Comments on: Specialist or generalist?

By: Demographics Gal

Demographics Gal — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 06:52:11 +0000

Like you, I’m a specialist with many niches. If you think about it, a pure generalist offers nothing of use to the average person. On the other hand, a specialist does have something to offer. And the more subjects you specialize in, the more you have to offer. This is especially true if you specialize in two different fields that complement each other . . . for example, business and IS.

By: Kate

Kate — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 17:52:52 +0000

Sometimes you don’t have as much of a choice in the matter as you would think. I would love to be more of a generalist, but all of my clips are on technology. I got an MS in Information Systems and before I had a big body of samples my education was all I had to help me get jobs. Don’t get me wrong, the pay is good, when you have the creds to back it up, but the monotony is a bit much. I’m trying to get out there are write other things, but the progress is slow.

By: Amanda Baltazar

Amanda Baltazar — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 03:40:37 +0000

A great topic Linda!

I am a generalist and specialist. Like most journalists, I’m a curious person, and then I want to share what I know – by writing about it. But I’ve recently decided to just enjoy learning, or reading other people’s stories, and limit myself so I can build up a good base in a few topics, namely food (which is pretty general in itself, but I specialize on the business side of it), pharmaceuticals (which I’ve been doing for trade magazines but I’m just trying to translate into consumer magazines, and travel (I used to consider the world as my oyster, but I’m now limiting it to the Northwest, where I live.

By: Valencia

Valencia — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:58:08 +0000

Great topic! I consider myself a generalist. I spent nearly two years writing on personal finance topics. Although I became an expert in my chosen specialty, I lost excitement for the topic and I couldn’t brainstorm a fresh idea if you paid me. Now, I prefer to write on a variety of subjects. It keeps the job interesting.

By: LindaFormichelli

LindaFormichelli — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:30:47 +0000

Thanks for your comments!

Teresa, one of my specialties is the type of writing I do too: I write very fast, so I’ve been billing myself as a rush writer. I sent e-mails to all my editors letting them know I’m available if they have an urgent need for a writer. I ended up getting rush assignments from Health, Pizza Today, and Target Marketing, all of which paid me more for the rush.

You can always mention your skill in “getting it” in the credentials paragraph of your query…not so much a tagline, but a description of what you do.