One Genre Or Multiple

Yesterday I talked about how I was advised when I began writing to work only on series. I was told stand alone books would never sell and I would never find a readership base without making people want the next book in a series. After they got done making me feel small for choosing to write Never Give Up which is, in fact, a stand alone book, they started in on branding. I was told it is impossible to market myself without have a specific genre. I had to tell people I was a horror author, or a romance author, or a children's book writer.

The truth is, that just isn;t true. I began writing a contemporary drama and the next book follow suit but then I got into a book I am still not sure what genre it is. I have a thriller series, a historical fantasy series, a stand alone romance, and an entire children's picture book series. I was told again I was making all the wrong decisions. Because I write so many different styles I was told I would never be able to find a brand as any kind of author unless I used a different pen name for each genre.

Instead of trying to keep track of my multiple personalities writing I decided to turn myself into the brand. My website just has links to all of my books, when the series get published the pages for each will have a dedicated theme. If I attend a specific type of show like a comic con I will only take the books that apply but I have found that becoming the brand and allowing myself the creative freedom to be whoever I want to be is much easier than stifling certain aspects of my writing.

I guess the entire point of the last two days of my rambling is that people give advice and whether it is meant to guide or control your next actions it doesn't matter. We can take what people tell us and add it to our current information but in the end we have to decide for ourselves what is best. Just because something didn't work for someone else or it hasn't been tried yet doesn't mean it can't be done. It may not work or it might be groundbreaking. The key is taking the chance, trusting yourself and allowing your creativity to find the home it's meant for.