As a 7th-grader, I decided to become a writer. On back of used typing paper I penned Secrets of the Lost Inca Mines, a rip-off of an identically-named book I'd just finished. The concepts and scenes in each story mirrored each other fairly closely-- actually, they were identical-- but at least I'd changed the hero's name: to mine.

Later, I punched away at my Brother portable typewriter writing Forward into Time, most scenes paralleling those in H. G. Wells' The Time Machine, which I'd just read. I did change the name of the future race (mine was Emoi, Wells' Eloi,) and the hero's name. Mine again.
 

Notice a pattern here?
 

So maybe it was no surprise that years later my success as a writer flourished when I started using other people's words instead of my own.
 

Breakthrough
 

After N. D. REC magazine (now North Dakota Living) published my piece about Toy Farmer magazine, the TF editor called and asked if I would write toy collector profiles for them. I was skeptical. I knew John Deere was green and International Harvester red, but that was about it. I knew just about nothing about this farm toy collecting niche-- tractors, combines, hay rakes, and the like.
 

So even though I needed the money, I was ready to say no until the TF editor said those three magic words, "Just be accurate."
 

Of course! I thought. That's the goal in writing any article, isn't it?
 

To be Accurate
 

So I began to write a farm toy collector profile a month. Basically, rearranging their words. For a regular paycheck I figured I could stand the gig until "real" magazines began paying me more.
 

But a funny thing happened on the way to the farms: I began to enjoy it. I found farm toy collectors highly knowledgeable, interesting, and very passionate. ("What can you learn about my collection in only five hours?" one collector fumed when I left.)
 

And who wouldn't marvel at a man who added 13-- yes, thirteen-- rooms to his house to encompass his burgeoning toy collection? Or the man who reconstructed his childhood farm in miniature with farm toys in real dirt fields, hand-wrought buildings with hand-carved shingles, a working wind vane, even a creek with running water and live minnows.
 

Wow! I thought. Not only am I making a few shekels, but I'm having fun, too.
 

A few months later, I discovered an added bonanza. After almost every interview/photo session, the collector would crook his finger and say, "Let me show you my other toys."
 

He'd fling open the Quonset door to reveal twenty or thirty or a hundred large, real tractors, some so beautifully and painstakingly restored, you'd think they'd just clattered off the factory line, though these were antiques, tractors like the 1913 Little Bull, or 1920 Waterloo Boy, or 1930 John Deere D.
 

Suddenly, I was selling interview pieces on antique tractor collectors to Green Magazine, Red Power (guess what brands these two revered), and others, rearranging collectors' words and my bank balance.
 

Today in this niche I sell at least one article per issue to seven different farm toy and farm-related magazines.
 

But as Ron Popeil of Ronco TV-ad fame would say, "But wait! There's more!"
 

These magazines were also interested in history articles on tractor companies. After selling a bunch-- basically rearranging other people's words again-- I received a contract to write a book, Orphan Tractors, which sold 11,000 copies, the first of my six books about old tractors and farm toys.
 

What I Learned
 

I learned there are dozens of niche hobby markets like farm toy collecting out there-- for model trains, dolls, model airplanes, sewing, the list goes on and on-- with magazines that provide steady markets for stories about collectors in their field.

I also learned that collector stories are easier to write than other nonfiction pieces, because they often follow a pattern, and you use the collector's words and ideas. They're not simple, of course. They still require hard work and accuracy.
 

Collectors often branch out, which means sometimes you can get two profile articles at one time.
 

Additionally, some niche pieces can be sold to non-niche markets. So I've sold pieces on orphan tractors to The Elks, and N. D. REC, and pieces on farm toys to Grit, Antique Week, Rural Heritage, and other markets.
 

Advice

Learn to take good photos, as these markets won't publish profiles without photos.
 

Make up a list of questions to use for every interview, then tailor additional questions for specific collectors.
 

Writing for niche hobby markets gets your name in print, gives you clips, adds money to your bank account, and buys you time to write the great American novel.

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