Quote:
Originally Posted by Steven Lake
Can you elaborate on that a bit more? Especially the "managing your brand" part. Are you saying that too many novels too quickly can damage your brand, or is it more a case of "let's get this one handled before we go and tackle another one"? Or is it more a case of reader kickback if you're tossing too many new books out there too quickly, especially if someone has a slower rate of reading? Just asking, as you've struck my curiosity.  |
I was speaking generally and using my own terms, so don't read too much into it.
Basically, I think it's a control and marketing issue, and it has more to do with how traditional publishing works. When it comes to the business end of publishing, a book is an event. It's a "release" not a physical thing. They're balancing a whole lot of issues and selling the book to a whole lot of people before they ever get to the reader. (As a matter of fact, you could say that publishers don't sell to readers at all - they sell to distributors and retailers.)
I think the desire to market books at a slower rate is more to maximize efforts than anything else. They want to play on anticipation, and that's where "brand" enters into it. I think the slogan was "a Christie for Christmas" later in Agatha Christie's career.
But if you don't have this monster distribution system to manage - and if you don't have book launches - then it matters less.
My theory (and this not based on anything except my own buying habits and that of my friends) is that when a customer discovers you, it's to your benefit to have a bunch of books available in the same series or genre so they can go to town on it.
What matters is that the quality is consistent and if you write in more than one genre or style, the audience can quickly find their favorites among what you write. You could use pseudonyms, or you could use title and cover to indicate different types.
IMHO, pseudonyms were great for physical books, because it would say right on them "writing as" so the audience could easily find all your books. (And librarians and bookstores will often file them all together.) However, in the electronic world, they search on author name, and so it's harder to find the things written under other names.
Camille