Friday 25 June 2010

Friday House Guest - "Building a Brand" by Lisabet Sarai

Today’s guest if Lisabet Sarai. Please make her welcome.
*****
If you want to be successful in the highly competitive game of publishing (I'm told), you need to do more than just write good books and get someone to sell them for you.  You need to “build a brand”. What does this mean? Here's a simple definition from Dummies.com:

When people hear your name, they conjure up a set of impressions that influence how they think and buy. Those thoughts define your brand.

For an author, having a “brand” means, first, that readers recognize your name and second, they have a clear and hopefully positive understanding of what you write that leads them to purchase your books. Popular authors like James Patterson or Stephen King have legions of readers who will buy anything they publish, sight unseen. Readers know what to expect from these authors. They'll pre-order a book before it's even released. The power of the author's brand trumps the quality of the actual writing.

In the world of erotic romance, Carol Lynne jumps out as someone who has been tremendously effective in building her brand. Carol specializes in steamy M/M stories, mostly contemporary and often with a western setting.  She has a huge following of loyal readers although she has been publishing only a few years. All Romance Ebook's author of the year for 2007, Carol continues to put out best-sellers, month after month.

In the realm of erotica, I consider Rachel Kramer Bussel an example of effective brand-building. Pretty much anyone who reads erotica will be familiar with the dozens of anthologies she has edited, many focused on kink or fetishes. Rachel builds her brand not only through her publications but also through readings, parties and an amazingly active presence in the blogosphere. Just say “cupcake” or  “spanking” to any erotica reader and Rachel's name is likely to come to mind.

So how does a poor aspiring author like me go about building a brand? The authorities I've consulted highlight three major issues:

  • Distinctiveness – Both your name and your work need to be sufficiently unusual to stand out from the crowd.
  • Value – You need to offer your readers good value for their money.  You can't fake your way into effective branding, at least not for long. Especially when you're building your brand, every title you produce has to satisfy your target readers.
  • Consistency – Your brand controls readers' expectations. People who purchase Carol Lynne's books expect explicit M/M erotic romance. Readers who buy Rachel's anthologies expect playfully transgressive, sex-positive stories in which pleasure trumps more serious issues. For a writer, brand consistency encompasses both genre and style.  If a book doesn't fulfill readers' expectations, your brand will suffer.

And there's the rub, for me. Consistency.  I write all sorts of genres and heat levels. I write both erotica and romance.  BDSM fiction was my first love but I've deliberately diversified. I've written contemporary, paranormal, historical, suspense and even a bit of science fiction; heterosexual, gay, lesbian, and ménage; dark, playful and comic. When a reader comes across my name, he or she isn't likely to have immediate expectations about content or tone. About the only thing that a reader can assume is that my work is likely to contain a lot of sex―but even that isn't guaranteed.

Distinctiveness isn't a problem. I happened to choose a pen name that appears to be unique. (I was trying for something that sounded foreign and exotic, to go with the exotic setting of my first novel.)  Google my name and you'll find pages and pages of references to me and my books. It appears that in cyberspace, at least, there's only one Lisabet Sarai.

I'd like to believe that I'm set as far as value is concerned as well. I produce quality work, or at least I try, with original premises and engaging characters. Most of my work has received very positive reviews.
If consistency is required in order to have an effective brand, though, I may never succeed. I'm easily bored. I don't want to write the same sort of book over and over. I'm contemplating sequels to several of my novels and I'll be honest―I'm not sure that I want to return to the same worlds and characters for the duration of another book. I'd rather try something different―to stretch my abilities.

Obviously there are common threads that run through my work. I tend to write stories that have a strong sense of place and I frequently use foreign settings.  My characters tend to think a lot―they're not usually action-hero types. In my stories, sexual identity tends to be fluid; it's common for a straight character to discover homoerotic yearnings or vice versa. Sex in my tales is often a revelation as opposed to just recreation. This is particularly true of sex that involves dominance and submission.  Finally, I think it's fair to say that my style is more literary than popular (though I'm trying to diversify in this area as well.)

