My Personal Brand . . . or “what do I want for Christmas every year?…”

Filed in: blog

Author Jenn Stark has written a terrific series that discusses the basics and power of developing a personal brand. This is something which I’ve been struggling with for some time.

To follow Ms. Stark’s idea, I would want to start with the idea that I’m a friendly, stubborn redhead who writes romantic suspense. Good. I’d also like to be known for a particular style of dress…unfortunately, my sense of style is very similar to Gilda Radner’s. She once said her sense of style was based on what didn’t itch.

But that’s the minor part. For years, I’ve wrestled with the question of going Christian…or secular. “Write from your heart” is good advice, except that my heart sits on both sides of the fence. Why can’t I do both? Well…part of the problem with that is that Christian houses don’t really want to publish someone who also sells edgy, secular fiction, pseudonym or no pseudonym. And there’s not a lot of room on the secular side either, since they don’t want to confuse their readers.

So I feel driven to make a choice, yet I remain annoyed that in order to build a career, it has to be this way, as if I’m betraying something deep within.

If God has an answer, He’s not yet opened that window for me.

In the meantime, I have a book due.

No Comments