3 Reasons to Choose a Ghostwriting Specialty

I hate issuing absolutes, but I am a devoted believer in the power of specializing in order to create a thriving freelance writing career. I also believe that choosing to be a specialty ghostwriter is the quickest, easiest way to achieve lasting career success.

Specialty ghostwriting is all about hyper-focusing your business. That means choosing a specific topic (or group of topics) to provide ghostwriting services for rather than taking on any project brought to you.

For example, you might choose to specialize in ghostwriting memoirs, books about business or marketing, books about health, crafts, and so on.

Let me list a few of the reasons that I think this approach is so important:

1. Specialty ghostwriters add more value to the transaction.

There are thousands of amazing writers out there who can deliver an impeccable product to a client. But how many of them know enough about all the topics they cover to create content that’s in-depth, thorough, and written at an expert level?

In order to get there, they’ll require more of their client’s time, more research time, and in some cases (especially for complicated topics) they may never be able to deliver expertise. If you have years of experience in a certain subject and you decide to focus your ghostwriting service around producing content in that niche, you can add another dimension to the content that helps it exceed your client’s expectations.

2. Specialty ghostwriting makes marketing easier.

Once you narrow down your potential clientele, it’s easier to imagine where you might find them.

If I’m taking on anyone and everyone as a client, then it’s pretty overwhelming to think about how to find the right places to build relationships and advertise my services. If I decide instead to focus on the real estate niche, then I know real estate agents and lawyers will be a great fit as clients, and I can head right to the forums and LinkedIn groups that they hang out in.

3. Specialty ghostwriting is easier.

Does this sound like a cop out? If so, then you might not yet have discovered the brilliance of working smarter rather than harder.

Restricting yourself to one niche or a group of related niches limits the amount of research you must do which makes it less time consuming to complete projects. This increases your per-project profit while still securing a superior product for your client. It's truly a win-win.

Do you specialize in a particular niche in your ghostwriting? Why or why not?

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Yolander Prinzel is the profit monster behind the Profitable Freelancer website. She has written for a number of publications and websites such as American Express, Covestor.com, Advisor Today, Money Smart Radio and the International Travel Insurance Journal (ITIJ). Her book, Specialty Ghostwriting: A New Way to Look at an Old Career, is currently available on Amazon.

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5 thoughts on “3 Reasons to Choose a Ghostwriting Specialty”

  1. Fantastic advice, Yo. I know there are writers who make a very good living by not specializing, but I’ve had good success in doing so. I love that you apply specialization to ghostwriting. That’s something I hadn’t thought to do!

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  2. I do a combination of specialised work and more general stuff, which keeps everything interesting. I agree with the post – I really enjoy the aspects of my specialised areas that most people just couldn’t manage, and marketing and self-promotion is so much easier in that role, too.

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  3. I hear you Lori–I know successful generalists exist, but it’s not a road I’d want to travel. Philippa–it definitely makes self-promo easier. You don’t have to try and prove you can be all things to all people, just a couple of really awesome things to a few people. Wendy, that’s a great point about confidence!

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