These kind of abstract commonalities aren't enough, I suspect, to bolster a brand identity.  I'd be really interested to know what readers think when they hear the name “Lisabet Sarai”.  Most probably, it depends on what (if anything) they've read. The trouble is that any particular book they've picked up will likely give them mistaken expectations for the next one of my books that they read.

I really don't know how seriously I should take this dilemma. Should I channel my writing energies into just one or two genres? If my goal were to support myself with my writing, I'd probably have to do just that. But really―I hate that notion!

So where does that leave me? Can I be a moderate success without building a brand? Can I attract a community of readers who appreciate diversity and don't mind having their expectations violated?  I don't know. I'm curious to know what readers and other authors have to say on this topic.

*****

BIO:  A dozen years ago LISABET SARAI experienced a serendipitous fusion of her love of writing and her fascination with sex. Since then she has published six erotic novels including the BDSM classic Raw Silk, two collections of short stories, and dozens of stand-alone tales in print and ebook formats. She reviews books and films for the Erotica Readers and Writer Association and Erotica Revealed and is the editor for the Coming Together Presents series of charitable single author volumes. Lisabet lives in Southeast Asia with her husband and felines. For more information on Lisabet and her writing visit Lisabet Sarai's Fantasy Factory (http://www.lisabetsarai.com) and her blog Beyond Romance (http://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com).

16 comments:

  1. Hello, Marc,

    Thanks so much for having me as your guest! I'm looking forward to hosting you next Wednesday.

    Warmly,
    Lisabet

    ReplyDelete
  2. Margaret Tanner25 June 2010 at 13:46

    Hi Lisabet,
    That was a great blog, I could never understand exactly what "branding" was about, you have given me the light bulb moment.
    Thanks
    Margaret

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lorrie Struiff25 June 2010 at 14:51

    Hi Lisbet,
    I guess going for a brand is a good thing if you have the patience and want to keep writing the same type of novels. But, I fear I feel as you do. I like many genres and I like to write a good book/story, no matter the genre. I think a good story, then word of mouth advertising, plus the blogs at first will do more for the author than establishing a brand JMHO.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lisabet -- I can certainly understand where you are coming from. I too tend to write very varied themes, sexualities, genres, and heat levels. A cover artist once told me to at least try and stick with the same font for my name on all my covers, but by then I was with three different publishers, so it was way too late. Plus, even there, I crave variety - funky fonts, and swirly fonts, and fairly tame too.

    So really, how does someone who doesn't have a niche they write in successful in building "brand"? I look forward to reading the other comments.

    Michelle HOuston

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  5. Lisabet,

    Thanks for joining me today. I'm looking forward to next Wednesday too.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Collette Thomas/Marie-roy25 June 2010 at 15:05

    I found this article extremely helpful as it succinctly explained what "branding" entails. I am going to put the link to this article up on my Yahoo Group Erotic Romance Workshop for the members to click on. I've been trying to build a brand for myself establishing myself as an erotic romance writer who writes hot over the top stories. I'm creating a series of stories in my The Pleasure of Our Company Series and am finding that as readers buy the first story, hopefully they will be compelled to buy the second, third, fourth, fifth. Come July I will have the sixth story in place. I do hope when they see the name Collette Thomas they will automatically know what kind of story to expect.

    Collette Thomas
    http://www.newsletterofcollettethomas.blogspot.com
    Owner/Moderator of Erotic Romance Workshop Group

    ReplyDelete
  7. Michelle,

    I'm the opposite to you in your love of displaying your name differently. For the past few years I've used "Scriptina" as "my" font. It's the font my name appeared in on my books - and for two of them the title as well - and it was used extensively on my website.

    Then I saw the cover for "Eternally & Evermore" (click on "e-books" above to see it) and my name is in a DIFFERENT FONT!!!.

    But you know what? I like it. It actually make my name stand out more. Funny how we never react the way we think we will, isn't it?

