Pets are high on Chris Farrell's list of hot topics for 2010. After all, who'd turn down a story about this sweet guy?
My friend Chris Farrell has compiled a list of hot arenas for Internet marketers in 2010. We as writers should pay attention. These are topics we should be pitching to magazines and websites this year. You better believe editors are aware of the timeliness of these subjects and will be looking for stories relevant to them. A great way to boost your freelance writing income.
(Chris, by the way, is a great guy who teaches from the ground up exactly how to start your own website and make money on the Internet. Take a little side trip here to check him out. A trial membership is just $4.95. You can download a ton of great information even if you don’t remain a member. But you might want to stick with him. He constantly updates his site and offers excellent webinars free to members. I’m a member and an affiliate myself.)
Anyway, these are the hot topics for 2010, with Chris’s observations and my comments:
Baby Boomers. “Pretty much EVERY business associated with aging is booming.” What are their interests? Music, nostalgia… Concerns? Health, fitness, aging, retirement… If you get yourself into boomer consciousness, you can apply their interests and concerns to almost any subject area, almost any magazine or website you want to pitch.
Going Green. Venture capitalists are pouring money into clean energy, green vehicles, etc. Virtually every publication, trade journal, or website will be looking for clean, green articles. Think about how environmental consciousness pervades virtually EVERY subject area you could possibly write about. But scratch the surface. Get beyond the obvious.
The Recession. “Who would have thought? The recession is big business.” Chris goes on to point out that nearly 10% of those who gained employment last year did so by starting their own business. People want to know how to start a business, how to work from home. Use the downturn to give yourself an upturn. There is, ahem, a wealth of recession-related topics to mine.
Pets. “The recession may have demolished the manufacturing and financial services, but the pet industry? Totally fine!” Fifteen years ago I wrote about a collapsible pet bowl you could stuff in a backpack and whip out to water your pooch on a walk or hike. That was novel then, and the company that made it, Ruff Wear, built a business around it. This year I wrote about dogcentric bed-and-breakfasts in Vermont. In other words, the stakes are higher, the obsession greater, and no degree of pet zealotry is too out-there for coverage. Think about travel with pets, health and fitness for pets—even pet health insurance—pet accessories, profiles of notable pets (Buddy the surfdog!). You can’t go wrong.
Trading Down. Chris points out that we are spending less and looking for ways to save in almost every area of expenditure. You can be a guide to readers looking to find ways to save on any and everything.
Life Support. “More people than ever are paying professionals to do domestic chores.” Chris cites examples: childcare, eldercare, sports coaching, tutoring. This is a sharp observation—and a topic that has been little covered in the media as a trend.
Education. “The statistics say that it’s more than likely the job you are doing now you will NOT be doing in five years,” writes Chris Farrell. Meaning there’s a trend afoot: reeducation. You could even call it reinvention. People are starting over. Profiles of how individuals are doing this and resources for people similarly inclined could be a great area to mine editorially.
Health and Wellness. A no-brainer. Virtually evergreen. Which is why you have to get beyond the obvious here (yoga, for example), and think about how health wellness apply to less obvious subject areas. Yoga travel is huge. Preventive and alternative medicine are gaining mainstream acceptance: How? Where? To what benefit? Hint: Tie Health and Wellness in to Trading Down and The Recession and get creative with your pitches.
Booze. “We’re still drinking like fish, only now we are doing it at home with cheaper booze.” Chris is suggesting this as subject for Internet marketers to cash in on—they can offer home-brewing tips and kits and the like—but writers should pay attention to the larger ramifications. Think about the resurgence of fancy cocktails, off-the radar wineries, old drinks gaining new acceptance (absinthe, once banned in the U.S., is an obvious example). Look for convergences: I recently covered an event that combined cross-country skiing with microbrew tasting. And I read about a new, green distillery in Scotland. Search the beverage-industry trade journals for leads.
Local, Local, Local. “Mom and pop stores are enjoying a revival. Farmers markets are HUGE.” I would add: A lot of shoppers are hip to the fact that the long-distance transport of goods adds to their cost and environmental impact. People want to know about alternatives. Local, Local, Local should also apply to your pitching strategy. If you’re only hitting national publications, you’re missing out on local and regional publications that might value your local expertise.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Great article. I’ve been thinking about writing for some of your suggested arenas. Your post got my brain cells motivated. (Coffee helped too.) Thanks!
I am an amateur poetry writer and have been writing since 1990. I have accumulated approximately 200 peoms. A couple of them have been published in the International Library of Poetry. Two of my poems were about the tragedy of 911 and the Hudson River plane crash. I am interested in finding affordable avenues for publishing a book of my poems and am also interested in getting copies of those two poems to the survivors and families of those two incidents. Do you have any suggestions? Thank you for whatever assistance you are able to give. It will be deeply appreciated.
Much as I love poetry, Willis, I focus on better-paying genres. Take a look at poetry.com, though. It’s a good source of online poetry and self-publishing information.
Excellent article which “broadened” my views of what I could be writing about.
As I am a bit old in years (but not in mind) I have decided to try and put down some of my rather extensive experience and practical knowledge in the form of eBooks.
Those are not produced entirely to make money (though I wouldn’t say no to some income) but to help provide information to personnel now working in the same fields as I have been so busy with during my more active years.
I feel that publishing eBooks with such experience based information can be a great help to the younger generations, and it gives me pleasure to share my knowledge.
After all, if it had been my fate to become rich, I would have been so already…and I am not…:-(
All the best and thanks for your information.