'Ready, Aim, Specialize!' (A Review of a Book for Freelance Writers)

If you are a writer who is doing so as a hobby, this book is not for you. Ready, aim, specialize! is a book that was written for freelance writers who want to begin earning or increase present earnings while writing about the topics they most enjoy.

The author, Kelly James-Enger, is a former unhappy attorney who resigned her position with a law firm in 1997 and turned to writing for magazines as her main source of income. As a self-taught published writer, James-Enger shares what she learned while gaining skill in writing queries for magazines and how she became a successful author and oftentimes writing instructor along the way.

The crux of Ready, aim, specialize! is to encourage writers to narrow their focus by specializing and creating a niche. According to James-Enger, you can have more than one niche, but staying focused on writing about your best fields of interest and knowledge is the key to making more money.

There are three main sections of the book:

Section One serves as an overview. She explains specializing, how to do it, how to write a query letter (samples included), and provides an overview of the article-writing process from idea to being published.

Section Two has the top ten hottest specialties, strategies for ideas, advice from writers who work in those fields, potential markets, and "dos" and "don'ts" from a freelancer in each field.

Section Three covers ways to grow your writing business.

James-Enger includes some very useful resource information, both online and in print, aimed at learning more about the art of writing and researching specific market specialties.

The top ten hottest specialties she lists

Health
Diet, nutrition and food
Business and finance
Technology
Parenting
Travel
Fitness and sports
Essays and personal pieces
Home and garden
Profiles and true-life features

Ready, aim, specialize! is published in paperback and is 238 pages long. I checked my copy out through the library - I always recommend doing so if possible before buying to see if the book covers the information you are seeking.

I personally like this book and feel that it offers some very useful advice for freelance writers from a fellow writer who has parlayed writing into a successful career. Very advanced writers may not need this type of resource, but beginning or intermediate freelancers could certainly pick up ideas and hone their marketing skills by reading this book.

James-Enger has an unpretentious manner of writing, sharing her foibles along with her successes. After reading Ready, aim, specialize! I was armed with some ways that I could take my writing to a higher level, whether as a writer for online content sites or as a freelance writer marketing my own materials in other ways.

I will continue to study Ready, aim, specialize! while I have it checked out from the library, and then make a decision about purchasing it. I'm leaning towards "yes."

You can view certain pages of the book on amazon.com by clicking here.

See also:
Book Review: 'The Buckets of Money Retirement Solution' by Raymond J. Lucia
Book Review: 'Heaven is for Real' by Todd Burpo
Sandra Lee Semi-homemade: the Complete Cookbook (Cookbook Review)

James-Enger, Kelly, ready,aim,specialize!: create your own writing specialty and make more money!, Oak Park, IL, Marion Street Press, Inc., 2008.