If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you know what I think of the advice to niche or risk being unsuccessful: it’s a bunch of hype, mostly not applicable to creatives.
Writers are by nature creative people, and creative people like to experiment, get out of their comfort zone, and see what they can make. For this reason, I encourage you to dabble in as many niches and genres as your heart desires.
Do pick something to get started (so you do get started), but don’t marry yourself to one topic for the rest of your life: many successful authors, both classic and current-day, don’t. Here’s another one in our series of authors who write in more than one genre: Elizabeth Gilbert.
She’s best known for her memoir, “Eat, Pray, Love,” but Elizabeth Gilbert has also written self-help books, historical fiction, novels, biographical essays, a short story collection, and her latest is a coming-of-age novel.
Many authors who write in multiple genres also play with genre lines. While Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear is a self-help book, it also has memoir elements: Gilbert draws on her own experiences to help readers live a creative life.
Gilbert, a successful author, writes in multiple genres and did so from the start. Why can’t you? Just remember: commit to finishing each project, and you can write in as many niches or genres as your heart desires.
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