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  8. Christine London25 June 2010 at 15:35

    Don't box yourself into a corner. Goodness! Just as readers will sense your disdain for blogging if you don't love it, so they will quickly pick up on a forced, limited 'brand' style. When did it become a necessity to sell your literary soul to sell books?

    I believe your voice will carry you into the heats of your readers. Your authenticity and love for what you do, whether it be suspense, steam punk, erotic or sweet. To be a bit contrary, I think variety is in fact the cliche spice of life. So why become pigeonholed? Write what your heart and soul calls you to write. Your readers will follow and you will open the doors to many more. To do otherwsie is like an actor becoming type cast. I don't know about you, but my writer's soul needs wings to lift me to new realms. No amount of "branding" will force me to shrivel as an artist and creator. The one thing my readers CAN always expect is a heartfelt tale to uplift, inspire, educate and entertain. That IMHO is the best 'brand' in the world.

    Chrisitne London
    www.christinelondon.com

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  9. I'd like to think that I already have a fairly distinctive brand - I mean, how many men do you know that write romance? On top of that you'll find similar 'types' of characters in my novels. My heroes are all 'ordinary' men and my heroines are all strong independent women who nevertheless 'need' their heroes.

    And yet I'd say all my books are different. While my heroes might be 'similar', they are all very, very different. Same goes for the girls. And the plots... I think that's the key. Read a Marc Nobbs novel and you'll know it's a a Marc Nobbs novel, but as yet, I've not run out of different plots. As long as you can keep the plots coming, the a 'brand can work. Take a look at Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. Getting on for 30 books now - -each one different, and yet you know it's Discworld novel when you read it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I have the same problem, Lisabet. I love to experiment in my writing, so write across a variety of genres, from sweet to erotic. I've begun to focus more on paranormal/fantasy, but stories in other genres are nagging at me to finish them too. I've wondered whether I should start a new pen name to split fantasy and contemporary? Then what about historical? It's too confusing for me, and readers are savvy enough to know it's me anyway.
    I'd love to hear others opinions too!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Great post, Lisabet. I love the way you describe your work; it reminds me of my own. I developed the tagline "Character-driven stories of handsome, sexy gay men in love and danger" to represent my books, which are in both gay mystery and M/M romance. I do see crossover from my mystery readers and think it's because the books have a similar core.

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  12. Wow! Thanks for all your excellent comments.

    Christine - I do hope that you're right. One reason that I don't choose a particular genre and stick to it is that it wouldn't come from the heart. It would be a purely commercial decision and I suspect would smother inspiration.

    Collette - I'm glad the blog seems useful. I worry sometimes that all I'm doing is venting!

    Michelle - I think you and I are a lot alike (see my comment at your Grip post today!)

    Lorrie - I don't have that kind of patience. My writing time is limited and I'd much rather be having fun!

    Margaret - "Light bulb moment"! I'm really flattered.

    Neil - Your tag line includes a lot of information! But it does sound like you write two basic genres.

    Hi, Cate - we've got a lot of authors commenting here, but so far no readers. Maybe I'll send out a question on my list. That's what I often do for my contents - use them to do market research.

    Marc - you guys writing romance have got it easy ;^) Thanks again for letting me sound off.

    Warmly,
    Lisabet

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  13. I'm like you. I write in several subgenres and heat levels. Like you also, I worry about consistency and branding and am trying to work it out.

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  14. Marc,

    It does kind of pop doesn't it, especially when comparing it to your other covers.

    Although, I have to say, the imagery for Kissed By A Rose, as well as the title font layout, is still my favorite. It's simply, yet sleek and sexy, and is one of those covers I look at wishing I had been the one to create it.

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  15. I'm with you Lisabet. I write in a variety of genres, as well as doing nonfiction and scripts. How to "brand" that, I haven't a clue. I guess I will just have to muddle through. LOL

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  16. Interesting article about branding. I think I'm doing okay with this, but need to get more exposure for my book to my targeted audience. It is proving challenging.

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