Finding Your Niche

To most people, when they hear "find your niche" they think, "well that's simple enough," right? But it's harder than you think. When you ask other writers what they think you should write about as you are starting out, so many will tell you to write what you know. What your passionate about. While they aren't wrong and I too strongly agree with this suggestion, this is still vague enough to drive some people nuts with its lack of direction. Like C. S. Lewis said, "Write about what really interests you, whether it is real things or imaginary things, and nothing else." Why? Because:

• Your interest will keep you going
• You will want to keep learning more about it
• Generating topics within your niche will be easier
• You will become an authority figure on the subject
• You already know more about it than you think

With these things already in place it then becomes much easier to narrow your niche down even more should you find it gives you the corner market. For instance, my original blog on my company website is about hospitality and tourism; wine, coffee, food, travel, etc. My more narrowed niche is in my agricultural and fine dinning service backgrounds. Because I spent so much of my life in agriculture and about ten years in service, I have a very unique take on the food and beverage scene. I know what goes on in the kitchens, the drama that comes with working in restaurants, the mentality and personality it takes to be in that line of work and the differences in service when an old school chef is running the show versus a new age one. Then of course you throw in agriculture and its in's and out's and how that can affect the hospitality and tourism industries and my corner market just became more uniquely my own.

So how did I come to decide on this topic or genre to be my niche? It's what I know. These two industries have been what I made of my life and the experiences I have had. The stories I now have from this type of work. The laws that have affected each job. The personalities and people I have had the opportunity to encounter and meet and to learn from because of my work. These things are what make for more interesting stories. But to help you decide on what could be your specific niche, consider this:

• The types of work you have done
• Consistent hobbies or activities that you have had over the years
• Make a list of your current interests and then past interests. See what line up
• When talking about something with friends, what sets sparks off? These are things that you could sit and talk about and lose track of time discussing
• In one of the subjects above, would you have an interest in Googling more about it?
• You may like writing something like poetry, well that is a wide genre in itself and could be narrowed down too. Options would be types of poetry, forms of poetry, whether it's American or British, etc.

There are many options out there and something for everyone. Everyone has something unique to bring to the craft, why not just share what you already DO know? You already are the expert in your field but worrying that you don't know enough about something or the talent is a load of bull because no one knows what you know. No one knows the experiences you've had. So wouldn't it stand to reason that if you have these things, then as a writer it is your job to make such stories interesting?

Still have questions about finding your own niche for your writing? Contact me by email or in the comment section below and ask. Always happy to help.

The Scribbler