reporting MICHAEL AUSTIN/THEISPOT specialise?


in this space, which means I often decline otherwise appealing opportunities that lack a true sense of luxury – and selectivity is essential. Tere is a meaningful distinction between something that is merely expensive and something that is genuinely luxurious.”


Screen


test If you’re looking for a new area to specialise in, Michelle Rawlins says a main niche at the moment for journalists is short- and long-form video. She explains:


“Thinking about how, as a journalist, you can tell a story on YouTube is essential. “YouTube has been


hugely successful in terms of monetising content. News platforms have adapted to this and therefore need journalists with the skills to create engaging video content. “Visual podcasting


is also a hugely successful market. It’s not just the audio that is important but also what it looks like on video-streaming platforms.”


Multiple niches How about combining niches? Pete Carvill is a B2B writer specialising in insurance and pensions. But, at weekends, he is often found working as English-language commentator for boxing shown from Germany and Denmark. He has recently moved into sports reporting. Carvill, also an author, says: “While doing publicity for


my first book, Death of a Boxer, I was asked to do commentary on one small show in Berlin. It’s snowballed from there, with most of my income at the moment coming from boxing.” While being a specialist can lead to work, there are


pitfalls. “Even though I’ve been in the news business for 20


years, you find yourself pigeonholed as just a trade reporter,” says Carvill. “I’ll often pitch stuff to mainstream places but it’ll get turned down – largely because I think there’s still a stigma about the type of work that I do.” Rebecca Barnes also has more than one


niche. A freelance writer specialising in cruising and cruise holidays, she is also employed part time as a beauty writer with a niche in aesthetics. She says: “As a freelancer, I think it’s essential to have a


niche in certain topics as there’s a lot of competition out there. It also keeps things interesting and no two days are the same. My part-time work provides a stable income with my freelancing fitting around that – I could never make a living just being a freelance travel writer.”


Sweet spot So how do you find your niche, apart from obviously choosing something you enjoy as you’ll be spending a lot of time writing about it? Collins advises a ‘three layers deep’ approach. She


explains: “I don’t just write about swimming and I don’t just write about swimming outdoors. I write about swimming outdoors in lidos. “It’s about finding that sweet spot where you’ve gone


deep enough to not have tonnes of competition but broad enough that there’s interest in that as a community, which means there’s scope to make money from it.”


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