9 Cons of Niche Writing That No One Talks About
Stressing over what freelance writing niche to choose? Some risks and drawbacks to consider.
When seeking advice from more experienced writers - and business owners as a whole - you’re almost always told to niche down. But when you start thinking about what kind of niche writing to choose, you realize it’s a difficult decision that will have a major impact on the future of your career.
Then you start to fret. You try to decipher which is the best freelance writing niche for you based on interest, passion, income, competition and job stability. You keep hearing that niching down is a must if you want to be successful, but you’re completely stuck.
In this post, let’s talk about some significant disadvantages of choosing a freelance writing niche. These are things that many niched writers won’t tell you. Spoiler alert: Niche writing isn’t all it’s cracked up to be…
9 Drawbacks of Niche Writing That You Can’t Ignore
These niche writing cons don’t necessarily mean that you absolutely should not niche, but they are things to be aware of. If you end up with no writing niche, just know that you still can be very successful!
I was both a niched writer and nicheless writer - and I like one significantly better! For a more robust perspective, check out this article about the benefits of niche writing.
#1 You Realize Other Writers Are Way More Qualified Than You
This can happen a lot in the health writing niche. You start trying to find well-paid writing gigs in the health field, but then you realize that you’re up against other writers who have a healthcare credential.
What are you supposed to do now? Go to school for 4+ years, do clinicals, internships, get credentialed and then come back and compete with these writers? If you had no intention of going that route, that’s a huge roadblock in your career.
You’ll either have to postpone health-related niche writing for years on end (not good), or you’ll have to accept that you probably can’t demand the same rates as credentialed, experienced writers.
#2 You Narrow the Topics You Can Write About
Another disadvantage to niche writing is that you limit yourself on what topics you’ll be writing about. This poses several different problems, including:
You can only promote yourself for select industries.
You will have a very limited portfolio.
You are only qualified to write about certain things.
To remedy this, you could choose a few different niches. That gives you a little more flexibility and creativity with topics.
#3 You Limit Where Your Money Comes From
What if you get into a niche that doesn’t have a great average pay rate? Plus, you may not fully recognize that until after you dedicate long hours of training, practice and credentials for a certain type of niche writing.
You may find that certain freelance writing niches simply don’t have the capabilities of paying you high rates, or there is a cap on your earning potential. You may also find that most companies within that niche only want a certain type of project.
#4 You Get Bored with Your Freelance Writing Niche
If you want to be excited and fulfilled by your work, know that you may eventually get bored with niche writing. You’ll find yourself writing about the same topics and possibly working on the same projects over and over…
Sure, you may get comfortable with the work, but this comfort can turn to boredom, which can turn into eye-rolling when another project comes in. Then you’re dreading the work, which starts a spiral.
More importantly, this can hinder your growth as a writer and limit your ability to adapt to changes in the industry. Without challenging yourself and expanding your skills, you run the risk of becoming a one-trick pony and losing your edge.
If you avoid establishing a freelance writing niche, you can continuously look for new topics, industries and projects. Talk about a really exciting workweek!
#5 You Are Forced to Turn Down Many Writing Opportunities
(Or worse, you don’t land jobs outside of your freelance writing niche.) You might run into this problem when networking or being referred by another client. Your client may love the work you did and tell other business owners about you.
If you’re a niched writer, you may not have the ability or experience to work with some of these referrals, which sucks - especially since referrals are really warm leads (which means a higher likelihood of landing a new gig). In this case, niche writing is actually preventing you from getting clients!
You may also see all sorts of cool, well-paid jobs online, but they’re not in your niche. When you read the job description, you may be disappointed to realize that your current experience and portfolio will not meet the requirements.
#6 You See Your Freelance Writing Niche Go Out of Style
This is one of the biggest cons of establishing a niche. What if you choose a really specific niche, and then it becomes obsolete? For example: Say you only write content about electric cars.
But what if a huge setback happens - like we realize electric car batteries are actually way more hazardous to the environment than we realized - and the world moves on to something else?
Now, you’re stuck scrambling to figure out how you can use your electric car writing experience for something else.
You may choose to do “electric car” niche writing and assume that the industry will never go out of style. But having that kind of insight about what will happen 10, 30, 50 years from now is difficult to pinpoint.
#7 You Make It Hard on Yourself to Pivot
So, say your niche goes out of style, you hate it or you’re bored with it. It’s time for you to pivot.
Unfortunately, it can be really hard to pivot into a new freelance writing niche when you only have samples of a specific type of niche writing. Your content (and experience writing it) may not resonate with readers outside of your original freelance writing niche. This can make it exceptionally challenging to pivot.
Sure, you may be really experienced in your previous field, but you’ll have to explain to potential clients why they should hire you - with no relevant industry experience.
Plus, saying that your niche went out of style, you hated it and/or you got bored with it might raise some red flags with a potential client…
#8 You Realize Your Niche Isn’t Profitable
It may take months, years or decades for you to realize that your niche is not very profitable. There could be many reasons for this, some of which are in your control and some that are not, including:
Market demands decrease
Major legislation or regulations stifle the industry
These types of clients simply do not value writers
Competition is really high (e.g. working in the “most profitable” writing niches)
Relying solely on a niche that is currently popular might provide short-term success, but you run the risk of losing work when trends change.
Just remember: If your clients are scrambling to find customers and clients, you’ve got a problem too. A narrow focus within a freelance writing niche can make you more vulnerable to shifts in the market as a whole, potentially leaving you with less work and less opportunities.
#9 You Hate the Freelance Writing Niche You Chose
Determining what kind of niche writing to choose - especially when you’re first starting out - is a big commitment that you may not fully understand before you get into it.
Honesty, choosing a freelance writing niche is like getting married to your blind date. You have little to no experience with this niche, yet you have to commit to it via your website, spec ads, etc.
You’ll put a ton of work into promoting yourself as a “niched writer” before you even get your first gig.
Then… What if you start working in this freelance writing niche and realize you hate the work?! You’re bored by the topics, the research is over your head and the clients you’re finding don’t align with what you want. It’s a mess!
This is one of the biggest problems with niche writing, and it can’t be overstated.
Not Sold on Choosing a Writing Niche? How to Find Work
If you’re starting to shy away from the idea of establishing a freelance writing niche, it’s okay! Read about when niche writing is good, bad and everything in between!
Scope limitations, fierce competition, overdependence on market trends, difficulty to expand and pivot and the potential for professional stagnation are all things to consider before you commit to a freelance writing niche.
But guess what: You can still find work as a nicheless writer. In fact, we have a whole blog post about it! Click here to read it.
Above all, make career decisions - including niche writing - that allow you to grow, be inspired and adapt to a changing world. By staying open-minded, you can jump on new opportunities, embrace self-growth, broaden your skills and remain relevant as a freelance writer.
