{"id":2062,"date":"2015-05-17T12:33:46","date_gmt":"2015-05-17T19:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/?p=2062"},"modified":"2023-08-09T07:47:36","modified_gmt":"2023-08-09T14:47:36","slug":"putting-spice-in-your-brand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2015\/writing\/putting-spice-in-your-brand\/","title":{"rendered":"Putting Spice In Your Brand"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AegyptischerBasar<\/a>What kind of writer are you? Do you have a series with a protagonist that shows up in every book you write? Do you write in the same genre? Do you think about your brand when you\u2019re writing? What spice are you putting in your brand?<\/p>\n

When I look at writers like J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter) and Sue Grafton (Alphabet mysteries), who’ve written successful series using the same character(s), or the authors who\u2019ve stayed in the same genre, like Stephen King (horror), John Grisham (legal thrillers), Nora Roberts (romance) and Nicholas Sparks (romance), I can see why they\u2019ve become bestselling authors. They’ve given their readers a clear idea of what to expect with each succeeding novel. They created a brand that was reliable.<\/p>\n

When I think of stories to write, I see that I\u2019m not following their example. I find it hard because it\u2019s not who I am.<\/p>\n

First of all, I have no interest in writing a sequel for Catherine, the protagonist in my debut novel, A Cry From The Deep<\/strong><\/span>, <\/em>though I have been considering doing something with her daughter Alex. She’s getting older, and she\u2019s a lot of fun. I suspect once she reaches a certain age, she won\u2019t be an easy woman to toy with.<\/p>\n

As for genre, if you’ve read my biography, you\u2019ll understand why I have trouble staying in the same genre. I like variety in life and in my books. I also write the way I read. I read everything, literary novels as well as commercial ones, classics and indie self-published ones.\u00a0I also don’t read sequels, even if the first one was good.<\/p>\n

Though I’m not following the lead of bestselling authors, I’ve since discovered that it doesn\u2019t really matter, especially if I plan to attract avid readers like myself, who don’t read sequels or buy books in the same genre. What matters to me is a good story. And that is essentially what made the authors listed above so successful. They told a damn good story.<\/p>\n

That’s my goal. To work on telling a good story. The spice in my brand is the variety in my writing. Just as I\u2019ve loved having different experiences in my life, through work and travel, I love exploring different genres and ways to tell a story. A Cry from the Deep<\/strong> <\/em>is a romantic mystery\/adventure with a nice dose of paranormal.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m also polishing up two more novels that are close to seeing light. One is historical fiction and the other, well women\u2019s fiction again, but one that takes place largely on a psychiatric ward in the 70s.<\/p>\n

What will this do for my brand? Time will tell. But for me, variety is indeed the spice of life.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

What about you? Do you believe authors are better off staying in the same genre?<\/strong> Do you believe that readers will fall off if the writer deviates with each succeeding book? Are sequels more successful than one-offs? Or are you like me, putting spice in your brand through genre bending or changing genres? Comments are always appreciated.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What kind of writer are you? Do you have a series with a protagonist that shows up in every book you write? Do you write in the same genre? Do… <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Putting Spice In Your Brand http:\/\/wp.me\/p1LuVB-xg","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[609,740,78,739,736,533,735,737,738,9,732,134,731,5],"class_list":["post-2062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing","tag-a-cry-from-the-deep","tag-brand","tag-diana-stevan","tag-genre","tag-harry-potter","tag-j-k-rowling","tag-john-grisham","tag-nicholas-sparks","tag-nora-roberts","tag-novel","tag-novelette","tag-stephen-king","tag-the-blue-nightgown","tag-writing-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/AegyptischerBasar-2.jpg?fit=1549%2C1037&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LuVB-xg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1449,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2013\/writing\/a-rose-by-any-other-name\/","url_meta":{"origin":2062,"position":0},"title":"A Rose By Any Other Name","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"9 \u0421\u0435\u0440\u043f\u043d\u044f, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet\" argues Juliet in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. She is trying to make a point that what matters is what something is, not what it's called. Ah, try and tell that to agents and publishers in today's writing universe. Just recently,\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"IMG_0738","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/IMG_0738-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":168,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/writing\/prologues\/","url_meta":{"origin":2062,"position":1},"title":"Prologues","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"3 \u0411\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0437\u043d\u044f, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"In my second novel, I wrote a prologue. I've agonized over it, as it's not short. As an avid reader, I've had mixed feelings about reading prologues, sometimes enjoying them, and sometimes feeling it's taken the author too long to get going. So, I went online to see what others\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3219,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2017\/writing\/upcoming-events-for-author-diana-stevan\/","url_meta":{"origin":2062,"position":2},"title":"Upcoming Events in Campbell River and Vancouver’s North Shore","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"26 \u041a\u0432\u0456\u0442\u043d\u044f, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Now that I'm back from our trip to California (photos to follow soon), I'm gearing up for a few upcoming events. One is at the end of this month and two are in early May. Authors for Indie Day First up is Authors for Indie Day at Coho Books in\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"upcoming events","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_2220-300x284.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1907,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2015\/writing\/why-do-writers-write-what-they-write\/","url_meta":{"origin":2062,"position":3},"title":"Why Do Writers Write What They Write?","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"18 \u041b\u044e\u0442\u043e\u0433\u043e, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 The question of why\u00a0writers write what they write came up a while back,\u00a0when I caught an interview that Stephen Colbert did with author, Toni Morrison, a Pulitzer\u00a0and Nobel Prize winner, who started writing at age 39. Stephen asked Toni Morrison if she was undergoing a mid-life crisis at the\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"180px-Beloved_by_Toni_Morrison","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/180px-Beloved_by_Toni_Morrison.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3599,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2018\/writing\/an-authors-nightmare\/","url_meta":{"origin":2062,"position":4},"title":"An Author’s Nightmare","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"19 \u041b\u044e\u0442\u043e\u0433\u043e, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I had no ordinary nightmare. It was scary, as all nightmares are, but in the aftermath, I found it hilarious and telling and not entirely surprising, given that I had just sent off my manuscript for my third novel\u2014historical fiction\u2014to an editor. Writing a novel is only half the battle.\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"author's nightmare","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/book-2929646_1920-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C704&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/book-2929646_1920-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C704&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/book-2929646_1920-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C704&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/book-2929646_1920-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C704&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/book-2929646_1920-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C704&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5262,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2021\/writing\/the-subjective-nature-of-art\/","url_meta":{"origin":2062,"position":5},"title":"The Subjective Nature of Art","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"14 \u041b\u044e\u0442\u043e\u0433\u043e, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"A recent film and a novel made me reflect on the subjective nature of art. They raised lots of questions, especially after I read the critical reviews. Malcolm & Marie Art is so subjective. Take the feature film Malcolm & Marie on Netflix that reminded my husband and me of\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"the subjective nature of art","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Coles-Books-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2062"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6301,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2062\/revisions\/6301"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}