I read through everybody’s questions on branding. There are too many to answer all today, so I’ll take them in groups. I’ll deal first with the “what is branding” questions.
First off, Gina’s post caught my eye, so I clicked through to her blog and read her most recent post. It’s a review of Rene Gutteridge’s latest book, which begins like this:
Having not read Scoop, the first book in the Occupational Hazard series, I was’t sure what to expect. I only knew if Rene Gutteridge wrote it, it had to be an entertaining read.
I was right!
No one does quirky characters quite like Rene Gutteridge.
In Gina’s mind, Rene has a terrific brand–writing quirky characters. Gina hadn’t read the first book in the series, and yet she felt comfortable jumping in on the second. Why? Because she knew that Rene would deliver what she wanted.
Folks, that’s what branding is all about: Establishing a reputation for delivering a particular kind of goods. Branding is about consistency.
Stephen King consistently delivers a spooky tale with great characters. Tom Clancy consistently delivers the guns and ammo and huge explosions. John Grisham consistently delivers legal suspense.
Oops, not so consistent! When he wrote THE PAINTED HOUSE, his fans were upset. Why? Because they bought it assuming they were going to get one kind of experience. Instead, Grisham gave them another.
That’s like going into McDonalds and ordering a Big Mac and having them hand you a pizza. It might be a GREAT pizza, but . . . you came for a Big Mac. You were expecting a Big Mac. You were all primed for a Big Mac. They gave you pepperoni. If you’d wanted pepperoni, you’d have gone to Pizza Hut. You came to McDonalds with expectations, and those expectations were violated.
Now, McDonalds is too smart to actually do that. But we authors want to have the option to do exactly that. We get tired of writing legal thrillers and decide to write a literary novel. We delivery a fine product, but we wonder why our past customers shriek that they were cheated.
They were. If you want to succeed in writing, you need to build a market following. And they are going to want consistency. So do you when you read a book.
Branding is about delivering the same KIND of experience consistently. It doesn’t have to be exactly the same. But it needs to be similar enough that your readers don’t feel cheated.
What do you all think? If I popped out a terrific blog article today on 10 Great Ways to Invest In Stocks, would you all be pleased with me?
I don’t think so. They might be great stock tips, but you come here to read about writing fiction. You are all very different folks. Some of you are wealthy; some aren’t. Some of you are American; some aren’t. Some of you are people of faith; some aren’t. What you all have in common is that you write fiction and you trust me to deliver the goods on writing fiction.
If I violate that trust and deliver some other kind of goods, I have moved away from the one point of commonality you all had. It’s easy to cater to people who all write fiction IF I talk about fiction. But it’s impossible to cater to people who have all different sorts of economic, national, or religious backgrounds.
So I don’t talk about money here, nor politics, nor religion. I may mention one or more of these IN PASSING, but only if they are necessary in order to talk about The Main Topic here, which is writing fiction.
Because my brand on this web site and this blog and the associated e-zine is “Advanced Fiction Writing.” Anything else is off-topic, and should be discussed elsewhere. I can and do discuss other topics. But I do those ELSEWHERE. I picked my topic for this site, and I need to stick with it while I’m here.
When you publish your novels, you too are picking a topic or a genre or a style. People who come into your universe and buy your books are buying your particular topic or genre or style. When they come back to buy again, they’re saying, “Hey, I liked what you did last time. Give me some more of that.” If you now switch topics or genres or styles completely, you are violating their trust.
Early in my career, I did that. I wrote about whatever interested me. I wrote nonfiction and fiction, historical, futuristic, contemporary–whatever. That was wrong. I didn’t know any better. I know better now and I intend to do better.
Today’s blog has answered some of your questions, but mainly it’s been setting the stage. Tomorrow, I’ll talk more about branding and will answer more of your questions.
Just great.
I’m not sure I like this branding thing.
*wanders off to figure out ways to turn her womens fiction wip into a suspense novel*
Can I get away with two different styles if one type is written with a co-author and the other, written on my own, has a different “flavor?”
Christina, that’s exactly what I was planning doing, too. I was going to use a pen name for the thriller since it’s not what I want to focus on. Here’s hoping Randy says that’s ok.
If I am writing in the area of disability, could disability be my brand,allowing me to write about it in any genre? I like magic realism for example but I also like drama, mystery, thrillers etc.
RE: Carrie Neuman’s comment.
Is using a pseudonym a good way to allow yourself to write in diverse genre?
So should I use my name for my non-fiction and a pen name for my women’s fiction?
I think the use of a pseudonym would depend on your particular brand. Readers of fiction are fickle people, however, and don’t like their faves going outside the genre. What we as writers may appreciate, the general public may not.
