If you’ve looked through the profiles of many article writers for hire, you may have noticed a few trends. One of those is the emergence of content writers who specialize in only one or two writing topics. While there can be some advantages to choosing a specialist if your topic is extremely narrow in scope, in most cases, you’re better off with a generalist. A generalist writes about anything and everything and is always looking for interesting topics to write about. Here are a few reasons to seek out a generalist:
Your Topics Could Change
Even if you have one site about one thing, your site may change its scope over time. Do you want to have to hire a new writer for every topic that comes up? Once you have a writer who understands the style you want, the entire process is easier. If you have multiple sites, a site that is diverse, or the scope of your site does change over time, you can use the same writer for all of it. A generalist writing for your snail site won’t balk when you say you’ve started a site about snakes. A snail-writing specialist will.
Writing Skill Isn’t Confined to One Area
Do you know what they teach in journalism and other types of professional writing classes? They teach how to write. They never teach how to write about one specific thing. They teach how to do research, use specific styles correctly and edit your own work. If your writer is really equipped to be a professional writer, he or she will not write about just one thing. People who will only write about one or two topics often have experience in that field, but they weren’t trained as writers. That means you may get some insightful work that will have to be rewritten to create a professionally written piece that is useable.
The Hiring Process is Easier
If you’re looking for someone to write about blue fish that live in the Amazon and you keep running into people who write about red fish of the Amazon, you aren’t alone. Many people who try to hire specialists who write about the very specific thing they want written about end up with nothing. It could take months to find someone who is really qualified based on the topic-specific samples you are asking for. But if you’re looking for a generalist with writing skill, you can have a good crop of candidates in a couple of days. It gives you a larger pool of writers to choose from, and there will be a better chance that they have the writing training you want from a writer.
Lizz S is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.
