Should you be a generalist or a specialist?
Plus: Lots of upcoming Zoom workshops, and discounts for one-on-one coaching!
Common advice I give about writing is to give away the goods right out of the gate, so let’s just get to it: It mostly doesn’t matter where you fall on the generalist vs. specialist spectrum. Truly! As an editor, I’m more interested in your skills and abilities as a journalist than anything else.
(Just real quick, if you’re not familiar with those terms, they basically mean exactly what you’d think: Generalist reporters/writers cover a little bit of everything — very much what I consider myself — while specialists focus on one specific topic, beat, or line of coverage.)
I believe an excellent reporter/writer can tackle most stories, and I would take a great generalist reporter/writer over a mediocre specialist. But vice versa, specialists have knowledge and insight that a generalist simply doesn’t, and would likely never, possess, which is a huge advantage for many stories.
So, big pluses and minuses to each side. The more important ideas you should think about when asking yourself which side you want to focus on are:
Do work that makes you happy and feels fulfilling.
Do work you’re genuinely interested in.
Don’t feel locked into whichever side you choose; lots of freelancers go back and forth.
That’s it! Really! We could end this newsletter here and you’ve already gotten everything you need to know about this debate. But this question is one of the most common ones I get in workshops and in the one-on-one coaching sessions I do, so let’s dive into the details on each point.
More upcoming Zoom workshops! All registrants will get a full playback of the workshops, whether or not they attend live, and paid subscribers get 50% off tickets!
• May 14 @ 4:30 p.m. Eastern: How to start and grow a newsletter. Join me and Parker Molloy of The Present Age for a workshop on how to launch and grow a successful newsletter. We’ll cover the best platforms for publishing your newsletter, how to find your target audience, how to promote your work, the ins and outs of developing your niche, and so much more!
• May 21 @ 4:30 p.m. Eastern: The art of structuring a longform narrative. Join me for a workshop on how to structure and organize a longform narrative feature. I’ll lead a deconstruction exercise of a published longform narrative story and give you tips and advice on how to use those tools in your writing. It’ll be structured like a grad school-level class, with participation encouraged (but, of course, not required)!
• June 18 @ 4:30 p.m. Eastern: How to get into — and thrive in — Travel writing. Wanna learn the ins and outs of making it a Travel writer? This is the workshop for you! Join me and Nina Ruggiero, Senior Editorial Director at Travel + Leisure and co-founder of Be a Travel Writer, for a workshop on how to get into Travel writing and build it into a sustainable, profitable part of your freelance business. Bring any and all questions you have about Travel writing, and be ready to dive in deep!
Do what makes you happy
What’s the point of building your own business if you’re not enjoying the work? That’s a huge, huge advantage of freelancing: When you get burned out on what you’re doing, or you just want to change things up, you can do it immediately. That’s a luxury not typically afforded to staffers, as it’s a process that can take months or even years, if at all. My favorite aspect of freelancing is that to a big degree, you can pretty much do whatever you want. (That said, we all have bills to pay, so sometimes you just have to take on the higher-paying gigs you’re not in love with. But that’s a whole other topic.)
Do work you’re genuinely interested in
Similar to the last point, you should feel stimulated by the work you do. So say, for instance, you’re on a generalist path but nothing you’re doing really drives you, it may be time to think about narrowing your focus and becoming the expert on a specific line of coverage. A lot of times, that’s how specialists are made: You cover a range of topics but stumble on one you find particularly engaging, so you dive into it and sort of by accident create a beat for yourself.
On the other hand, many generalists are made by the same process but in reverse: You cover something long enough, you get a little burned out on it or bored by it, so you explore what else is out there. (See the next point for specific examples.)
Don’t feel locked into whichever side you choose; lots of freelancers go back and forth
This one is pretty self-explanatory: You can be a specialist one year, a generalist the next, back to being a specialist again, and so on. Again, however you navigate the different sides of this question, focus more on building your skills as a reporter and writer — that’s how you’re going to land bylines.
My dear friend and former writer at The New York Times, Anna Goldfarb, did exactly this. She started out covering a bit of everything, but found herself fascinated by friendships and how we navigate them, so she built a beat out of the topic, then sold a book around it, and is now quoted as an expert regularly in mainstream media in stories about relationships and friendship. (We would even informally refer to her as the “NYT friendship correspondent.”) And, of course, this goes both ways: My path began as a specialist, then I became a generalist, and in a lot of my writing now I’ve become a specialist again. No one way is “right,” just follow the ~vibes~ that are leading you.
Where do you fall on this spectrum, and how is that working out? Let me know in the comments!
Oh, a few other things …
Got a question about freelancing or the wider world of journalism? Let’s hear it, and I may feature it in a future Q&A post! Drop any of your questions, comments, and thoughts about freelancing and journalism in general in a comment below, or email me at tim@freelancingwithtim.com.
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I have grabbled with this question for many years. I started out as a generalist and loved it but then switched into being a specialist and have become more and more niche over the years. But it hasn't stopped me from also taking on more generalist commissions. So I brand myself as a specialist but keep myself open to more generalist work.