Anne Rice is known for her vampires and the Mayfair witches. But early in her career she wrote erotica under the pen name Anne Rampling (e.g. East of Eden, an exploration of human fetishes, namely BDSM, was not a comedy). Although she has now quit writing the vampire novels (much to the dismay of her fans!) and is venturing into Christian fiction. We’ll also never see another of her novels made into a movie.
So, really, you need to find your passion. It’s not something that you want to write one book about. It’s not something that you may be interested in at just this stage of life.
Your passion is something you could write a column about, you could go on and on and on … and never tire.
If your passion fires you up and makes you write prolifically, then you will not have a problem delivering consistent literature to your fan base.
Publishers will pick up on your enthusiasm and will be more likely to work with you because they can see you’re not a “one hit wonder.”
The problem with separate pen names for each genre, is that each is a brand that requires care, feeding and promotion. McDonald’s probably owns other brands now, but when it started, it was just a hamburger place. Can you imagine a business plan for one person starting three separate, unrelated businesses being approved by a lender? It’s hard enough for one brand to get a foothold in the overcrowded brain of the consumer without breaking it into many fragments.
You can write anything you want. Inside its skin a horse couldn’t care less what is burned on its hide. But when somebody comes to ride it, they need to know which ranch it belongs to.
Enjoy the ride! -MLE*
*not her real name. (Like that’s a surprise! What’s with that ‘q’ without a ‘u’, anyway?)
I think I’m beginning to see that I need to narrow down my passions (I have many) and figure out which one I am the most passionate about. It has been a problem for me most of my life — jack of all trades master of none. So I think I will list everything I’m passionate about on a sheet of paper and then number them in order if I can. I thought I had it — but then I keep thinking of other things, too. The fact is, I can talk about a lot of things without running out of things to say. Education, disabilities, history, conspiracy theories, prophecy, dogs, parenting, apologetics, photography, music, politics, culture, motorcycles — it’s hard to pick just one! I’m hoping they can be combined somehow, but from what I’m understanding, I really need to narrow down my interests to one thing in order to brand.
(And I posted just to clarify to myself what I am trying to figure out!)
My question is when are we to pick out a brand? That is unless you know from the get-go what you want to write. Just starting out, I’m currently working on two fiction pieces; one is a fantasy type and one is a romantic, real life type of fiction. Would I wait until something is published and on the market to decide where my best ability lies? It’s hard to think of just limiting myself to one particular type this early in my writing. Or is that spreading myself too wide?
Thank you, Randy, for the McDonald-versus-pizza picture. Finally, SOMEONE got through to me and made it clear to me. I now understand what branding really means! About Judith Robl’s question: What do you think about a pseudonym?
Randy–the only wrinkle to your excellent metaphor is that for several years up in Canada, where I grew up, you could stroll into any Mickey Ds, order a Za, and eat pepperoni to your heart’s content. We’d drive on over in our Mah-zdas and Dah-tsons (short e sound there), while listening to Anne Murray on the 8 track, our tattered copies of Douglas Coupland’s latest in the backseat.
From Wikipedia (everybody’s favorite source of truth)…
“McDonald’s has also attempted pizza at various times, with an apple-pie-like McPizza and more conventional McDonald’s Pizza. A line of personal sized pizzas were sold in the early 90s. In Ontario, Nova Scotia, and British Columbia (c. 1992-1995) the pizza originally began as a family sized pizza that was brought out to the table by an employee and placed on a raised rack in the centre of the table. Later it was scaled down to a personal sized pizza when the larger version did not sell well.”
Randy,
Thanks for clarifying this “branding” idea. I do understand about branding, but I’m used to the type you put on calves!
Now about your example. McDonalds started out featuring quick hamburgers or other related items. They strove to be “fast” with your “food”. Today, I can go there for a quick breakfast and get McMuffins, McGriddles, and other things. Also, many of the items offered have “Mc” at the beginning of the name. I see this form of branding has allowed them to add a wider variety of new items to their menu.
Taco Time has added many new items to their menue over the years, but they still stress that everything is made fresh daily at the local resturant. Road House resturants in Oregon may have varied menus, but they all give you a little bucket of peanuts and let you put the shells on the floor.
Does this mean that I can write a variety of things as long as they have something in common to use as my brand?
I think I am well branded as a martial arts self defence guy who specializes in cane work.
But the only story I want to write is a historical fiction that has military but not martial art involvement. 🙁
I love writing speculative fiction. I think writing our preferences does show our passion and makes for better reading.
