Thought I'd get into the Easter spirit for the Ladies.
By: Michael James Greenwald
Happy Easter Sunday, for those of you of the Christian faith. And for those peeps of the Semitic origin, Happy Chinese-Food-Take-Out-Night (What is it with Christian holidays that drives us-Jews to kung pao chicken?).
This week, I believe, is a Writer’s Choice week, and that is usually a scary prospect for my fellow confession-ers, due to my tendency to allow The Weird out of his cage, but luckily for them (and probably for anyone who clicks on PLC on Sundays to check out what diatribe I’ve pulled out of dark nether-regions, this Sunday) I’ve had a topic brewing for a couple days now, which my fingers have been twitching to share it with y’all, and considering today honors Jesus Christ, undoubtably the most famous man of mankind, or as this pertains to this PLC confession, undoubtably the most affective brand ever developed, I believe my topic for today is, well, quite topical.
TIGER WOODS
Tiger needs an outlet to release all that anger...hmmm, what to do? what to do?
I know, I know (I know, I know, I know), I’ve just lost my blogger-cred (he’s leaching onto the Hot Topic of the Moment in order to draw traffic to his blog!!!). Oh, come on, come on…that’s (exactly) what I’m doing.
Please listen, my interest in the Tiger Wood’s story has absolutely nothing to do with golf (I’d rather watch reruns of the Rosie O’Donnell Show), zero to do with how many fuggly girls he sexted (though, Tiger might want to consider an erotic fiction writing career, post-golf), and notta to do with his Return To The Masters, next weekend.
The question we must as, as writers: how can we study Tiger Woods’s rise, fall, and impending return to greater notoriety than Tiger Woods Inc. had ever achieved before?
In today’s marketplace, there is nothing more important than your brand.
I wish it were different. I wish I could type: in today’s marketplace, there is nothing more important than your product. But that would be dishonest. We all know it. Books, magazines, newspapers, words, language, reading are all cash cows, sans the cash. We are more than sixty years since the image of an American family gathering in the living room after dinner, all reading a book or magazine or newspaper.
Sending books to troops in 2010? Decidedly UN-American.
I don’t have to tell you this. You all know.
But how, as current and future published authors, compete? How can we use the tools of the modern marketplace, which buoys celebrities and reality TV to epic stature, to capture an audience?
March 28, 2010′s Sunday New York Times Magazine contained an article by Jonathan Mahler titled “The Tiger Bubble.” In it, Mr. Mahler discusses the impact the global, celebrity-athlete Tiger Woods had on the popularity of golf. The article led me to think about the industry I work in, and the similarities in the golf industry and the book industry became hard to ignore.
Mick Rooney (not Mickey Rooney)–Irish author, editor, and publisher–talks about branding in his blog “Branding and Publishing Strategies” on Publetariat:
“Good marketing and branding starts out with absolutely nothing, and ends up with something glorious and unique. Bad marketing starts out with something and tries to make it something it will never be. Bad marketing will never separate the wolf from the pack, nor the gem that sits amongst the stones at the bottom of the sea.”
Now, in the case of Tiger, creating a brand is quite easy. He was a golfing phenom at twelve-years-old that matured into a clean-cut, polite, classy, respectful man. Of course, we discovered recently that wasn’t exactly true, and those of us who’ve observed Tiger’s antics on the course for his entire career–throwing clubs, swearing, chastising himself and others–were less than surprised that the man, Tiger, ended up being quite different than the brand, Tiger.
But that’s really beside the point, isn’t it. What remains is Tiger Woods is one of the most powerful brands in the history of history (still can’t hold Jesus’s loin-cloth). And how was this brand created? Through careful, meticulous strategy.
Let’s switch this conversation to the publishing industry. When you think of books, who’s the first author who comes to your mind?
The Brand, herself
Stephen King?
James Patterson?
Dan Brown?
Stephenie Meyer?
All good answers.
Mick Rooney highlights Jodi Picoult. “Picoult has deftly rattled off novel after novel about family and relationships, posing moral and philosophical dilemmas for many years—what if I gave birth to twins and they turned out to be reincarnations of Jesus and Lucifer? Would I love them both just as much? That’s Picoult signature and brand and she is wonderful at what she does.”
