Trying an Import Again: f5304fcb062e17e4fe64525c228b670f

[alanajoli]

No, it doesn't make sense. It's a string of random numbers that, if my RSS feed works correctly, will mean I have a blog live on Tokyopop. I've got an e-mail in to the folks at Amazon Connect to see if I can get my blog imported there as well. My words, goofy and serious, will be everywhere! (This terrifies me a little bit, but I remind myself that "I Am the Brand" and therefore any place people see me means that I have a better chance for people to read my books.)

Out of curiosity, to the other writers who pop by and read this: how do you feel about the "I Am the Brand" philosophy. Is that true in your market? Do you cultivate the brand concept, or reject it?

Comments

[dmoonfire.livejournal.com]

That is a hard one. I think it depends on the market, really. In college, two of my gaming group were White Wolf writers. They weren't really known outside of a few credits, but they just fell into popularity and one of them has a dozen books on his credits and is the "special guest" at most of the conventions he goes. He just fell into it without a brand.

On the other hand, I have split efforts. For my other pen name, it was kind of falling into it, most of my sales were word-of-mouth and I have a small following but it is also very for a very niche market. My novel hasn't sold that much on that side, mainly because of a couple factors, mainly a publisher who closed their doors and didn't send books out, but also because it was hard to break out of that specific niche. But, if there is a brand, its fairly well established but I did no effort to really earn it. If I did, it was just moving from forum to forum, writing things that were interesting that got people reading more of my stuff.

For my mainstream pen name, I definitely feel the need for brand. Mainly because I'm a nobody in the market. Most of the rejections were based on my lack of impact on anyone's radar. I'm a nobody, and I think that has an impact on things. So, at some point, I'll probably have to make up a Brand new me :) and figure a way out of it, but I suspect it will be a lot of hard work when it does happen.

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

I think in the case of White Wolf (or Wizards of the Coast), the company becomes the brand--which means the game designers and novelists don't need to work quite so hard for their own name recogntion. There's always a reader like me who wants to collect the whole Eberron series of novels, and that's the brand that matters.

Keeping track of several self-brands... wow. I suppose if you're working with a very niche market, there's not a lot of cross-marketing that could be done. With all the work I'm putting into just one name, I can't imagine spreading myself out on several brands! It sounds like a lot of hard work already. :)

[dmoonfire.livejournal.com]

Actually, I feel having two distinct names is somewhat of a hindrance in general. The first one (not "Dylan Moonfire") has been around for easily fifteen years and has a bulk of my writing. It was only recently that I decided to get into the mainstream side of things and outside of what I consider is a niche market. (Then I end up writing a fantasy steam-age forensics murder mystery--I'm doomed to niches.) Mainly it was the scale. In that market, if I sold 200 books, I was near the top of the field. Kind of like writing quantum physics books where selling sixty was considered amazing.

The problem is that my other name would hinder acceptance of the new books. They are simply too far off the beaten path for cross-marketing and I think that scares publishers/agents almost as much as being an "unknown" in life.

The other problem is division of labor. When you take both names together, I've written two dozen stories and a novel every year for the last five years. I have been published 6-7 times with stories. I simply can't use any of that to try getting published with Wind, Bear, and Moon or Muddy Reflections.

There is also the problem of I like to talk about my life. And I am hesitant to talk about both names together, mainly because people start asking what I mean by my fifth novel instead of my "first novel" because then people ask me what my first four novels were. :) And why I have so much trouble getting WBM or MR published after I was already published once before.

I wouldn't recommend it though. I'm committed to continue at it, for a few more decades at least, but it really isn't the easiest on me or my mate.