Guest Blog: Sweating the Business Stuff

Let me begin by saying that I don't think I am stupid. Really. I just feel stupid sometimes. Mostly I feel that way when it comes to the writing business. Not writing itself, mind you. The writing business.

If readers on this blog have ever attended one of my workshops on the industry, they may now be thinking "Jeesh, woman, do you mean you were just winging it?" No, I wasn't. I started working hard at learning about the business because I often feel so stupid.

For example, it takes me forever to figure out what the latest buzz word means in this industry. "High concept" began being thrown around about six years ago. I think maybe I've finally figured out what it means. By finally I mean, like, yesterday.

About eight years ago everyone got all obsessed about "voice." I was unpublished at the time and I panicked. Do I have a voice? What if I don't? I actually called my agent (a kind soul with enormous patience for my off-the-wall phone calls, God bless her), and demanded to know what kind of voice I have. It was a conversation with lots of pauses. I think in the end she just made something up so I wouldn't get depressed.

For about four years now I have been trying to wrap my brain around "branding." I understand the basics here. I can relate it to branding in other areas. McDonald's, for example. But as with voice, I have no idea if I have a brand or even the makings of one. Actually, I haven't decided if I even want one.

See, McDonald's began with a very narrow brand. You young 'uns won't remember, 'cause most of you weren't even alive, but it was the "home of the 15-cent hamburger." Hey, I grew up with the birth and expansion of one of the greatest branding successes in history. This I can get. A key to their branding was that all those hamburgers tasted the same. You knew exactly what you were getting.

But I don't want to be the home of the 15-cent hamburger in writing. Readers get to decide to only eat one a year if they choose, but if I am making those hamburgers I am stuck with a steady diet of them. In the least, I asked my agent (a kind soul, etc.), can't I be like today's McDonald's? Can't I add some salads to the menu? Maybe a chicken sandwich?

Well, of course I can. My agent will let me and so will my publisher. But. . . .I really do think that the writing business will be nicer to me if I just make those hamburgers. I'm not blind. In publishing the brands are getting narrower, not broader. The narrower a brand, the more effective it is.

So I set out to define my brand, to figure out what was promised by a Madeline Hunter story. I engaged in the process with a p.r. specialist. I conducted a fascinating self-study that ended up being valuable in ways that had nothing to do with my brand. Actually, it was most valuable in ways that got in the way of identifying a brand. And as we narrowed down to my "brand", I could not help but notice that it wasn't very narrow at all. I mean, how do you describe McDonald's today, with its menu variety? Not with a cute jingle about hamburgers.

I recently made a breakthrough in grappling with all of this. I have been learning some interesting things about reader expectations. I have been collecting and studying the reactions of readers to my chicken sandwiches when I write one, and the reactions when I bring out a version of my hamburger. Like McDonalds at mid stage, in turns out I can make alterations in that hamburger so they are not all the same, but readers are happiest when a book with my name on it has beef inside that roll.

While letting me know they don't think of me as a salad or chicken sandwich writer, they have also articulated what it is about a one of my stories that makes it a hamburger. My current release, The Rules of Seduction, is a hamburger in their opinion. The feedback has been very useful. Common denominators are showing up. A type of definition is forming. The essential ingredients are emerging. I think. . . could it be?. . .that maybe I have a brand after all.

Now all I have to do is figure out how to distill this down to one of those clever, five-word, branding phrases. Unfortunately, trying to do that makes me feel stupid again. Every other author seems to be so good at devising those punchy, perfect turns of phrase, but my brain go blank.

The way I sweat this business stuff, I'll have my brand all figured out in about five more years. Maybe.

Madeline Hunter
http://www.MadelineHunter.com