Writing Tip of the Day: Build Your Niche or Name?
June 29, 2009 by Terreece Clarke
Filed under Writing Tips
It may sound like the same thing. Building your name and building your niche, but in actuality they are two different things. While it’s entirely possible (and ideal) to do build both your name and your profile within your niche at the same time, it is also possible to do one while not doing much for the other.
So do you know if there is an imbalance in your “brand building?”
Review Your Work
What does your work say about you? Your niche? Are you stuck in the low paying gigs that contribute toward your niche, but aren’t doing much to get your name out there? Do you have solid clips that showcase your writing abilities, but don’t necessarily focus on your chosen path of work?
When you take gigs, be mindful as to where they fit in the overall design of your career. If you are really a travel writer, but spend all of your time doing tech work, you are not on the right path. All writers should stop every so often to assess where they are and where they are headed.
Review Your Social Network
What type of things are you Tweeting and Facebooking about? What things are you posting? Who is in your social circle? Writers need to consider if they are following, friending and contributing info according to their niche, also being mindful if they are also portraying themselves in a positive professional light.
Some genres of writing aren’t necessarily the strictest when it comes to decorum so tweeting about random things may not affect you much. But, if you are say a parenting writer, you may either want to have a personal Twitter account to discuss your favorite swinger’s clubs and use your professional account to discuss potty training techniques.
A few things to remember:
- Make sure your social networking contributes to your work. Follow leaders and peers in your field of choice.
- Make sure to tweet & post links to your work so others can see and follow what you’re doing.
- Make sure your body of work reflects the type of career you are working for and toward.
Got any tips on building your niche & name?
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I agree. I’m finding that while writing in a low paying gig, I’ve worked quite a bit on my niche. The problem comes with getting one’s name out. I’m starting to build a name, but I’m still relatively small. Of course, with all the different social media sites and blog sites, it’s easy for even the best writers to be forgotten.
My suggestion is to bring something to your writing that no one else has. For instance try to interview people that relate to your niche. This should give you an extra flair when people read your posts.
As for having a name and not a niche, try to see what topic of yours that seems to pull in the most readers. You may need to make a decision on if you should keep trying a different niche or changing what your niche should be.
I think I make wanting to write more difficult than it has to be. Confidence is the key. Questions arise as I’m writng. Does anyone really want to read what I’m writing and why? And of course my answer is always the same. If I love to read so does a million others. Why? Information, sob stories, childrens’ stories, and more. All of which I enjoy so much of. I hope to gain the experience I need to begin writing.
Reviewing is very very important, I agree. Thanks for the helpful article.
Reviewing is very very important, I agree. Thanks for the helpful article.