Most writers have pet topics or themes that we write about. Of course, if you’re trying to support yourself through your writing as a freelance writer, you will have to tackle many subjects you never thought you’d be researching.
You might start out writing about parenting topics and find yourself interviewing new business owners and high-profile executives, exploring the world of tropical fish, researching natural beauty aids and many other topics you’ve never considered before.
But if you write within a specific area, and you want to earn enough money to justify continuing in this field, you must grow within your niche. Keep your focus too narrow and you will just be spinning your wheels without much in monetary results.
So what is your topic? Pets and animals (a very popular one), aviation, the environment, horses (this is the subject I wrote about when I started my writing career), quilting, cooking, relationships, parenting… Do you feel as though you have exhausted all of the article/story possibilities related to this topic? If so, I have two things to say in response: I seriously doubt that you have written on your topic from all angles and perspectives. And if you absolutely have, you’ve probably been writing on this subject for a thousand years, so just start all over again—recycle those early articles. I’m going on the assumption that you have not tapped all of the ideas and resources available on your subject and I will throw out some suggestions for you to consider when formulating your next 100 articles on your favorite topic:
- Write about what you know related to your topic—your experiences with it as a participant and as an observer.
- Write about what you want to know with regard to your topic. In other words, do some research to discover aspects of it that you have wondered about.
- Interview experts as well as novices who have had experiences different than your own. Form articles around these interviews.
- Use what you discovered in the interviews to come up with new article ideas.
- Explore the many facets of your subject. If it is pets and animals, just look at the number of different types of animals you can study and write about. Multiply that by the number of issues around each of these types of animals. If your subject is quilting, just imagine how many different types of quilts there are—each with a story behind it. Likewise, how many quilters are there? Can you see how these two topics could keep a writer busy for several lifetimes?
- Consider all of the angles related to your topic: the history, the personalities, the businesses established around it, the hobbies, the organizations, the events. What about celebrities involved in this topic, the laws pertaining to it from country to country and so forth.
- Widen your horizon when it comes to placing your articles and stories. Of course, you are aware of the traditional, well-known magazines of the trade. But are you also submitting to appropriate newsletters and websites? And what about publications that are not related to the topic? Consider submitting your piece featuring an older celebrity and his pet llamas to a magazine for seniors, for example. A general interest magazine might be interested in your piece on flying as the new high for young pilots, your article on unique ways with legumes as a way to save money in these difficult economic times or one featuring quilting as a stress-reliever.
If these few suggestions didn’t give you new ideas for presenting your niche topic, you are either already practicing excellent skills as a freelance writer or you have closed your mind to the huge array of possibilities.