There are many advantages to choosing to be a niche freelance writer as opposed to a jack of all trades style of freelance writer. However, there’s no argument that the opposite is also true. There are some very major advantages to being a jack of all trades style of writer and there are also some serious negatives with pigeon holing yourself as a niche freelance writer. So which one is better? This is tough to say and will vary based on a wide array of factors including topic, your specialty, the markets, and your overall abilities and mental settings as a freelance writer. Some writers prefer to only be a specialist in one or two areas while others would find that type of existence way too boring to ever consider.
The first con of being a niche freelance writer is that it takes some serious time to build yourself up as the expert in your field. First of all, and this is even assuming you pick a profitable niche, most likely there are several writers, bloggers, or other experts in any given field you might want to specialize in. Because of this you have to realize that it may take some time and serious work in order to end up being seen as the top expert in your niche over these other competitors. In the meantime, pickings might be slim. While the jack of all trade writers can simply take work in other fields or on other topics.
The second negative of being a niche freelance writer is keep being busy enough to make a full-time living. The idea behind being a niche writer is to eventually make premium income by being the go to writer whenever someone needs articles, reports, e-books, or other writing materials in your subject field. The problem is that early on you might not be able to find enough work to make a full-time living. Depending what type of market you are in, this could mean normal cycles of heavy work versus light work or it might be that the full popularity of your chosen niche has already come and gone. These are not serious issues from more diverse freelance writers.
Finally there is the boredom issue. Even assuming you have a profitable niche, and assuming you get to the top of that niche, is it a niche you can see yourself working in for the next 10, 20, or even 30 years? If not, then you might have a serious problem. When you write only about the same thing over and over again is amazing how quickly something that started out even as a passion can lose it’s luster and you can lose interest. This is one of the major negatives to a freelance writing career in this something you will have to deal with.
While becoming the unquestionable authority in your field can definitely be an extremely rewarding and lucrative path to take to freelance writing success, it is very important to remember the amount of work and difficulty taking such a path requires. If you truly love your specialty then don’t let anything stop you, but you must be in it for the long haul.