How to Transition Out of Your Writing Niche

A quick anecdote. For nearly a decade, I’ve been a sponsored outdoor athlete and a well-known writer and influencer within the outdoor industry space. I used my writing skills to bolster my marketing presence as an athlete, and vice versa. It was a win-win. Until it wasn’t.

Unexpectedly, I suffered a major injury, which threatened to end my athletic career and, consequently, my industry relevance. Both of my main sources of income (professional snowboarding and writing about outdoor adventures) became very suddenly less reliable.

This blessing-in-disguise let me take a good, long look at the rather lackluster financial earnings available in my current niche. Those lackluster earnings inspired me to start a long-term career transition to writing about broader topics related to the economy, real estate, and tech.

Here are the three things I learned that can help you transition out of your writing niche.

1. Build Out of Your Existing Niche.

A mid-career or experienced professional can’t execute a large career pivot in one fell swoop. It typically takes a few baby steps from producing content in your current niche to writing about a new niche. Specifically, those baby steps should be in the space in which your old niche and new niche overlap.

For example, as I started my transition, I wrote about how professional athletes and influencers use social media channels to increase their following and leverage that following to get better sponsorships.

This insider’s look at the outdoor industry checked two boxes for me. First, the piece was, in effect, my first major tech article. It compared engagement numbers across social media platforms and examined the audience psychographics that followed each platform. Second, the piece was still well within my wheelhouse. I knew the industry players to interview, the brands and marketing managers who had strong opinions about social media, and how to pose well-informed, probing questions to them.

There are probably five to ten stories that bridge the gap between your current niche and the niche you’re breaking into. Start small with ideas that overlap niches, and start pitching those ideas to your clients and editors.

It’s important to note that if you’re struggling to brainstorm overlapping topics, then you are trying to make too big of a niche change too quickly.

2. Remember That You’re Not the Expert – Yet – and Price Yourself Affordably.

It will typically take anywhere from five to ten stories before you begin building a knowledge base in your new niche. Be patient, and enjoy the learning process.

Your work as an experienced real estate copywriter might have netted you $50 an hour. However, if you’re transitioning to the tech industry, you cannot reasonably request the same rate. You’re a novice right now. Therefore, you don’t have the domain space knowledge to realistically expect an experienced tech writer’s rate. And that’s okay. It frees you up to be an amateur, and to learn your new niche without high stakes consequences.

Continue the kind of work that nets you high income, and slowly integrate work from your new niche. Remember to price yourself somewhat economically at first. This lower rate will allow you to obtain a high number of assignments, make mistakes, and learn quickly.

3. Indundate Yourself with Knowledge About Your New Niche.

Within three to six months, an intelligent, well-educated writer can obtain a working knowledge of any industry, become a viable content producer, and begin marketing their wares.

Start by reading three elite industry media channels every day. Follow industry players on social media and listen to podcasts that discuss topics in your new niche. If you want to be successful in your transition, your consumption should be nearly immersive. Think of it as a bootcamp.

Your goal is to build authority in your new niche. This requires an aggressive approach to information-gathering. Once you feel competent, start pitching industry channels in an effort to cross-promote your work as a copywriter and to establish yourself as a new authority in this space.