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21 " Literary fiction causes a lot of confusion for readers and writers alike. As far as misbranding goes, literary fiction bears the brunt of it. In fact, I see so many authors misclassify their beautiful literary novels, that one day I got fed up and went on a blog rant. "
― Emlyn Chand , Discover Your Brand: A Do-It-Yourself Branding Workbook for Authors (Novel Publicity Guides to Writing & Marketing Fiction 1)
22 " The reason for it was simple. They’d written for one audience but marketed to another. "
23 " If you have four, eliminate one of your selected genres or styles. "
24 " Brand is about uniting your interests with those of your readers. Making small adjustments is good business sense, but making big adjustments may mean selling out your vision. "
25 " Experimental. While transgressive fiction is all about breaking society’s rules, experimental fiction often breaks the rules of writing. This isn’t the result of sloppy plotting or editing, but deliberate planning. "
26 " How should readers feel while reading your writing? How will readers feel once they reach the end? How do your characters relate to one another? What ties them together? Why do you write? What do you want to show the world? "
27 " Example I muddied my brand by writing paranormal young adult, literary women’s fiction, and children’s picture books using the same pen name and releasing them all within a year’s time. "
28 " Contemporary fiction is kind of a catch-all genre. It has a great deal of overlap with the literary fiction genre, which will be discussed in great detail in the following chapter. However, not all contemporary fiction is also literary fiction. "
29 " the most difficult ideas the farthest away. "
30 " The mystery genre kind of defines itself. Stories in this genre revolve around a central puzzle that the protagonist—and readers along with him—must solve. "
31 " Fiction Historical fiction is a subset of the literary fiction genre, which we will discuss in greater detail in the next chapter. From romance to mystery to fantasy to adventure, historical fiction often crosses into a number of other co-genres. "
32 " each one as it pertains to your ideal reader. If you’re not sure, get online and do a little research. Go to Amazon or Goodreads.com and look up books similar to your remaining idea cards. "
33 " Just because you can make it fit doesn’t necessarily mean you should. Stretching out your brand to fit an oversized idea often does more harm than good. "
34 " Discovering your brand is about discovering what you offer that readers love. "
35 " You’ll see these novels at the top of every critic’s picks and award-winner list out there, but you won’t see them at the top of bestseller lists quite as often. "
36 " Let me tell you from experience, readers of one franchise rarely crossed over to the others. "
37 " everything carefully. Although this step is optional, it’s important for determining whether your brand is changing or evolving. "
38 " most important to you? Circle those too. "
39 " So how do you know if you need a pen name? "
40 " Analyzing Your Patterns As you went through the questions above, were there any notecards you consistently placed far away from the rest? If so, these are your outliers, the ideas that don’t mesh with the direction of your brand. "