Is your writing niche enough to make money?

Can you turn broad writing into something people actually pay for?

If you’re thinking of, or want to turn your newsletter into a revenue-stream, a big question looms: Is your writing niche enough to make money?

First off, let’s be clear: building a following for fun is one thing, while making money from your writing is a different game entirely. And in that game, it’s unlikely that generic will cut it (unless you’re already rich/famous, in which case you can do whatever you like and have people throw money at you).

Do you need a specific niche?

Probably, if you want to make money.

A niche gives you direction and helps you stand out (in what is becoming an extremely crowded field on Substack). Without one, you’ll likely blend into the expanding sea of newsletters simply sharing thoughts, fiction or bits of commentary. That may well get you some readers - especially if your writing is strong - but it won’t always be enough to get people to pay for your work.

Research backs this up: newsletters that focus on a ‘vertical’ niche (one specific topic or audience) gain more traction because they offer readers something highly relevant. That means it’s not just something like ‘marketing’ or ‘health’, but focused niches such as ‘AI for marketers’ or ‘plant-based nutrition for gym goers’.

With a broad, catch-all approach, you might attract a larger potential audience, but your value to any one reader decreases. If you want people to pay, you might need to offer something valuable to a specific person or group.

Ask yourself: what you love, what people need and what is your unique advantage.

If you can balance those, you’ll avoid burnout and have a clear selling point to a specific group of people. It will also become obvious as to where your potential readers are hiding, too.

What’s your selling point without a niche?

Lots of people publish newsletters that are essentially ‘here’s what I think’ or ‘random fiction’. And of course, monetisation isn’t everyone’s goal anyway, so just writing might be fine for you. But if you want to make money from your writing? It might not take you very far.

Here’s why. When someone pays for a newsletter (or pays for access to your content), they are often subscribing because:

• They expect you to solve a problem they’re having.

• They expect you to scrutinise/filter information they don’t have time to process.

• They expect you to teach/guide them through something.

• They expect you to tap into a specific interest/community they care about.

• They enjoy/appreciate what you want to do, and support your work.

• They find you so overwhelmingly entertaining or funny that they simply have to read more of you.

If your newsletter shares weekend thoughts or fiction you wrote recently, a reader can ultimately find that content anywhere for free. There is no reason for them to pay you specifically, even if they like you and enjoy your work.

You can monetise without a niche, it’s just harder and less likely to sustain over time. Even if you’re writing personal essays, you might be able to find a specific calling card that attracts certain people. You can speak towards an itch, problem or desire even if you’re not selling products, guides or education.

Monetisation demands specificity more than general readership

Here’s the thing: many people will tell you that just having a list can lead to lots of money. That’s true, but only to a point. The type of list, engagement and problem solving that you ultimately do are far more important than sheer numbers.

Even for sponsorships and ads, for example, the who matters more than the how many. This is because brands and companies are more likely to pay for ad slots if they know the entire audience is tuned to their product. A generic audience doesn’t allow for the same level of accessibility.

So if you write in a niche with a clear audience and engage them deeply, you’re in a better position than someone writing broad content for thousands of passive readers.

For example, some people have lots of success finding readers from Notes (myself included). But readers from Notes are almost always of a lower quality than readers that arrive from outside of the platform. And if these subscribers subscribe and never read, there is zero reason to keep them around.

When it comes to paywalled content or direct subscriptions, the requirement is even stronger. Why should someone read your work instead of finding it for free online? You want to offer recurring value of some kind. Curation, education, analysis or writing that’s just so damn good they want more of it.

If you really want to monetise, write for someone specific, solve their pain or fulfil their desire and deliver value they can’t easily find elsewhere.

And don’t just pick a random niche because there might be money in it. For example, I don’t know enough about AI for marketers, so me starting a newsletter like that is likely to lead to burnout. Instead, finding paid writing opportunities for freelance writers… That I do know about.

A practical checklist to test your niche

If you want to commit to a niche, and you’re serious about monetising, try running it through this quick checklist.