This is a really helpful perspective! I'm glad you speak about it from the view of evolving over time rather than sticking to one thing relentlessly. I appreciate the guidance 💙
I've found the niches that I want to write about, yes. Now I just need to refine them over time. That's why I have 3 publications haha. I know the topics, but I haven't considered much specifying the audience.
How do you feel about these topics:
Wandering Cloud - Philosophy and self-reflection for inner peace and personal wellbeing
Regeneration Nation - Inspiration and practical guidance for healing yourself and the Earth.
Storm's Eye - Discussions on writing, game design and the artistic process (basically a catch-all for other things I like to write about haha)
Yeah, I'm realizing that I can orient the catch all to be more about sharing insights in the artistic process. Does that sound a bit better? It's my least focused of the 3, but I need a place to put those thoughts haha 😆
And yes! I have a lot of experience in environmental conservation and land stewardship, so the primary focus is actually to show how healing yourself and healing the planet are totally intertwined 😄
I really appreciate that tip. I'm actually only focused on one. The secondary one I rarely post, and the 3rd I haven't even started. Been using this time to get into the swing of things and figure out substack
This is one of the best posts I've read here on Substack. Finding a niche has always been such a hurdle for me and has stopped me from taking risks in the past. I will absolutely revisit your advice from time to time as I continue on this journey. 🙏
I have read a lot about "whether to niche down or not". I feel you perspective is one of the most holistic and valuable ones I ever came accross!
And it is true - there are so many examples of successful creators across the different platforms that might be "nicheless", but they started from somewhere. And this somewhere was a niche.
As much as I love you for sharing these insights, I hate you. I think I might be procrastinating a little over here as well on defining the factors that compose my very own niche 🤯🤐 And now I need to take action on it 🤣
You clearly should love and become accustomed to that 🤣
Thanks for the kind feedback and follow-up questions. I feel I am getting something like the seed of a niche, but I am still unsure what it actually will grow into/which nurture it is best served with. I am wondering and still experimenting with it.
I feel it is kind of integrated, sharing my story/journey (weekly updates from a former career in software tech to now starting a PhD fellowship in marine science) and the different perspectives from following what makes you curious, making research/academia more relatable. It is also about troubleshooting overthinking minds and practical organisation and planning tools I use along the way.
But what is the transformation I am offering?
Just typing as I think: Can I set the focus on the "curious researcher" theme? I didn't know what was off with my life and also had no specific clue about what I wanted, so I just started finding and following what made me curious (again) ... Like on the one hand, helping people who actively want to make a similar move (going back to study and maybe even into academia in your 30s, 40s, ...) and, on the other hand, inspiring people to make any move inspired by curiosity.
Thanks for your help here. I am certainly refining it a bit as I go, and probably would phrase it a bit different. However, I guess, there is no need to STATE your niche anywhere if the whole notion of your writing, your about, what you have to offer, etc. is aligned and pointing towards it.
I wouldn't go as far as saying you'll fail without a niche, but I still appreciate this post, Alberto!
I've resisted having a niche (because I also started my Substack with zero expectations and for fun, but now that I see some potential, it's hard not to dig deeper). It's happening naturally now that I've relaxed into it.
I'm paying close attention to my best performing posts and going from there. I think you hit the nail on the head with what you said here, "Here’s the thing to keep in mind that will prevent all the stress: it's impossible to define a perfect niche from the start. Start broad and refine it as you interact with your audience and gather feedback."
there is value in allowing an audience to appear from your work as opposed to picking the audience ahead of time, though that can feel like a longer more uncertain road.
the danger of "picking a niche" and going into it, is the danger of setting yourself down a path you ultimately don't want to be on, winning a race you don't want to be running.
An alternate perspective:
Instead of picking a niche and an audience to speak to,
Choose one person to whom you and your writing can be useful (and where you find joy), and write to that person.
It serves the same fundamental reasoning for choosing a niche in that it results in focus, useful discussion and content around things people are likely to read (and perhaps ultimately pay for),
But it also allows the attraction and natural growth of both the audience that's likely to find and follow you as well as yourself as a writer and the things you write.
As far as niche for me, I historically have tended to eschew niche-picking. For about 5 years (until this year really) I primarily worked as a freelance copywriter, before that I published a magazine about coffee for about 8 years (some overlap).
