by Catherine L. Tully
I’m going to kick off with a strong statement here: writers should specialize–especially when they are first getting started. I know that some of you are probably thinking that I’m wrong…but I’m not. Specialization is your friend, and it will get you a lot more work that being a generalist writer.
When I started out, I specialized in writing about dance. I wrote for a multitude of dance publications and got some good credits built up. Then I began branching out into the arts a bit. Singing. Acting. Using one specialty to move into another. Pretty soon I was getting my name out there as an “arts” writer…
I’m not saying that you can’t write other things–you can. I do. I moved from the arts into lifestyle articles, travel writing and other subjects. Still, I began with a specialty. It makes life easier.
Yes–you can write about anything and everything. I”m not saying you can’t do it. I’m simply suggesting that you shouldn’t do it. You’ll be making life harder for yourself, rather than easier. If you are a writer who is just getting started, I strongly recommend you think about a few topics you can do well and focus there. You’ll be glad you took my advice. Once you have established yourself as a professional, you can decide what direction you want to go from there.
I’m going to go even further and state that, not only do writers need to specialize, but they also need to analyze their competition within that specialty and come up with a unique angle that adds value to their specialization. For some, that will be their experience or education, for others, it might be another skill they have that, when combined with their specialty, creates a unique angle.
I agree with you.