Subject Experts Become Writers

A discussion about the strategy of hiring subject matter experts and teaching them to write versus hiring writers and teaching them subject expertise. Based on experience with Hodinkee, a luxury watch blog that grew to $100M+ in revenue.

Core Hiring Philosophy for Writers

• Find people with deep organic knowledge of the subject matter first
• Writing ability is secondary and can be improved through editing
• Look for people who are "super geeky" about the topic
• Natural enthusiasm and technical knowledge are harder to teach than writing skills

The Editing Process

• Let experts write initial drafts with their technical knowledge
• Apply an editorial layer on top through copy editors
• Focus on making the technical content more cohesive
• Create final pieces that maintain expertise while being readable

Example from Hodinkee

• Hired writers with deep knowledge of mechanical watches
• Writers could explain detailed aspects like:
  • Different watch movements
  • Various complications
  • Technical differences between models
  • Historical context and variants
• May start as B+ writers but had the crucial technical knowledge
• Editorial team helped polish the writing while maintaining expertise

Why This Approach Works

• Builds trust with readers through demonstrated expertise
• Allows for truly technical, "geeky" content
• Creates authentic content from genuine enthusiasm
• Enables commerce through established credibility
• More efficient than teaching subject expertise to writers