As a copywriter I never exactly 'picked a niche' in the sense of how most people think of the concept, though I focused on specific strategies. I ended up writing in a different market for almost every project, but with a common unifying thread that my clients were all running personality driven businesses and had trouble effectively communicating their personality and fundamentals through email.
Now I'm in a unique position where I write for a unique group and set of publications - The Guardian Academy - where I have again quite a varied audience, but under TGA we all coalesce through a desire to be happier better people, living a life of full potential, meaning, significance, and impact.
For my own Substack (Growing Trees) I am allowing the audience to emerge from that work and rather than picking a niche, I ask myself who I can be most useful to and step into that with what I'm most naturally inclined to speak about - which is tending towards, unsurprisingly, living a life of full potential as a writer.
I might be a little pedantic on the niche perspective, but I highly value emergent properties and systems based on principle rather than pre-engineered perspective/intent - probably because I endeavor to create something that will last longer than me, but also because I repeatedly run into those efforts being far more effective (they are just often indirect and more challenging to see).
So, I guess how I found myself where I am is that I wrote and wrote and wrote and allowed the path to emerge in front of me.
I agree, reality is too complex. Its features always emerge. They can't be predicted or designed.
I've been creating content since 2010. The niche for my first photography blog was easy. The second project was less lucky. We pivoted last year from web marketing advice to tools for business automation and productivity. The interest in these topics emerged from the reactions to our content.
In English, I want to build a personal brand. The "desire to be happier better people, living a life of full potential, meaning, significance, and impact" is something I share.
But I decided to talk more specifically to creators because this is what I am and specificity helps.
That's a good journey. My first business was in photography as well ... photographed weddings and portraits but didn't know squat about marketing or building a business 😆
>1) figure out the audience you naturally want to help,
>* What are their biggest obstacles preventing your audience from achieving that transformation?
>* What are their ambitions (i.e. why do they want that transformation)?
> 2) write down the transformation you want to guide them to,
> 3) list their obstacles and ambitions,
How do u know this? Just because I want to help them doesn't mean they want to be helped. Doesn't that assume that your target audience is ambitious for said transformation?
Did u hear that the Reddit thread "Girls Who Can't Find a Date" had to switch to a private thread because too many men were jumping on the thread & asking them out?
> 4) find your skills and interests that can help them,
> * What are your achievements?
My FIL has a frequent problem w in-grown toenails. His "solution" fixes the immediate pain by cutting it short, but it lets the nail regrow into an in-grown issue again & again. I said guide the nail's growth out of the toe. Once long enough, it'll prevented future nail problems. He was adamant that his solution was better because he had "more frequent experience w in-grown toenails" whereas I didn't "understand the problem" because my way "avoided having in-grown toenails". He wanted immediate symptom relief, not cure of the underlying cause.
> 5) find a platform where you can publish frequently,
> 6) publish, collect feedback, refine.
I've yet to get ANY feedback on anything that I've published.
Google Analytics told me that over the course of 1 year I had 14 views on over 50 posts. The #1 reader of my content (12 of 14) was me. Substack analytics aren't much better.
The nail thing was an example of solving a problem when the person complaining about the problem didn't actually want the problem solved. He wanted instant relief of immediate pain regardless of the long-term consequences not permanent relief of future pain. This is how drug addiction happens.
This is my 1st ever game production. I have a goal of making a particular game while will combine this mechanic & a 2nd mechanic into 1 game. My only interest in the features are if I will need to implement it in my final product. Other games have x feature, but I'm not implementing that so I don't care what other games are doing.
I'm not versed or interested in the history of games. I played almost nothing for >10 yrs. My kids play games. I got back into games in 2015 to have something to talk w them about. My oldest son is a Python developer by day, making a 3D dungeon crawler for PC+ by night. I'm doing 2D Android phone games.
Standalone articles? On what? I'm not connected to anyone in the gaming industry. Most games require a SERIOUS time/money commitment to just play, let alone develop. I could play games or make games or write about games. My blog combines writing about the making which improves the making.
My last software job was in 2001. I was a VB6, ASP/VBScript, SQLServer developer w a focus on CMS systems, esp db maintenance interfaces. (This was BEFORE Wordpress was written.)
After the series is complete, I will be packaging it up to go on the "paid" side. The next game series will be free as I write through its development.
