I meet a lot of freelance writers and editors, and the ones who seem to be most successful have an “and” in their job description or elevator speech. One of our busiest NAIWE members is not only a proofreader and copyeditor, but is also the author of local histories. Another member not only writes middle-grade fiction, but also illustrates juvenile literature and does manuscript evaluations for others.

Isn’t this contrary to the idea of specialization and niching? Not at all, as long as you choose your “and” wisely. Troy Howell, the member who writes, illustrates, and evaluates is able to use the skills, knowledge, resources and contacts that he gained in the publishing field for all of his work. Susan Sheppard’s proofreading and copyediting skills stand her in good stead as she is writing local histories, and she is able to transfer her genealogical research skills to history writing as well.

We have other members who have discovered that diversification isn’t only for investment portfolios, and passive income is a wonderful alternative or supplement to a dollars-for-hours service business. I’ll be discussing this idea more in the next few issues of The Edge, so don’t miss them!