What's My Brand?

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Branding. When I was a tiny tot, the only time I heard that word was while watching Bonanza or Big Valley, and it referred to Hoss or Heath ropin’ and wranglin’ a heifer and impressing the ranch mark into the poor thing’s hide. (It never seemed to bother the cow, but it’s not like she was asked her opinion.)

 

 

When I started my writing career, the concept of an author brand was just taking off, and it was strictly limited to a name. (No hot irons involved, thank goodness.) James Patterson was a brand. Danielle Steele was a brand. It meant readers were so devoted to what you wrote, they’d buy the current book, and the next, and the next, not knowing anything about what was between the covers. For a few extraordinary writers, their characters were their brand: a Jack Reacher thriller, a Dirk Pitt adventure.

 

While both those types of branding still exist (and THANK YOU, dear readers who buy one of our books automatically!!) the world has changed since the early aughts. Facebook, Instagram, Tik-Tok, YouTube - they’re all major forces in connecting with fans and developing new readers. And they all have one thing in common: visual imagery. Even author blogs and newsletters have gotten more image-heavy; those old plain-text emails you signed up for in 2000 are long gone.

 

Right now, with a new book out in five months, I’m working on a brand new website, a new email, and how to tie everything together on other social media platforms. My problem? I honestly don’t know my brand! Ideally, I should be able to put together several words encompassing feelings, images, and elements of my fiction in a way I can translate into, well, all those things online I just listed. For instance, everyone’s favorite, Louise Penny. I would say, “Canada, literary, well-travelled, small town.” And sure enough, if you go to her website or sign up for her newsletter (you should, it’s delightful) you see images and writing that conveys those very concepts.

 

Reds, do you have a solid idea of your “brand?” How did you come up with it? 

 

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Ha ha ha. NO. I do not. You guys tell me, okay? I would LOVE, truly love, to hear it.

 

HALLIE EPHRON: Brand? I have never thought about my writing in terms of creating a brand. I mean, I know we’re writing “genre” fiction, but we’re storytellers and the stories we tell don’t come out of an advertising machine and none of them are cookie-cutter. They come from somewhere inside us, and I suppose the extent to which they’re similar to one another, that goes toward creating a “brand.” 

 

For me? My brand would be *creepy but not icky* *suburban* “domestic suspense* and *stuff that could really happen.* Doesn’t sound much like clever branding. But there you are.

 

JENN McKINLAY: I wish I had a brand but I’m all over the place in different genres and whatnot. I haven’t a clue. Anyone? Hit me with what you think my brand is, readers! I’m all ears.

 

JULIA: I'm not sure how to put all your books together as a brand, Jenn, but I think "brightly colored" and "fun" are definitely in your portfolio. 

 

LUCY BURDETTE: My brand would probably be Key West, food, friends and family, murder. With a good dash of psychology stirred in. And the obligatory pets, especially cats. (Sorry Lottie.). When you pick up a Key West book, it’s reasonable to assume that that’s what you’ll be reading. 

 

My question is supposing I want to take a tack that doesn’t fit into this “brand.” THE INGREDIENTS OF HAPPINESS, for example, and quite possibly UNSAFE HAVEN. Neither one takes place in Key West. Although the food remains, it’s not the same central character that it was in the other books. Hmmm…

 

So I wonder if a person really wants to make a switch, would it be best to decide which two or three of these qualities will fit the new project too? Or should we quit worrying about our brands–leave that to the marketing gurus–and write what we want to write?

 

RHYS BOWEN:  Julia, I feel your brand is the Upstate New York version of Louise’s books. Small town, cast of characters we come to know and love, evil in the most bucolic of settings. Hank, you are definitely edgy domestic suspense.

 

I know I have a brand because one of my publishers turned down the proposal for In Farleigh Field because “it was too far from her brand.”  

And if you look at my covers they definitely reflect a brand: the Royal Spyness and Molly Murphy both easily identifiable and clearly reflect the tone of the book. 

 But I’m not happy with a writer being tied to a ‘brand”. As you know, my stand-alones range from tense thriller to  warm historical. The only thing that links them is that they are all set in the past. I applaud Jenn for reaching across genres.  I read across genres, don’t you? Many readers do.

 

DEBORAH CROMBIE:  I never thought about having a brand, but I guess it would be British mystery/police procedural/contemporary. If we add “couples investigating” and take off the “British” that brand would include your books, Julia. Maybe we need to form our own brand!

 

JULIA: I can see that, Debs! "Clever couples, cottages, cultural critique and carnage." What do you think, dear readers? Help us out and let us know what words or images you'd use to describe our brands!