More Tips! This time, Branding.

My tip? Make sure the iron is damned hot. The calf is gonna squeal and kick, but hold tight.

I'll shut up about most of this list (so general and obvious) except to say this: Screw #3. Hideous analogy that just pisses me off, LOL. I won't even rant about no matter how much I want to...

And I'll say another thing, the Traditional publisher market is not flooded with good writing, let alone the indie market. Flooded? Yes. But with real high quality stuff? I guess that depends on where you set the bar, but, not in my opinion.

 

I'd take #3 to mean that if you write in two very different genres and or styles maybe think about separating the identities. I think Iain Bank did this successfully by using Iain Banks for his "literary" work and Iain M Banks for his SciFi... The reader had no reason to be confused or surprised.

 

I don't see a huge amount to argue with there. They're not the only way to do things but doing them pushes most people towards the better side of the probability curve. And for those who don't fit into them, they're not going to have the same frustrating feeling they'd get from trying to write by rules they don't agree with.

Well. Okay. They probably will, but that's because everything about selling books is frustrating as best as I can tell.

I'll even defend 3 and 4.

3? 3 can be the difference between a reader auto-buying your books and taking a moment to peek at the blurb and maybe not buying it. This isn't about only writing the same style of book, or in the same sub-genre either (although that's the easy way to do it) but about having something consistent. Jim Butcher's written in three genres and you can tell its Jim Butcher in all of them (well, I tell a lie, I think its a Jim Butcher impersonator in the Aeronaut's Windlass and guess who doesn't like it). Even if you want to stand for wild experimentation and never writing series, having a fairly fixed writing style and set of themes helps.

And honestly, I can't think of any author who straight up had an incredibly wide set of styles and interests and themes in the beginning of their career anyway. People do it naturally, its just being a bit calculated about it.

As for 4 - I mean, basically that boils down to "Do your best every time as there's too much good stuff for people to bother with meh stuff". Which barely qualifies as a tip its so obvious. Its poorly written I guess, but the core message is a commandment for life.

And yes, there is too much good stuff. I guess there's some people who can't find enough of what they're looking for, and a lot of books disappoint (which is when the author gets a sale on book 1 but not book 2), but in general when you consider all the books out there that a person can read, there is very little need for the average reader to pick up and read a book they're not totally enthused by.

 

Yeah, definitely. I've heard lots of people complain about branding because they hate the idea of limiting themselves to one genre, but in my opinion, at least, that's not really what it's about. I've followed one of my favorite writers from sci-fi to fantasy to superheroes with no complaints because she has the same exciting plots and interesting worlds in each book, while other writers stick to the same genre but can't consistently do the same things well.
I don't think that means you have to give your reader the exact same experience in ever book, but if I as a reader loved your last book for the brilliant character arc, or immersive setting, and this new book doesn't have those things, I will be disapointed. Even if you are doing other things well. It doesn't have to be the same characters or setting every time, but I think you should be aware of what elements your readers are reading your book for and try to repeat them if you want to keep those readers.

This is why I think it's so important for writers to know what their strengths are (Especially whatever element's are drawing readers to their work) and have a conscious understanding of their skills. It's hard to duplicate something you don't know you're doing.

 

It seems to me like some genres are more "translatable" to others. Like, a fantasy reader will pick up a sci-fi book from an author they like. Plenty of readers who move in the spec-fic umbrella. But if you write sweet historical romances, and then you decide to write horror? Not a lot of overlap there. Your audiences for both are not going to overlap at all most likely. If you've been writing steampunk and decide to write solarpunk? Totally acceptable. If you want to write a political high fantasy after writing a politically focused dystopian novel? Probably going to have enough similarities. But if you've been writing high fantasy and all of a sudden want to write chick lit? Not going to work.

I *definitely* think you'd need different pseudonyms/identities if you write, say, YA or MG, as well as adult. Gonna have totally different audiences. The readers of your middle grade books just aren't going to be picking up your adult books.

(i'm ISO a pen name for picture books I want to write, lol. I'm not good at coming up with these things.)