Review of Niching Up

[Abby Holland]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Niching Up" by Chris Dreyer.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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Niching Up by Chris Dryer is a how-to text for entrepreneurs. The author’s purpose is to present the pros and cons of niching to assist business owners in deciding if and how they could offer specialized services. Dryer is effective in explaining how to create a niche. The author may also motivate business owners to narrow in and become experts in a specific field.
I enjoyed the author’s efficiency with words while also including stories stories about his experience and interests. There are several sports analogies which may not appeal to everyone, but readers who are not sports fans are likely to understand the relevance of focusing on only one sport or spending hundreds of hours building skills. There are references to television shows and collectable card games that are unfamiliar to me, which at first made me feel disconnected from the content. But it later made sense that mentions of obscure card games are examples of niche interests, reinforcing the theme of the text.
While the writing style is beginner-friendly, some readers might appreciate a chapter early in the text that defines basic terms. Dreyer jumps into a discussion about search engine optimization (SEO) before explaining the term. I had to Google what it means “to be in a blue ocean instead of a red one” (p. 14). Otherwise, I had no difficulty understanding the text even though I have never taken a business or marketing course.
I did not find any grammatical errors in the text. While not a grammatical error, Dreyer shifts between singular and plural first-person pronouns. On page 30, the author mentions that “I had no competitors” and opens the next sentence with “our success” without mentioning who else is included. There are also a few cliches that might distract a reader, including “sunshine and rainbows” (p. 19), “rising tides lift all boats” (p. 100), and “in a nutshell” (p. 106).
Overall, I recommend Niching Up to any business owner looking to earn more profits while offering a narrower scope of services.

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Niching Up
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