I just found out that my first novel probably falls into inspiration romance though. I am stuck. I am on my fourth wip with a fifth idea being spawned.
Thanks for anyone’s input.
Maybe you could show some examples of writers who have branched out effectively and discuss why it worked (or could have worked better.)
I’m thinking of Liz Curtis Higgs. She is known for her fresh, down-to-earth humor. I have read Liz’s Bible studies (Bad Girls books,) devotionals, children’s picture books, and adult fiction.
I loved them all! What tied them together? It’s that down-to-earth Christian approach that isn’t preachy. It’s touching, authentic, and easy to relate to. That’s Liz for you. I’m not sure exactly how she started, but after I read the Bad Girl books, I’d pick up anything she wrote.
For me, from what I have been writing of late is in a futuristic realm, but it is not so much about the setting as it is the twists and the overlaping stories that come together and surpirse the reader.
I think that we can use our passions and combine them into one story. The passion (football lets say) alone could be a good story, but a better story would be a Super Bowl comimg up with a terrorist threat and the coach is suspected. I just came up with that in about one minute, but my point is that if we have an idea, but can’t write it because it falls outside our writing field, perhaps we can integrate it in a slightly different way into another story
I like the Rene Gutteridge answer. The brand is quirky characters. King’s is scare factor and Clancy is military toys and bangs. So, is it from your brand you can find a Super Article?
So, I should be looking for some common factor within all my writing, whether short or novel? Just fantasy seems too broad. Hmmm …
I hope I’m not off topic. I want to know if taglines are part of the branding and do we register them, trademark them, copyright them? I tried come up with a couple that give the feel for the type of fiction I’m writing. Being pre-published, I’m wondering what I need to do to start branding myself. I have those taglines on each of the website pages I’m still working on, and on my business cards. This is a great topic, Randy! Thanks for helping us sort it out so we can get it to start working for us!
Well, I have to admit that this “branding” thing should be pretty easy for me. I’m ALL Fantasy – Christian Fantasy. Always have been, always will be. I do feel for you guys that seem to like all kinds of different things though. I have enough problems without trying to decide with genre to write in. I have never been interested in writing anything other that Fantasy.
That being said, I know there’s more to this “branding” thing than just genre – like Randy said, it’s style, and consistency too. So I wonder if it would be going against the “brand” if say, you wrote a dozen novels about dragon-riding warriors, but then suddenly decided to write about ogre-fighting wizards. People would be expecting the dragons, and could be disappointed with your wizards, not matter how magical they are.
Hmmm…this is kind of confusing isn’t it?
Well, I have to admit that this “branding” thing should be pretty easy for me. I’m ALL Fantasy – Christian Fantasy. Always have been, always will be. I do feel for you guys that seem to like all kinds of different things though. I have enough problems without trying to decide with genre to write in. I have never been interested in writing anything other that Fantasy.
That being said, I know there’s more to this “branding” thing than just genre – like Randy said, it’s style, and consistency too. So I wonder if it would be going against the “brand” if say, you wrote a dozen novels about dragon-riding warriors, but then suddenly decided to write about ogre-fighting wizards. People would be expecting the dragons, and could be disappointed with your wizards, not matter how magical they are.
Hmmm…this is kind of confusing isn’t it?
But if the wizards were featured in one of the dragon riding books, I’d already know who they were and probably wouldn’t mind following them around for a while.
In my younger days, I read anything with the Dragonlance label on it. Same world, different stories.
Hey all, I guess my question is what genre you have chose Randy, and why?
I hope it’s historical fiction. I have all your fiction books. Oxygen, 5th Man and Double Vision were all good, but in my humble opinion the City Of God (CoG) series is special. Any of you who have not read the CoG series shame on you.
Randy can you can share how you went about choosing the genre you have?
Someone also brought up self publishing, is that a viable option? Maybe you can share with us why the CoG has not been continued, how did that come about, what was that process like as a published author? Was it do to branding issues?
Blessings, Wesley
P.S. I am still boycotting Zondervan, LOL
Find some way to insert dragons? Or, in the dragon books introduce new places/peoples/etc that would leave you open to explore in a later series.
Kathryn has it down. Not genre — that’s too big for one brand. But substance and style. Like Michael Cricton — Timeline was his brand as historical fiction; he was into industrial espionage with Airframe; Jurassic park was a kind of Godzilla; and all that from his original work, Andromeda Strain, which was a sort of medical techno-thriller.
Michener was sweeping multi-generation historical pieces delivering history on one specific locale. He started with Bridges at Toko-Ri, Sayonara, and South Pacific.
