A Tribe’s Dilemma: Specialize or diversify?

If we consider the freelance writing fraternity as a tribe, we find it is a divided one. The reason for the split in this honest, hardworking community is the choices its members have to make. It is these tough choices that are driving this highly creative & productive tribe into two different camps.

One such fundamental dilemma that is responsible for this divide is whether a freelance writer should specialize or diversify. This question generates a lot of debates & discussions and rightly so.  It is a very critical choice every writer early on has to exercise. Often it can either make or break one’s entire freelancing career.

The reason is simple.

Just a slice or the whole pie

Should a freelance writer stick to just one genre and niche? (By genre I mean a particular type of writing, say, SEO writing & by niche a particular subject matter or product category). And thereby slam the door on other writing opportunities & multiple revenue streams.

Or should one broaden & expand one’s skill set & knowledge base to become nothing less than a Know-it-all? And thus avail all the creative as well as financial benefits of writing across genres & niches.

As mentioned earlier, opinion is split & the tribe is divided. However, the thing to remember is that both sides of the debate are right in their own ways and wisdom.

Here is why.

Doing what you know best

One common phrase that you will come across if you are looking to make money on the internet is “become an authority”. Another is “find a profitable niche”. In fact, they are not just mere phrases any more but almost a kind of Making Money Online 101.

Therefore, it is not surprising that specialization is what most freelance writers recommend as well. According to them, a writer should be a specialist in one kind of writing or in a particular subject that s/he is very good at and use it as a rock to build an online writing career upon.

Suppose you pick the genre of SEO writing & the niche you have chosen is, let’s say, a special type of dildos meant for just midgets. So, the logic goes that you should build your reputation blogging or writing SEO posts or articles about midget dildos and only midget dildos.

Of course, you can write about different varieties of such dildos – S, M, XL, XXL, manual, automatic, metal, silicon, whatever. But you would usually stick strictly to them alone because your goal is to become a giant when it comes to SEO writing about naughty little toys for midgets.

The idea is that you become so knowledgeable in all the details & intricacies of midget dildos that when people look for information about or to buy them online they would see you as an expert or authority on, of course, midget dildos.

The example might sound funny but people are making serious money with this approach.

Then there is …

Jack of all trades & master of them too!

The other point of view is that instead of confining oneself to a single type of writing (or/and to a single topic) why not turn into someone who is into all kinds of writing about all kinds of stuff.

For instance, you may write blog posts, articles, reviews, scripts, eBooks, website content, manuals, dissertations as well as advertisements. And you write them for different products or subjects.

Someone needs SEO articles for midget dildos. No problem. A blog post about weight loss. Sure. A review about a new gizmo. Why not! A funny viral script for a funny brand. Easy breezy. An eBook about recipes. My pleasure. You get the drift.

According to this camp, you expand your skills and along with them your opportunities to insulate & distinguish yourself from the competition. Moreover, you can also market yourself in several other genres or niches if the one you specialized in ever hit the rough patch. God forbid.

Just like specialization, there are many who are hugely benefitting from this diversification strategy.

So, which of the two should you choose?

Like many of my fellow tribesmen (and tribeswomen) in our ever increasing tribe I am also not without an opinion. But I am no expert. Even if I were one, the point to remember is that expert opinion at the end of the day is still an opinion.

I am of the belief that when there are two dominant but conflicting views then there is a chance that the right view might be a third one. However, in this case it is somewhere in between.

Just because there are two factions doesn’t mean you should end up taking sides. Instead you can make the most of the situation by taking the best of what both specialization & diversification has to offer.

Resting my case with my own example

I am by training & profession a copywriter. And when I decided to freelance as a copywriter on the web, I found there were already too many freelance copywriters online looking for work. The competition within my special expertise was & still is brutally intense & those hectic bidding exercises for the lowest rates were driving me batshit nuts. I got very less work. At times none at all. All the while I was spending my time hunting for freelance job sites more and writing less.

Since then I diversified into all sorts of writing including simple as well as SEO articles, reviews, ebooks, songs, TV commercial scripts, viral video scripts, tee-shirt slogan writing, news reports, technical manuals, case studies, resumes, presentations etc. Even within my specialization I diversified into copywriting for different products in different categories across old & new media. And instead of looking for clients just online I also began soliciting real brick & mortar businesses in my city.

Now I have got my hands full for months ahead for all sorts of interesting and well-paying content creation assignments. In fact, I had to let go of a few clients & projects to accommodate better ones. And the money has been pouring in quite good. Heck, it led me to even start-up my own enterprise with my own little virtual team!

Sure, there was a bit of a learning curve involved but it was all worth it. Had I stuck to my specialization, today as an online freelance copywriter I would have been jobless, hungry or insane.

Most likely all three!

What is your opinion? Which of the two worlds do you inhabit? And what has been your experience so far?

Wilson Modi is the founder & Chief Mercenary of a content creation start-up called MercenaryWriter in Bangalore, India. You might want to follow him on Twitter where he likes to share his thoughts as well as tips about writing and beyond.

Related Posts:

1. Wilson Modi shares his passion for Writing

Tagged as: do what you know best, jack of all trades, should a tribe diversify, should a tribe specialize, tribe's dilemma, wilson modi