Crossing the Bridges: The Concept of being a Brand
One of the reasons why this blog is titled “Crossing the Bridges” is because of the vastly different styles of writing I work with.
I can, however, break down pretty much all of my work into three distinct styles/genres.
These posts, as well as Pathwalking and Positivity, fall under what I refer to as self-help philosophy. My fantasy series, my Steampunk series and all my other imaginative works fall under fiction. Beyond that, there is the business related writing and journalism I’ve done, which falls under trade/professional.
Trade/professional is largely employed for my job, as well as Chamber of Commerce stuff, and to some degree the administrative job I do for my Kingdom in the SCA. This is the aspect of my writing that, while I fully acknowledge it and the importance that I have the capability to do it, is not what I feel the need to pursue for further gain.
Also, while I enjoy trade/professional writing work, certainly more than non-writing sit-at-a-desk-let-someone-pay-you work, it does not bring me the joy or inspire the passion that comes from self-help philosophy and fiction work.
Which is part of why these two aspects of my writing are where I want to focus my career path. It is along these lines I want to work, to share what inspires me and hope that, in turn, it might just inspire you.
For a long time I lamented that I had not chosen to split my personas. One could have handled the fiction, the other the self-help philosophy. Two separate brands and separate marketing as such. But by the time that notion came up, I had already published items in all three of my fields.
Interestingly, along that line, for a long time my SCA persona and my mundane self were two different people. My SCA persona was flirtier, bolder and less shy than my mundane persona. Eventually, though, I came to see this as less asset and more liability. Real world me was suffering from neglect while medieval me was being shined like a new-found penny. When I realized the danger of letting the fantasy me overrun real me, I integrated myself back to a singular me.
This right here is one of the best arguments for me to only have the one publishing persona, even with two opposing styles. I am, when all is said and done, just one person. So it makes sense to keep myself whole.
A book I have just completed reading, You Are a Writer (so start ACTING like one) by Jeff Goins, delves into several aspects of the challenge I find in “branding” myself as a writer. In fact, quite specifically, the topics of Platform and Branding are addressed with quite a bit of detail.
As I strive to better organize how I am managing my time, I have to take into consideration the ideas of my platform and my brand. In the idea of platform, Mr. Goins suggests several concepts, but specifically recommends taking on NO MORE than two.
With that in mind, I find that I have a bit more focus. My two platforms are self-help philosophy and fiction. Knowing and acknowledging this, the big question is, What is my brand?
This is the question that is the impetus for these posts. How do I take what I have long considered two different ideas and mold them into a single brand? What can I do that will tie these two different styles together?
Two of the authors I most admire have leanings in the same direction. Neil Gaiman and Paulo Coelho both have works of fiction and non-fiction, and I would even go so far as to classify some of their work as self-help and/or philosophy. I admire both immensely, and have enjoyed many of their works, as well as their blogs and Twitter posts.
My “brand” should be a simple idea. No more than a couple words, easy to state and memorable. No small order, really.
The word I like to use when I describe my writing for self-help philosophy stuff is inspiration. The word I like to use when I describe my writing for fiction is creative. Can I brand myself as inspirational creativity? Creative inspiration? Creative and Inspirational? Inspire creativity? Inspire and create? I have the concept here, now I need to make a choice.
Finding and creating my brand will allow me to better market myself and my works. This will help me to generate more buzz, and in turn more interest and from there more sales!
Platform and brand. Having a clearer idea of these concepts is going to allow me to take writing further, and do more with this skill. I have some big ideas for the self-help philosophy portion, and I have more works of fiction underway in various stages. Lots of pieces to the puzzle, and I am working on chunking down my time better so as to not be overwhelmed by the big picture.
Each step moves me forward. Can’t cross a bridge without walking out onto it to begin with. Thank You for crossing the bridges between my worlds with me.
GOAL LOG – Week 2:
Diet: Working on being more mindful about what and how much I am eating.
Exercise: One day of fencing, two days at the gym.
Writing: The three blogs got written, and I did a little work on the sci-fi story.
Meditation: Only 2 days of mediation, never less than 6 minutes.
Gratitude: I wrote five things I was grateful for five days this week.
This is the sixteenth entry of my personal journey, the Crossing the Bridges series. My collectively published writing can be found here.
Follow me here!
