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Niche Marketing Article

“Make Money Writing About Your Hobby”

- by Nancy Hendrickson

Whether you have a yen for yard sales or a passion for pets, there's an audience hungry for your articles. I found mine during a trip to Roswell, New Mexico back in the mid-90's.

Since the "Roswell incident" of 1947, alien autopsies and government cover-ups have become cultural icons and hot collectibles, thanks in part to the unexpected popularity of WB's Roswell. Who knew TV's sexy aliens and their glow-in-the-dark hickeys would heat up the auction circuit as well as the small screen?

When I visited the alien-friendly city, I bought up t-shirts and commemorative pens, just like every other tourist. However, once home, I shifted into my "writer" mode and slugged out queries on the "story that wouldn't die." Within weeks, I'd sold a piece on collecting aliens and UFOs to eBay Magazine and another to Collectors.com. I even got e-mails from readers who wanted to buy my commemorative pins at any price!

Those Roswell pieces were the first of over 400 niche -- or specialized -- articles I've written. Tightly focused and packed with know-how, niche articles are some of the easiest for new writers to sell.

What does it take to succeed?

Write about your passion. If you're a yard sale junkie, turn your vintage finds into a killer piece about starting a home-based business, or how to tell the difference between treasures and trash. Then pitch your articles to collecting magazines and Web sites. Do a Google.com search on "collectibles" to find hundreds of potential clients.

Actually read the magazine or newspaper you're trying to pitch. Writer's Digest editor Melanie Rigney says her magazine hasn't published poetry for two years, and yet she sent out a dozen poetry rejections in just one month.

Got a hot tip on saving money? Find a way to twist it into a niche story, like how to pinch penny's when buying top brand dog food (pet focus). Or, how women can avoid getting ripped off on car repairs (women's magazine).

Learn your way around the Internet. If you need to interview an expert on raising independent kids, do you know where to look? (Profnet.com) Or, can you construct an advanced search on AltaVista.com to track down statistics on child care?

Find mailing lists on your specialty topic, then join in the discussion. This is where you'll find those great anecdotes other writers are using. Check out Yahoo http://groups.yahoo.com/ and Liszt.com to find niche mailing lists.
Persevere. Editors want to buy from you. But sometimes they have a backlog, or they've already made a similar assignment. If you get rejected, immediately go back and suggest other topics. I pitched one publication for five months before they gave me a chance. Today they're one of my bread and butter clients.

How Do You Find Clients?

Get on the Internet and use your favorite search engine to track down potential clients. For example, go to Google.com and type in "alien and collectors". Then, go to the Web sites you think are appropriate and write the Webmaster or site owner about your background in the subject.

Then, tell them that you specialize in writing about "alien collectibles" and would they be interested in hiring you to write a few trial articles for their site?

Be sure to pick sites which are viable -- by that I mean, don't pick sites that are clearly hobby sites or sites which haven't been updated since 1999. Look for sites that are selling alien collectibles and stress that your articles would add relevant Web content, which is useful for drawing visitors, and for getting higher search engine rankings.

If the site doesn't offer a free newsletter to site visitors, suggest one -- and suggest that you be hired as the writer. Remember, much of being a successful (paid) writer is about selling your ideas.

You can also find clients by subscribing to WritersMarket.com or by visiting your local bookstore and just scanning the racks for magazines you think would be open to your specialty.

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX!!!!

If you write about cats, don't pitch just cat or pet magazines. How many ways can you find to sell a cat article?

I challenge you to go to the bookstore and find at least 15 magazines you can pitch a cat story too.

Hint: As an example, how about a parent's magazine and an article like "How the family cat can help teach your child about responsibility." Get the idea?

Or, if you love music, how about pitching a piece on the growing trend to buy musicians' autographs or instruments at auctions.

What if you love outer space? Would you think about pitching a piece on kid's space books of the 1950's? I did. In addition, I also wrote an article for Astronomy magazine on collecting "space stuff."

Do you see where this is going? Take a topic and find how many ways you can spin it.

Nancy Hendrickson tells all in "Secrets of a Successful Freelancer," a guide to selling whatever you write. She is the author of five books and over one thousand articles. http://www.nancyhendrickson.com.