Asimov settled into the robot series and tied them together with Foundation. Arthur C. Clarke kept recycling Childhood’s End into more of same (2001, Rama et al). Anne McCaffrey did dragons ad nauseum, until she realized her fan base had moved from sci-fi to fantasy.
After you are going strong, then you can introduce pizza if you want. Grisham did ‘Skipping Christmas’, which read a whole lot like some editors said, “Hey John, why don’t you do us a Christmas book?” No lawyers, and no suspense. Grisham is a brand unto himself, and it sold.
You can tell an author has become a brand unto himself when his name on any cover is twice the size of the book’s title. Sometimes the name pretty much is all the cover design there is.
Enjoy the ride! -MLE
Okay, I’m a little confused. Please correct me if don’t get this right.
We talked about platform and that platform doesn’t have to relate directly to your writing, it’s more for marketing. Someone gave the example of giving a talk for a support group and adding “And in my other life I write novels…” which then sold well to those groups.
How are platform and branding related? Platform is for the purpose of marketing, so is branding. Platform doesn’t have to relate to writing, branding for writers is about being reliable in a specific aspect of your writing. Help!
I also have to say that writing fiction to me is the ultimate freedom. The world can be any way I wish it to be. I am the ultimate game master.
With my Libertarian leanings and free-spirited artsy ways I really rebel at the type-casting that seems to be at the heart of branding. I’m also an actor, and it’s great to be type-cast for a while when you’re in the perfecting process. But then you want something challenging that makes you ask questions of yourself that you never would have asked.
I think if you count the cost of limiting yourself to one brand compared with the paper work hassle of pen names it’s worth it. That way you don’t make your fans mad, you just get new fans.
My long (sorry!) two cents
Yes, see this is why it’s all so confusing. We definitely need more information on this. Randy makes it sound like you need to pick a genre and a style and stick with that and ONLY that, therefore “branding” yourself.
I agree that the dragon-fighting warriors and ogre-fighting wizards could very well be a part of the same world, and so therefore be explored as part of that authors “brand”. But it “works” because it’s still in the same genre. But what if that author got so bored with those kinds of stories and decided to write Westerns instead?
So, for me it still seems to boil down to genre – another words we should never venture out of our genre because we will have a following, and they’ll be expecting us to deliver the same goods.
Do I agree? I don’t know. I know that as a reader I find it STRANGE when a book I thought was going to be one way, ended up being something else, but as a writer, I think we should be free to write what we want to write.
Of course, I have yet to be PAID for any of my work, so what do I know. HA!
Yes, see this is why it’s all so confusing. We definitely need more information on this. Randy makes it sound like you need to pick a genre and a style and stick with that and ONLY that, therefore “branding” yourself.
I agree that the dragon-fighting warriors and ogre-fighting wizards could very well be a part of the same world, and so therefore be explored as part of that authors “brand”. But it “works” because it’s still in the same genre. But what if that author got so bored with those kinds of stories and decided to write Westerns instead?
So, for me it still seems to boil down to genre – another words we should never venture out of our genre because we will have a following, and they’ll be expecting us to deliver the same goods.
Do I agree? I don’t know. I know that as a reader I find it STRANGE when a book I thought was going to be one way, ended up being something else, but as a writer, I think we should be free to write what we want to write.
Of course, I have yet to be PAID for any of my work, so what do I know. HA!
Let me toss in one more coin here. I’ve been taught that it’s easier to get published if you’ve been published, so it’s a good thing to publish articles, ANY (good quality)articles, in ANY periodical just to have something on your writing resume.
I know it’s a good idea to start out with a brand in mind, but what is the bottom line? Does breaking into print come first, or do we only want to do that with our brand intact?
Rant stopping now.
~bonne
I’m really late to post here, but I just want to say that I fully understand what you are saying.
You did a wonderful job of making it crystal clear.
It’s a good reason for me to use a pseudonym if I write dark fiction or fiction with dark components.
Thank you Randy. I know you put a lot of work into this site. Yes, it’s business, but so what–we all need to eat. I really appreciate everything I’ve learned from you.
Blessings,
Joleena
Is itokay to write in two different genres, but write in one under a pen name? That way one can have two seperate brands, along with two seperate audiences.
Nora Roberts has sold romance novels and only has to put her name on the cover to sell the book. J.D. Robb has done the same with futuristic police stories. They are the same person, two different genre, two different brands.
Because she has been so successful at it, I have been studing her style. She covers a multitude of topics, that range from missing family jewels, art glass, and haute cuisine, to horse racing and archaeology, she’s even tossed in attempted murder and a ghost, but she always stays on subject, romance.
