How to Discover Your Writing Niche
The key to never running out of story ideas is uncovering your particular creative ‘thing’
Today, we led a free workshop for creators on finding your unique “niche” or “thing” — a specific writing project, angle, or topic that can help you get unstuck. (Watch the recording here.) Figuring out your “niche” is one way to learn about yourself, and it can also help you figure out what to write next. You’ll come to the blank page with a bit more direction, which can be better than starting from scratch.
Here are some questions to ask yourself as you go about defining your creative niche. Defining your beat or “thing” looks different for everyone, of course! But you’re welcome to use this guide as a place to start.
1. What are your writing goals?
There are infinite reasons to write. Some of us write to build our personal brand, to share professional expertise, or to help others live better lives. Sometimes we just want to experiment with language (or photography, or illustration)! Sometimes we want to investigate something we’re curious about, spur social change, or simply connect with our family and friends. We all come to the blank page with our own set of hopes and dreams, goals, and ambitions. As a first step toward defining your unique writing niche, it’s worth getting clear on what draws you to writing in the first place.
Roger Martin is an example of a writer on Medium who has a very specific goal: to help business leaders define their strategy, and to — in Martin’s words — “help readers by giving them a better way of thinking tomorrow about something that vexes them today.” Martin also set a goal for his publication frequency: “As I built momentum,” Martin writes, “I got psyched about the idea of doing one per week for an entire year — and just did it.”
Think of both qualitative and quantitative goals here (we’ll talk more about publishing frequency in a bit, too; that’s step five). Most importantly: What do you want to get out of writing? What are your intentions and aspirations?
2. What’s your “30-minute TED Talk”?
Another way to ask this question: “What’s one thing you could talk about for 30 minutes, uninterrupted, without any preparation?” Don’t think about it too hard, and don’t worry if your answer is something most people don’t seem to talk about much (maybe you love insects or an obscure musical genre no one else has ever heard of!). This is a nice way to begin to identify your core interests. Imagine an impromptu TED Talk just for people who already know and love you. You’re on a stage… or a Zoom. What topic would you choose?
Nicol Valentin, a self-defined “History lover who can’t stand boring facts,” is one writer who could probably (we’re guessing) answer this TED Talk question easily. Scrolling through Valentin’s profile, you’ll see stories about highly specific historical moments, delivered with a unique (and very un-boring) spin.
Another creator with a highly defined niche: More To That. Through illustrated thought experiments and explorations into the human condition, More To That helps us get some perspective on key pieces of our lives (creativity, travel, death, money, ambition, and much more). While the topics More To That covers are quite broad, the way they cover those topics — through highly unique original cartoons — is very specific and one-of-a-kind.
3. How would your second-best friends describe you?
Another way to get at your unique “thing”: Think about how the people who know you best would describe you. What unique perspective or energy do you bring to your relationships? How do people describe you to other people? What are your idiosyncrasies? What kinds of posts do people “tag” you in? This can help point you toward your particular “brand” or “niche.”
Sometimes, it can be most useful to think about how your second best friends, or acquaintances, might describe you. These are the people who may not know the whole you, but they probably have a sense of what stands out most about your personality or interests.
Take a few minutes to ask yourself: How would your best (or second-best) friends describe you, in a few sentences?
4. What do you enjoy? (It’s the secret key to discovering your style.)
Sometimes it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what you want to write, or what your “style” is or should be. But probably you already have a style, and you know on some somatic level what it is. There’s a sort of diagnostic that makes it easier to take a step back and see. Ask yourself: What media do you like to take in? What books, movies, TV shows, music, social feeds? Make a list of the first ones that pop to mind. Be real, not ideal. You’re not trying to impress anyone, you’re trying to pinpoint what makes you light up.
Now, step two of this diagnostic: What are the through lines you see in all the stuff you consume? This might be obvious (gritty procedurals! informative documentaries/nonfiction!) or more abstract (maybe they all share strange humor, or an element of magic, or a strong female lead). Now you’re getting at what you value. Think about what you can write that will draw in elements of these through lines. Writing is a long game, but it is a game — you must keep yourself interested.
Sometimes your niche evolves. Jane Park is an entrepreneur and CEO who started off on Medium writing work and career content. Makes sense, and surely she’s an expert in these areas. And yet as she’s developed her voice as a writer, she’s published more and more personal essays. These essays can offer as much insight into the life of a successful business leader as her more instructional articles do.
5. What is realistic for you?
Don’t set yourself up for failure. Be real, now: Are you a fast writer or a slow writer? Do you do better when you’re on a roll, or do you need lots of breaks for reading and thinking in between writing new things? It’s important that you do something manageable and realistic for yourself.
Darius Foroux is a writer who’s seen a lot of success on Medium. One of his projects is his Stoic Letters, which he publishes weekly, on Fridays. Each week he applies a teaching of Stoic philosophy to an issue that feels timely or zeitgeisty. He’s been at it for over a year now, and he’s still going strong, and you can see why: He has a clearly defined project with a clearly defined goal and an evergreen appeal. This sort of thing can be especially helpful if you’re a writer who needs a schedule and deadlines, even self-imposed ones.
But maybe a weekly cadence isn’t right for you, and assigning this sort of project to yourself will only result in frustration and eventually quitting. Maybe you’re the kind of creator who works best when left to your own devices, writing only when inspiration strikes. That’s okay, too. Sophie Lucido Johnson creates illustrated essays that have lots of enthusiastic readers. She publishes her work on no particular schedule, often going months between stories. But a fan knows what they’re going to get from one of her stories: a warm, personal voice; humor; quirky drawings; life lessons. You know a Sophie Story (that’s what we call them around here) when you see one.
6. What’s your elevator pitch?
The elevator pitch concept is familiar to anyone who has worked in publishing or media production of any sort. Basically, imagine you find yourself in an elevator with a big-time editor, producer, influencer (?!), and you have a few seconds to pitch your big idea. Can you distill your writing or project into five–10 words? This can be a helpful exercise because it forces you to get really clear about what you’re doing.
For example, Roger Martin’s elevator pitch might be something like: “Management strategist writing weekly about business and decision-making.” Jane Park’s might be: “Entrepreneur writing about career, business, and growing up Asian American.”
Go ahead, try it: describe your unique “thing” in five–10 words. If you like, put it in the responses to this post!
Finding your niche as a writer makes your creative life that much easier. Now you’re not starting from scratch every time you sit down to write. No more flailing about, no mini-existential crisis every time you see that little gray “Tell your story.”
Just remember that a niche shouldn’t be something that makes you feel constrained creatively. It should be a set of useful guardrails that makes your writing life feel easier. It’s also a spectrum — you get to decide how firmly you want to stay in your niche. You can change and grow as a writer. In fact, your readers will expect you to! But before you can do that, you have to write.
— Amy Shearn, Harris Sockel, and the Creator Support Team @Medium
