Branding (not the kinky sort, we're professionals here!)

At the LERA meeting last week (which was an RWA conference recap), I heard about a great workshop I missed in Reno. It's all about "branding" your work--you don't want people to look for just your next book by the book's title, you want them to want the new "Author's Name" book, because they love your style, your persona, your voice, whatever. Evidently, one mistake some authors make when they are interviewed is talking about the book itself. They're asked "Tell us about your book", and they answer "There's this heroine (X), and this hero (Y), and they do this and go here..." Yada yada. When what we should do is tie the book to our Brand. I'm not putting it very well, and at the moment I'm too disorganized to find my conference handout book, but I think this idea makes a lot of sense for building a long-term career. Obviously it works well in other areas of entertainment (movies, music, etc).

First of all, we're supposed to find out what the underlying theme of all our work is. I took at look at my own books and realized that, despite the variety of settings and characters (artists, scholars, antiquarians, keepers of gaming hells, fake governesses, whatever), they all DID have a theme. And that is that love--real love--can make you a better person. It can set you free from the chains of the past and build a better life for the future. My characters aren't perfect people, they've made lots of mistakes. But love shows them a better way in the end.

Okay, so now I have my theme. I have what makes an "Amanda McCabe" book. Love can set you free. Now I have to develop a "public persona." Hmm, this will be a bit trickier, considering that I only go out in public as an author a few times a year! (Though I guess, now that I think about it, that this blog is a public space. Double hmm). I will just have to consult the celebrity bible, People magazine. (I only read it for the pictures, honest!). It's chock full of personas. I do know I would rather be a Gwyneth Paltrow/Emmy Rossum/Anne Hathaway type than, say, J. Lo (but talk about branding!). Aside from that tall, flowy hair thing--that just ain't gonna work for this, er, petite gal. But the "real actress"/classy/pseudo-European thing, that's what I mean. Obviously, this branding idea will take some practice, and also a lot more thought. I'll let you know how it goes.

I'd also love to hear how anyone else would go about "branding" their work and themselves. Writer or not, I'm sure it would be useful for just about anyone. :)