This is a really helpful perspective! I'm glad you speak about it from the view of evolving over time rather than sticking to one thing relentlessly. I appreciate the guidance 💙
Thank you!
What’s your experience? Have you already found your niche?
I've found the niches that I want to write about, yes. Now I just need to refine them over time. That's why I have 3 publications haha. I know the topics, but I haven't considered much specifying the audience.
How do you feel about these topics:
Wandering Cloud - Philosophy and self-reflection for inner peace and personal wellbeing
Regeneration Nation - Inspiration and practical guidance for healing yourself and the Earth.
Storm's Eye - Discussions on writing, game design and the artistic process (basically a catch-all for other things I like to write about haha)
Catch-alls are dangerous. Really hard to sell. They work only when you are the main reason people follow you.
Not that you shouldn't do it. But be aware it's harder.
The other two surely have a large "market". The first one is immediately clear to me.
Does the second one talk about tools to heal yourself WHILE you also help the planet?
Yeah, I'm realizing that I can orient the catch all to be more about sharing insights in the artistic process. Does that sound a bit better? It's my least focused of the 3, but I need a place to put those thoughts haha 😆
And yes! I have a lot of experience in environmental conservation and land stewardship, so the primary focus is actually to show how healing yourself and healing the planet are totally intertwined 😄
Do you have the time to carry on 3 publications whose niche has yet to be validated?
Usually, if you focus on a single one for a few months, you gain clarity faster
I really appreciate that tip. I'm actually only focused on one. The secondary one I rarely post, and the 3rd I haven't even started. Been using this time to get into the swing of things and figure out substack
This is one of the best posts I've read here on Substack. Finding a niche has always been such a hurdle for me and has stopped me from taking risks in the past. I will absolutely revisit your advice from time to time as I continue on this journey. 🙏
Amazing, thanks for making my day!
If you need help you know where to find me!
I agree.
I have read a lot about "whether to niche down or not". I feel you perspective is one of the most holistic and valuable ones I ever came accross!
And it is true - there are so many examples of successful creators across the different platforms that might be "nicheless", but they started from somewhere. And this somewhere was a niche.
As much as I love you for sharing these insights, I hate you. I think I might be procrastinating a little over here as well on defining the factors that compose my very own niche 🤯🤐 And now I need to take action on it 🤣
Ahah, I guess I have to love to be hated for such a reason!
Your articles already have high engagement. What does resonate most with your readers?
Who are the most engaged readers?
You may already have the seed of a niche.
You clearly should love and become accustomed to that 🤣
Thanks for the kind feedback and follow-up questions. I feel I am getting something like the seed of a niche, but I am still unsure what it actually will grow into/which nurture it is best served with. I am wondering and still experimenting with it.
I feel it is kind of integrated, sharing my story/journey (weekly updates from a former career in software tech to now starting a PhD fellowship in marine science) and the different perspectives from following what makes you curious, making research/academia more relatable. It is also about troubleshooting overthinking minds and practical organisation and planning tools I use along the way.
But what is the transformation I am offering?
Just typing as I think: Can I set the focus on the "curious researcher" theme? I didn't know what was off with my life and also had no specific clue about what I wanted, so I just started finding and following what made me curious (again) ... Like on the one hand, helping people who actively want to make a similar move (going back to study and maybe even into academia in your 30s, 40s, ...) and, on the other hand, inspiring people to make any move inspired by curiosity.
This sounds promising.
Tons of people are "waking up" in their 30s or later, realizing they didn't choose their life path, and wondering what they want/should do.
This is Paul Millerd's main topic.
So, the transformation could be "reinventing my in life". This is very broad.
A more specific version could be "going back to study" as you say.
Thanks for your help here. I am certainly refining it a bit as I go, and probably would phrase it a bit different. However, I guess, there is no need to STATE your niche anywhere if the whole notion of your writing, your about, what you have to offer, etc. is aligned and pointing towards it.
You need it as a reminder for yourself, to simplify decision making and assess your progress.
It may also help write bios and about pages. But no, you don't need to state it for the public.
Great advice again, thank you so much!
I wouldn't go as far as saying you'll fail without a niche, but I still appreciate this post, Alberto!
