Find Your Thing and Hone It
Build differentiated expertise, then apply strong reporting and storytelling to it
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 93%
This career strategy begins with the economic reality that undifferentiated words are becoming cheaper. A writer therefore selects a subject worth sustained attention and develops enough domain knowledge to recognize important stories, evaluate claims, and earn the trust of informed sources. That expertise becomes the input for three forms of scarce output: original scoops, distinctive prose, and compelling storytelling. Repeated work in the same domain compounds the writer's knowledge, network, judgment, and reputation, making future reporting more valuable and harder to replace. Specialization does not mean repeating one story forever; it provides the depth required to find fresh angles and explain them accurately. The framework's result is a defensible professional identity built around both subject expertise and execution quality.
Origin
Extracted from Masters in Business, where Duff McDonald answered what advice he would give a millennial or recent graduate considering a writing career.
Core principles
- 01Generic written output is losing economic value
- 02Expertise enables better stories
- 03Distinctive reporting and prose remain scarce
- 04A focused domain compounds knowledge and access
How to run it
- 1
Choose your thing
Select a domain that supports sustained curiosity and contains important stories that are not already well explained.
Pro tip Favor a subject you would willingly read about without an assignment.
Watch out Do not choose a niche solely because it is temporarily popular.
- 2
Build domain knowledge
Learn the field's history, institutions, vocabulary, incentives, and unresolved debates.
Pro tip Read foundational material as well as current coverage.
Watch out Surface familiarity is not enough to challenge sources or identify a genuine scoop.
- 3
Develop a source network
Build relationships with practitioners, critics, researchers, and affected people who can provide competing views.
Pro tip Ask each useful source who else understands the subject differently.
Watch out Overreliance on one faction will distort both reporting and reputation.
- 4
Produce original reporting
Use expertise and sources to uncover information or interpretations that generic writers cannot readily reproduce.
Pro tip Look for gaps between institutional claims and observable outcomes.
Watch out Do not confuse a strong opinion with a scoop.
- 5
Refine the storytelling
Turn the reporting into clear narratives that make complex material meaningful to readers.
Pro tip Use concrete people, decisions, and consequences to carry abstract arguments.
Watch out Technical mastery cannot compensate for inaccessible prose.
- 6
Compound the niche
Publish repeatedly, learn from each project, and let accumulated knowledge improve future story selection and execution.
Pro tip Maintain a structured archive of sources, timelines, and unanswered questions.
Watch out Avoid repeating the same article simply because the format previously worked.
In the wild
A business journalist concentrates on elite institutions and their effects on corporate decisions. Each investigation adds sources, historical knowledge, and unanswered questions that inform the next book. The resulting work offers depth and original scrutiny that general business coverage rarely provides.
→ The journalist develops a recognizable specialty and gains access to increasingly consequential stories.
A new writer studies carbon markets, financial regulation, energy economics, and corporate disclosures. After months of focused reporting, the writer discovers inconsistencies between company climate pledges and financing activity and tells the story through specific decisions and affected communities.
→ Domain expertise produces an original investigation rather than another generic climate article.
Common mistakes
Remaining a generic writer
Competing primarily on word production leaves the writer exposed as rates decline and interchangeable content proliferates.
Specializing without reporting
Knowledge alone does not create journalistic value unless it generates original evidence, access, or insight.
Chasing every trend
Constantly changing subjects prevents expertise, relationships, and reputation from compounding.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for journalists and nonfiction writers trying to build a durable professional niche.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for writers unwilling to specialize or invest deeply in subject-matter knowledge.
From the transcript
“the only thing that is going to um retain its value is a great scoops and be great writing and see great storytelling.”
“you got to figure out what your thing is and hone it.”
“to do great storytelling about any particular thing, you got to know enough about it to be able to do that.”
From the episode
Duff McDonald: How To Fix the Broken Elite Institutions