Criteria for the niche:
- Must be useful. Therefore, non-fiction. How to stuff.
- Must be creative. No schemes or money-making to marketing shit.
- Quirky, off-beat material. Hand-crafted stuff. Distinctive, “microbrew” stuff. First-class, highest quality writing, design, editing, etc.
- Strong voice. {Style guide}.
- Able to build a community around a website.
- I really think the narrower the niche, the more successful I’ll be.
Ideas for making deals with authors:
- Help them marketing and monetize blog so they can concentrate purely on content. (But is the business I want to get into?)
- If I’m helping to do that, then I would need to have editorial oversight.
- Another way of looking at this is an affiliate branded website, but not in the business of selling cheap wares. More like hand-crafted content for niche audiences.
- A real challenge would be to hire writers. But I could get a ghost writer for a blog done by an expert who can’t write.
Medium:
- Blog, bound book, ebook.
Keys to Success:
- Excellent product.
- Editorial strategy / content strategy.
- Market research.
- Very narrow, interesting niches. Micro niches, in fact.
- Choice of formats.
- SEO and Social Marketing