Ask YC: How do you discover niche content?

We are working on learning more about a niche domain. We would also like to leverage our exposure to new content in this niche domain to develop a Niche Social News feature for our niche market.

How do you go about discovering new niche content?

I have tried Google, Google Reader, Yahoo pipes and the other Social bookmarking websites, but not with much success. I suspect something is flawed in how I organize what I discover.

How do you guys do it?

Links from other niche-content websites, usually forums. Google to start the hunt.

Here's how I found the HP fandom: I was browsing Salon TableTalk at work because I had nothing to do. Stumbled upon the Books section, then Harry Potter. Found that somebody had posted a some fanfiction they'd written (which at the time I thought was the leaked Book 4, because I had no idea what fanfiction was) along with a link to FanFiction.net. Started reading FanFiction.net. A few months later, found a review on FF.net that asked where all the good Harry Potter fanfiction had gone, and a reply that said "A lot of folks have migrated to SugarQuill or FictionAlley." That's how I ended up at FictionAlley.

I have a similar strategy with music, where I also have very niche tastes. Heard a Transsiberian Orchestra song on the radio that I absolutely had to find. Found it on a ratio FTP site, where it was filed in with a bunch of Savatage songs. Googled Savatage, found out they had the same producer and most of the same musicians. Checked out the official Savatage fan site, its forum has a section for "other bands", kept hearing repeated mentions of Dream Theater. Downloaded a couple of their songs, bought a couple of their albums. Checked out their fansite. There were mentions of a couple upcoming rock operas - Avantasia and Nikolo Kotzev's Nostradamus - that I ended up buying. My screen name actually came from this period of my life: I was looking for a fandom pen name that I could be reasonably sure would not be in use at any site I registered at, and had just bought the Nostradamus rock opera.

If you can't find it on Google, you might be looking at too small a niche to be of use. You can type in "Dachshund Lovers" and find ten pages of search results about them. If a group is any smaller than that, there just might not be any content to find, or at least not enough for a social news site.

I assume you've used Google Blog Search and Technorati, then followed links from the blogs you did find? Social bookmarking sites aren't very great for highly non-technical niches. Your Average Joe has never heard of delicious.

For me its all about keywords. To start with some phrase that captures the essence. Then to move on to the peripheries of the subject. Then to bring in the context within which I search for that topic. By that time I have usually found what I want...

What is the market? We could help out more if we knew the specifics.