And if you check out Picoult’s website, you see a carefully organized strategy to convey her brand (even down to the color choices: bright, energetic, feminine).
Okay, so most of us aren’t the Tiger Woods of literature. We aren’t Mozart. But does that mean we can’t develop a brand?
Heck, no.
WHAT IS A BRAND?
A BRAND of Humiliation
Fair question. Let’s avoid the AMA definition, strictly because, as with most textbook definitions, it’s too generic to be useful.
Mick Rooney believes your brand is along the lines of/the same as your tag line. 15 words or less, coveys the message of the book and author. He cites Jodi Picoult as a prime example (See above).
Founder and president of Calliope Content (a literary development firm based in Chicago) Sara Wolski talks about how brands grow organically out of writers understanding of their readers, their point of view and what they desire from their product. Readers of Chelsea Handler have very different goals when they pick up Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me Chelsea than readers who buy Courage and Consequence, by Karl Rove.
Think about your book? Why do you think readers will buy it? Entertainment? Humor? Information? What do your readers look like? Twenty-something college graduates? Sixty-something retirees?
Now that I’ve incited panic attacks, let me take a moment and put your mind at ease.
“Branding one book can be difficult,” Mick Rooney says. “I think it gets easier the more books an author writes. And so, it should if the author is making defined and progressive development in their books and writing style. I am lucky in my time to have met and even befriended a great many authors. One thing is clear when we discuss branding for an author and their books. It takes time. There is no author I know of…who writes full time and managed to achieve it after a book or two.”
Deep breaths, peeps. There you go, it’s going to be all right. My advice: don’t worry about your brand.
Focus on writing about something impassions you, and be prolific–I.E.- finish manuscripts.
Then your brand will grow from that. Just as a novel’s theme generally pokes its head up as you’re writing.
Take Tiger. It took years and billions of dollars to develop and nurture the brand he became, using the qualities and morals he’d been raised with (which he abandoned for a temporary time) but first and foremost, he needed to practice chipping and he needed to play in a bunch of tournaments.
HOW DO YOU DEVELOP YOUR BRAND?
Now, this, you can start at now…this second…go.
Sara Wolski provides five steps to develop your platform (and brand) on her website.
1) Every author must have an active website and blog
2) The more publications in newspapers and magazines, the better
3) Networking is a must
4) Keep writing
I’d like to add one more to her list (hope that’s okay, Sara).
5) “Perform” at author readings
I’m just going to talk about #5 for a second (for expanded coverage on steps 1-4 please go here). Several weeks ago I attended an arts festival at Story Studio Chicago and a fellow author and student, Molly Backes read the prologue from her upcoming novel. Let me just put it this way. Her prologue was so entertaining and funny, and her delivery was so powerful, even though I don’t read YA novels I’m interested to read her book when it comes out.
That should say something to every writer out there.
Get out of your writing rooms!
Un-hinge (or unlock, it’s safer) those doors!
Venture out!
Share your words, characters, settings, wit with the world!
You don’t need to have a published book. You don’t even need a published story. Just have fun. And entertain the best way you can.
I recommend bringing cards or leaflets that list your website, blog, Facebook page. But the goal should be to thrust yourself in the limelight and begin to create a local buzz, so when you do finish your novel, when you do have a product to sell, you’ll be ahead of the game in terms of sales and notoriety.
"No, he did-n't!"
So, get out there, enjoy yourselves…work on your brand…
GO ON. BE A TIGER!!!!
(I couldn’t help myself, sorry)
Thanks for reading.
–MJG
Michael James Greenwald is a outspoken proponent of monogamy and does not support extramarital affairs with fuggly woman. He works in his family business of owning and operating bowling alleys in the South Suburbs of Chicago. He is also a fiction writer, with a short story collection Stories from a Bowling Alley and a novel The Rainbow Child due to be published in the next several years. You can read his blogs at sleepsunshine and his confessions every Sunday on his group blog at parkinglotconfessional.com. Venture to his Facebook page or feel free to email him with any comments or suggestions for further topics, or if you had any interest in being a guest blogger on either one of his sites.