I've resisted having a niche (because I also started my Substack with zero expectations and for fun, but now that I see some potential, it's hard not to dig deeper). It's happening naturally now that I've relaxed into it.
I'm paying close attention to my best performing posts and going from there. I think you hit the nail on the head with what you said here, "Here’s the thing to keep in mind that will prevent all the stress: it's impossible to define a perfect niche from the start. Start broad and refine it as you interact with your audience and gather feedback."
Hey, thanks for reading and replying!
I see you don't have a lot of articles here, yet. There's a lot you can discover.
But the ones about freelancing have done well, right? And of course the ones about Substack. But that always happens.
I must read this😁❤❤
I think so. 😂
You can’t say you need a niche right now, we’re in the middle of saying “you are the niche.” Maybe the niche will be ok again next week?
Good point.
It makes me think that sadly, we are so used to see hyped up trends that everything becomes a trend. Even time-tested first principles.
you are right that it’s not that hard, now that I’ve found one. But the journey before that point can be unstable
True.
Our need for certainty hurts.
could be due to fomo when we struggle to find a niche, everything looks great to target, settling on one is like letting go of the rest
Yes, like having a 60-item menu for a restaurant.
But writing for everyone is writing for no one.
there is value in allowing an audience to appear from your work as opposed to picking the audience ahead of time, though that can feel like a longer more uncertain road.
the danger of "picking a niche" and going into it, is the danger of setting yourself down a path you ultimately don't want to be on, winning a race you don't want to be running.
An alternate perspective:
Instead of picking a niche and an audience to speak to,
Choose one person to whom you and your writing can be useful (and where you find joy), and write to that person.
It serves the same fundamental reasoning for choosing a niche in that it results in focus, useful discussion and content around things people are likely to read (and perhaps ultimately pay for),
But it also allows the attraction and natural growth of both the audience that's likely to find and follow you as well as yourself as a writer and the things you write.
Thank you for such a thoughtful comment.
This is something I often do. I think of a friend, relative, follower, client I talked to and write for him/her.
In a way, it makes the niche tangible.
How did you find your niche?
Or are you still working on it?
thanks Alberto.
As far as niche for me, I historically have tended to eschew niche-picking. For about 5 years (until this year really) I primarily worked as a freelance copywriter, before that I published a magazine about coffee for about 8 years (some overlap).
As a copywriter I never exactly 'picked a niche' in the sense of how most people think of the concept, though I focused on specific strategies. I ended up writing in a different market for almost every project, but with a common unifying thread that my clients were all running personality driven businesses and had trouble effectively communicating their personality and fundamentals through email.
Now I'm in a unique position where I write for a unique group and set of publications - The Guardian Academy - where I have again quite a varied audience, but under TGA we all coalesce through a desire to be happier better people, living a life of full potential, meaning, significance, and impact.
For my own Substack (Growing Trees) I am allowing the audience to emerge from that work and rather than picking a niche, I ask myself who I can be most useful to and step into that with what I'm most naturally inclined to speak about - which is tending towards, unsurprisingly, living a life of full potential as a writer.
I might be a little pedantic on the niche perspective, but I highly value emergent properties and systems based on principle rather than pre-engineered perspective/intent - probably because I endeavor to create something that will last longer than me, but also because I repeatedly run into those efforts being far more effective (they are just often indirect and more challenging to see).
So, I guess how I found myself where I am is that I wrote and wrote and wrote and allowed the path to emerge in front of me.
What about yourself? 😅
I agree, reality is too complex. Its features always emerge. They can't be predicted or designed.
I've been creating content since 2010. The niche for my first photography blog was easy. The second project was less lucky. We pivoted last year from web marketing advice to tools for business automation and productivity. The interest in these topics emerged from the reactions to our content.
In English, I want to build a personal brand. The "desire to be happier better people, living a life of full potential, meaning, significance, and impact" is something I share.
But I decided to talk more specifically to creators because this is what I am and specificity helps.
That's a good journey. My first business was in photography as well ... photographed weddings and portraits but didn't know squat about marketing or building a business 😆
It’s a common issue among photographers.
You're correct. I fell for it, too. However, even the 'nicheless' eventually develop a niche.
I saw the opposite happen more often.
They start in a defined niche. Then they leverage the success and the audience to broaden the niche.
Good article, as always.
