This quote by Amanda N. Bray felt like a permission slip to be my full creative self on Substack—until I read another post insisting I need to niche down.

The more I read about growing here, the more conflicting the advice becomes.

Matt Giaro - The AI Blogger of Ideas to Income says variety is the problem. “People don’t subscribe to variety,” he writes. “They subscribe for consistency.” His solution? Pick one painful problem (your niche) and write about it from 100 different angles. (substack.com/inbox/post….)

But Amanda says the opposite: “You don’t need a niche—you need continuity of spirit.” What builds trust, she argues, isn’t sameness—it’s coherence. If you write from a true place, readers can feel it—no matter the form.

So which is it?

I want to grow—genuinely, with integrity. But I also want to stay creatively alive. Are those goals at odds?

Writers, readers—what’s your take?