Branding Failure!

I read a blog post by another successful independent author today and once more he touted the importance of writing “one” type of story per name. The reasoning makes sense for those readers who primarily read in one genre. It makes sense for the idea of “branding” one’s name in the memories of those readers who like your stuff. It doesn’t make sense to me as a reader because I’ve never limited myself to one, or a dozen, genres. I guess it makes sense for authors who write almost entirely for business related reasons. Although I’d certainly like to sell more than what I do, I’m not one of those kinds of authors. I like to write just as widely as I like to read. That made me start thinking about the kind of stuff I’ve written and how it might be classified.

1. Swords of Talera, Wings Over Talera, Witch of Talera:  A series, primarily sword and planet fiction with some elements of sword and sorcery mixed in. Edgar Rice Burroughs and Alan Burt Akers wrote similar kinds of things.  

2. Cold in the Light: A standalone thriller with a lot of horror elements. Similar in some ways to Dean Koontz’s early thrillers like Midnight and Watchers.

3. Under the Ember Star: A space opera in the vein of Leigh Brackett and C. L. Moore.

4. Bitter Steel: A collection of sword and sorcery short stories, with the main emphasis on swords and less emphasis on sorcery. Most similar probably to Robert E. Howard’s work.

5. In the Language of Scorpions: A collection of  horror stories, ranging from splatter punk type tales like “Razor White,” to twist endings like “I Can Spend You,” to flash fiction like “Roadkill.” 

6. Midnight in Rosary: A collection of vampire and werewolf tales, with a ghost story thrown in. It’s got brutal vamps, romantic vamps, and lots of sex. That last is a bit strange on its own because most of my other fiction has no sex in it at all.

7. Killing Trail: A collection of traditional western short stories. Definitely most similar to Louis L’Amour’s work.

8. Harmland: A collection of noir/horror stories, with the emphasis on the noir.

9. Days of Beer: A memoir containing humorous anecdotes and tales about my life growing up as a beer drinker and a hell raiser.

10. Harvest of War: A standalone fantasy short story involving Orcs.

11. Micro Weird: A collection of flash fiction running the gamut from SF, to horror, to humor, to just plain strange.

12: Write With Fire: A nonfiction collection of articles and tips about writing.

13: Writing in Psychology: A textbook on writing for psychology majors.

And all with some variation of the name Charles Gramlich on it. Guess I’m not doing well at following the advice of one genre, one name. 

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For More Branding, See...

CS Harris over on her blog has a lot more on the topic of brancing. CS (Candice) is also in my writing group and it was she who brought the topic to our attention Monday night. She's done a lot more thinking about it than I have so check out her posts on the subject.

By the way, in my thoughts on "branding," I wasn't sure whether I should include a "series" as an example. The reason is, to me, branding is more about subject matter, plot devices, and so on than it is about character. I can see how a series character could also become a brand, but I don't think it necessarily needs to be.

Branded

My writing group talked last night about "branding" for authors. No, this isn't a roundup of recalcitrant writers to be marked and lobotomized, but is when an author essentially turns themselves into a name "brand." Like KFC or McDonalds. When you buy a "brand" name you get consistency. You know what you're getting and it's always going to be pretty much the same. This seems to be, essentially, what bestselling authors who want to continue to be bestselling do. Tom Clancy. Dean Koontz. James Patterson. These are all examples. When you pick up a Clancy book you have a good idea before you crack the cover about what you're going to get, and at the highest selling levels branding is apparently a very effective and desirable tactic. And the "brand" extends well beyond characters. The characters may be different, but the basic form of the work is the same.

My problem with this is twofold. First, as a reader I almost never like brand names. Yes, I read most of Koontz's work, but I actually liked him better in his earlier days when he took more chances with his material. I also like Louis L'Amour, and he was definitely a brand name in his day. But I've only read one James Patterson book. I've managed two Clancy's. I'm thinking of a couple of military thriller brand name types that I can't remember the names of because I've never been tempted to try even one of their books.

Second, as a writer, I actually like to think of myself as a flexible writer. I want to write different kinds of things, lots of different kinds of things. Writing gives me the freedom to imagine so many different kinds of stories. I would think that I would very quickly get bored writing essentially the same story over and over. Where's the fun in that?

So what's your opinion? Is branding good for you as a reader? As a writer? Or do you care one way or another?