What do beer and freelance writers have in common? Here's what...
Photo by Pamela Wilson 2009
In a country that is already home to more than 100 micro-breweries, one wonders how any new beer-making venture can attract a share of the market.
Yet, after just two months on the job, Stefan Walker, head brewer at the Byron Bay Brewery & Buddha Bar in the northern New South Wales town of the same name, can barely keep up with demand for his boutique beers.
'So,' you ask, 'how does he do it? How has he fostered such a high level of demand for his product in a saturated market? Meanwhile, why on earth are you telling me this when I thought I was about to read a fantastically useful tip about freelance writing?'
Whether you are brewing beer, or writing stories about it (or anything else for that matter), success boils down to finding your niche; becoming a specialist in your field and developing a superior product for a smaller market instead of trying to be everything for everyone.
I drew this parallel between the busy beer-maker of Byron and freelance writers after chatting to Stefan over a glass of his pilsner during a visit a few weeks ago.
He explained that although the bottled Byron Bay Premium Ale had been on the market for two years, it was actually brewed under contract in Sydney - some 800km from the small, coastal town - so that it could be mass-produced and sold nationally.
But the head honchos at the brewery soon realised that this left a gaping hole in the market, because Byron Bay locals weren't satisfied with the Sydney-made beer carrying their town's name on the label. They wanted a genuine, home-grown product.
“The local side of it is a big thing. They wanted it brewed out of here, not Sydney,” says Stefan.
So the brewery bosses refurbished the brewery/restaurant so that they could produce beer on the premises and brought in Stefan's expertise to develop a beer - well, five actually - to corner this smaller, yet thirsty, loyal and lucrative corner of the beer-drinking market.
Stefan has tailored his recipes to suit the local clientele and can adjust them and the production levels according to demand. By focusing on a small market and staying attuned to their desires, he can better gauge what it is they want from his products.
The benefits of finding your niche
As a freelance writer trying to make a name for yourself amongst the sea of established writers, you can also benefit from going after a smaller, yet loyal following that grows to know and love your product.
Whilst there is nothing inherently wrong with trying to be an all-rounder, consider a few of the benefits in finding yourself a niche.
* It is easier to upskill in just one or two topics, than in many.
* By covering a regular round you can better establish a rapport with experts and editors in the field.
* It is easier to keep up-to-date with, well... what is up-to-date in that particular field.
* Your confidence and knowledge of the topic can grow much faster than if you are dabbling in a host of areas.
* You reduce the time you spend looking for potential publications to pitch to because you already know who they are.
You may already know what you want to specialise in - let's take health, for example. But what sorts of health issues are you particularly interested in writing about: men's health? Women's health? Children's health? Consumer health?
Now, I am not suggesting you have to limit yourself to one sub-topic within a topic, but if you find direction in your work difficult to achieve, or you struggle to develop a rapport with editors and/or contacts, or you're lacking motivation, identifying a niche could help.
For example, when I started out as a freelancer, I began writing a lot of children's health.
It only took me a few hours every month to read through the few magazines devoted to this topic and to come up with new story ideas. Because I was only tracking a few magazines, it was easy to stay attuned to what had recently run, and what trends were hot.
However, at the same time, I was writing copy for the travel, medical-political and real estate industries. Jumping from topic to topic was like playing Frogger and, quite frankly, it hurt my brain.
Narrowing my field of expertise to just a few health topics helped me regain control and fine-tune my knowledge of various issues (and halved my Panadol intake).
Of course, to make any money in this game you need to diversify, so I am not advocating that you only pitch to one or two publications, but picking just one or two topics to specialise in and diversifying within those fields is certainly one way to get on top of your game.
For more information about Pamela Wilson or WriteSmart, log on to http://www.writesmart.com.au/