I have just started one of her J.D. Robb novels so don’t know the “branding” of those yet, but I’m sure she will be just as successful at those.
On the other hand some authors are known for the characters they create. Ian Flemming is known for James Bond, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie for Miss Marple.
I think I’d rather be known for a writing style rather than for a character. I’d get to hate the character and would have to think of all kinds of nasty, painful ways to kill him off.
This reminds me of Terry Brooks when he wrote the “Magic Kingdom” series. In his nonfiction book, “Sometimes the Magic Works”, he admitted it initially didn’t do as well as his Shannara series. Some of his fans did feel betrayed. However, after a few years, and additions to the Magic Kingdom, he gained new readers who then jumped to his Shannara and “Knight of the Word” books.
He remained in the Fantasy genre, which is key, I think, but at the same time, as some of the above already stated, branding ourselves to the point of boxing in our creativity can do us – and our readers – more harm than good (How’s that for a long sentence?).
If we’re good enough, I think our readers will follow us anywhere – and by trying something new can create opportunities for even more readers. Doing so, however, I think we must consider it’s as if we’re trying to sell our very first novel.
Tina,
You may want to consult a copyright attorney but, I believe you would be hard pressed to copyright your taglines.
From the U.S. Copyright office:
http:\www.copyright.gov)
———
What Is Not Protected by Copyright?
Several categories of material are generally not eligible for federal copyright protection. These include among others:
-Works that have not been fixed in a tangible form of expression (for example, choreographic works that have not been notated or recorded, or improvisational speeches or performances that have not been written or recorded)
-Titles, names, short phrases, and slogans; familiar symbols or designs; mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, or coloring; mere listings of ingredients or contents
-Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries, or devices, as distinguished from a description, explanation, or illustration
-Works consisting entirely of information that is common property and containing no original authorship (for example: standard calendars, height and weight charts, tape measures and rulers, and lists or tables taken from public documents or other common sources)
———
Apple computers say you cannot use its taglines such as “Think different” but, I’m not sure how easy it is to defend that prohibition. It may be similar to celebrity names…the names themselves cannot be copyrighted (even though there is a common image attached to that name) but, you cannot use the name, image, of “likeness” of the celebrity in order to promote or sell.
Two more comments and a question…
Wesley, I’d stay away from self-publishing. If your work is worth publishing, someone will eventually buy it. Self-publishing is all on your nickel: you have to pay to print and do ALL your own promotion and you don’t really sell more than a few copies, hardly worth your time investment. Same goes for vanity publishers. Also, make sure you do your research when it does come time to start looking for a publisher/agent…there are a lot of scams out there.
I’d also like to throw in with one of bonne’s comments: I agree that it helps to get some short stories out there, especially in some of the more respected periodicals. My question is: I’m well published in the professional veterinary journals (top-tier), would this be of any advantage to me, even though scientific writing is completely different from literary writing?
Karla, I hear you with the jack of all trades dilemma. At this stage in my life I feel like a perpetual journeyman. Randy’s McDonalds analogy seems to shed light on my main problem: I just haven’t found my niche yet. Period. In work *or* in writing. I’ve been searching and exploring, but I have not yet arrived at the place that truly feels like home: a little rearranging here and there, and I’m happy to stay indefinitely. I’ll certainly rejoice the day I do! In the meantime, since I’m prepublished, I don’t think it’s a bad idea to keep exploring all kinds of stories until I’ve grown into my niche. Then maybe the branding will come naturally. I hope.
Who is most bothered by brand/genre/style hopping: readers or potential publishers?
For those of us who haven’t published yet, (is this what people mean by “pre-published”?) I wonder how many books in one genre/style it takes before you have an established groove and readers who would balk at a change?
If my first published novel was serious & thought provoking, and then I decide to try my hand at a light-hearted, sarcastic hard-knocks comedy next, would that be considered a drastic change? Who is likely to cry the loudest, readers or publishers? Or me?
I have been reading about choosing an genre, and I think that the genre chooses you.
The gentlemen talking about becoming type-cast as a bad thing in acting I agree. But being type-cast in writing seems to be a good thing.
I was wondering regarding what Tami sayed about characters that writers are known for, is that “branding” in a way? I think that would be a good thing, because you could write in any genre as long as you use the same charachter in your writing. It sort of reminds me of the Mc “D” as the menue is varied, you can still go in and expect the Big Mac, but be suprised with a Mc Bacon egg and cheese for breakfast. Just don’t expect a big mac before 11am HAHA.
I am thinking that prepublished is like me, never been published. But, soon.
These comments have been very thought provoking.
Thanks, Randy for the doing this Blog.