Web Content Writing- To meet the client??s goals of web presence and online branding using highly trafficked, sticky websites/pages, the web content developer or producer writes what are known as KRPs, keyword-rich pages. This particular wave of freelance niche types was discovered (years ago) to be most beneficial as SEO, search-engine optimizing/optimized/ optimization, text (or content).
While I also specialize in mental health/disability writing and creative and memoir writing, web content development is one of my favorite freelance niche types. To get the keywordphrase keywordphrase keywordphrase construction clear, engaging, and entertaining while keeping it from doing a hideous grammatical/ rhetorical pileup is a challenge I look forward to every morning.
Hey, it beats the alarm clock jangling, signaling the dread of having to punch a card at a factory or see the boss off to work so I can clean her toilets and scrub her floors. Of course, there's no shame in those jobs?. I did them for years to get through grad school. But that's more to do with the other definition of niche: "the status of an organism within its environment/community, affecting its survival as a species."
And besides, I love writing so much, much more. It's a much better fit, one I wish for all of you who adore the writing process as much as I adore it.*
--------------------------------------------------------
*If this is the case, you definitely need to check out the pages on my site with web content and writing niche samples, articles that exemplify good, tight, even humorous writing and that are about writing at the same time.
Works Consulted
Bly, Robert W.. Secrets of a Freelance Writer: How to Make $85,000 a Year. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1988.
Hyperdictionary. WEBNOX CORP., 2000-2003 7 Dec. 2004.
Konradt, Brian. "Creating a Specialty." Write from Home. < http://www.writefromhome.com/writingtradearticles/145. htm> 7 Dec. 2004.
N.H.-born prize-winning poet, creative nonfiction writer, memoirist, and award-winning Assoc. Prof. of English, Roxanne is also web content and freelance writer/founder of http://www.roxannewrites.com, a support site for academic, memoir, mental disability, and creative writers who need a nudge, a nod, or just ideas?of which Roxanne has 1,000s, so do stop in for a visit, as this sentence can't possibly get any longer?.
green cleaning service Glencoe ..In the words of Aristotle, "happiness is self contentedness helping... Read More
In my ten years as an advertiser, I've encountered plenty... Read More
Regardless of what sort of writer you are and how... Read More
You have a new website, or a new business, or... Read More
If your dream is to get published, the chance is... Read More
If your writing muscle isn't in shape, writing a novel... Read More
There is an image most people carry of the artist... Read More
And a dreadful thing from the cliff did spring, and... Read More
Are you ready to abandon your short stories? Before you... Read More
It's a good idea to use TextPad because all opt-in... Read More
Q. I'm staring at a blank screen with an equally... Read More
Boost Brain Power Through WritingHave you ever noticed what happens... Read More
When I first started tracking the information preferences of people... Read More
You have a great idea for a poem, a story,... Read More
What a wonderful resource the Internet is!Students find information to... Read More
The rejection letter says: "Your story, on the surface, appears... Read More
How to Come Up with Fresh Story Ideas When Your... Read More
Welcome to the zany ideas of a productive writer. My... Read More
In the 7th grade I wanted to be an architect... Read More
There's nothing that kills a scene like hackneyed dialogue. Just... Read More
Mix a martini, don't forget the olives, or pour yourself... Read More
In order to be successful with a newsletter, specialize in... Read More
I do on occasion run out of ideas for my... Read More
1. Set aside a time to write and keep it... Read More
Recently, I was hunting for a book that would simply... Read More
house cleaning company Bannockburn ..You may not remember this, but in the early days... Read More
It's a good idea to use TextPad because all opt-in... Read More
What is Sense of Place? It's the image of a... Read More
Back in my school days, if the teacher demanded a... Read More
Based on the feedback that I have been getting from... Read More
Today Norm Goldman, Editor of sketchandtravel and bookpleasures is honored... Read More
Creative Writing Tips ?Complete a character questionnaire for each of... Read More
At some point, every serious writer is forced to sit... Read More
When the writing bug hits you, get out your pencil,... Read More
If you are an aspiring writer, or you simply want... Read More
----------------------------------------------------------Permission is granted for the below article to forward,reprint, distribute,... Read More
The works you've written are numerous, ranging from short stories... Read More
The Scanning ReaderWriting for the Web is different than writing... Read More
There's nothing that kills a scene like hackneyed dialogue. Just... Read More
Creative Writing Tips ?When an idea comes to us for... Read More
Screenwriting is a competitive trade. To distinguish yourself as a... Read More
ESSAY 2Andre Malraux once said that what interested him in... Read More
Do you consider yourself a storyteller? Do you consider yourself... Read More
Recently I was watching the Oprah show and it was... Read More
The dash--that curious mark of punctuation people use in their... Read More
Have you ever wondered how you can adapt your screenplay... Read More
Mixing and mingling with industry professionals is an opportunity that... Read More
The decision to publish a book is very exciting! It... Read More
Creative Writing Tips ?The writer, who doesn't have the time... Read More
Paulo Coelho was born on August 24th 1947 in Rio... Read More
Writing |