The Temptation to Diversify

I'm not generally someone who believes that writers should have only one specialty. It's a model that works for some, though I prefer spreading my business risk over multiple areas, so a downturn in one area won't necessarily affect all of my income. Yet you want to expand, not expend. When looking to enter an area new to you, it is dangerously easy to become distracted and waste time and energy. For example, I know a writer now that is considering trying a travel book. I've known others that have as well, and have even done one myself.

Unfortunately, the money in guidebooks tends to be, at best, mediocre. Someone looking to do this would have to start with some hard financial questions:

1. What opportunities am I giving up?


2. What is the difference between what I'd get and what I give up?


3. What natural opportunities would this tangent open?


4. What are the revenues that these would likely deliver?


5. To what degree are these additional revenues additional to what I'd make anyway?


6. After all is said and done, am I financially better off, worse off, or would the experience be a wash?

Once you've gone through this list, you have a sense of your net investment and what your resulting financial position will be. Then, unless the money is a non-issue (and that is true for some people), you can look at the other factors - fun, ego, resume burnishing, perks, satisfaction, and so on - more than balance things out. You might decide that what you get out of a project might even be worth a financial loss. That's fine - so long as you go into the opportunity with your eyes open, and not just your wallet.