Is this niche enough?: https://dempresa.substack.com, https://emprender.substack.com, https://carreras.substack.com, https://liderar.substack.com, https://dineros.substack.com, https://politicas.substack.com, https://ecologia.substack.com, https://cienciasocial.substack.com, https://humanidades.substack.com, y https://chamberly.substack.com, for example.
The idea is writing in several topics, but each newsletter only devoted to 1 niche.
I think so.
Maybe I told you this in a precious exchange: they may also be too small.
If you don't write in English, your audience size is much smaller. So you run the risk to target niches that are too small.
Too small, maybe ... We will see.
Thanks.
That sounds great ... in theory.
>1) figure out the audience you naturally want to help,
>* What are their biggest obstacles preventing your audience from achieving that transformation?
>* What are their ambitions (i.e. why do they want that transformation)?
> 2) write down the transformation you want to guide them to,
> 3) list their obstacles and ambitions,
How do u know this? Just because I want to help them doesn't mean they want to be helped. Doesn't that assume that your target audience is ambitious for said transformation?
Did u hear that the Reddit thread "Girls Who Can't Find a Date" had to switch to a private thread because too many men were jumping on the thread & asking them out?
> 4) find your skills and interests that can help them,
> * What are your achievements?
My FIL has a frequent problem w in-grown toenails. His "solution" fixes the immediate pain by cutting it short, but it lets the nail regrow into an in-grown issue again & again. I said guide the nail's growth out of the toe. Once long enough, it'll prevented future nail problems. He was adamant that his solution was better because he had "more frequent experience w in-grown toenails" whereas I didn't "understand the problem" because my way "avoided having in-grown toenails". He wanted immediate symptom relief, not cure of the underlying cause.
> 5) find a platform where you can publish frequently,
> 6) publish, collect feedback, refine.
I've yet to get ANY feedback on anything that I've published.
To your first question, you don't know, you make an educated guess. Then you use content to test your hypothesis.
I didn't understand the nail thing.
And as regards feedback, I've been there. With feedback, I also mean the silent kind, everything your analytics can tell you.
Google Analytics told me that over the course of 1 year I had 14 views on over 50 posts. The #1 reader of my content (12 of 14) was me. Substack analytics aren't much better.
The nail thing was an example of solving a problem when the person complaining about the problem didn't actually want the problem solved. He wanted instant relief of immediate pain regardless of the long-term consequences not permanent relief of future pain. This is how drug addiction happens.
Ok. So, first of all you need more views. I see the headlines on your Substack are a bit cryptic.
Can you make them more explicit to tell readers what they can get from the article?
Cryptic = Mystery + Humor. Every headline has a joke in it.
What they get is CODE: Step-by-step. Feature by feature.
From blank project to completed game.
The headlines refer to the feature I'm coding in that article.
You can't just jump in at post #5 or #25 and understand what I'm talking about.
Each post builds on the posts before it. At the end of the previous post, I tell you what I'm going to do in the next post.
Unfortunately, we have to restrain our creativity in headlines. They need to tell readers what's in it for them.
Connecting articles that way is also dangerous. Almost no one reads everything you publish. New readers in particular.
You are creating a sort of a course. This is great for a paid product or a paid membership. You need some standalone articles.
This is my 1st ever game production. I have a goal of making a particular game while will combine this mechanic & a 2nd mechanic into 1 game. My only interest in the features are if I will need to implement it in my final product. Other games have x feature, but I'm not implementing that so I don't care what other games are doing.
I'm not versed or interested in the history of games. I played almost nothing for >10 yrs. My kids play games. I got back into games in 2015 to have something to talk w them about. My oldest son is a Python developer by day, making a 3D dungeon crawler for PC+ by night. I'm doing 2D Android phone games.
Standalone articles? On what? I'm not connected to anyone in the gaming industry. Most games require a SERIOUS time/money commitment to just play, let alone develop. I could play games or make games or write about games. My blog combines writing about the making which improves the making.
My last software job was in 2001. I was a VB6, ASP/VBScript, SQLServer developer w a focus on CMS systems, esp db maintenance interfaces. (This was BEFORE Wordpress was written.)
After the series is complete, I will be packaging it up to go on the "paid" side. The next game series will be free as I write through its development.
Anyway, broad topics like entrepreneurship may be large enough.