“Leaders who bob and weave like aging boxers don’t inspire confidence—or deserve it. The same thing is true of writers. Sell yourself, and your subject will exert its own appeal. Believe in your own identity and your own opinions. Proceed with confidence, generating it, if necessary by pure willpower. Writing is an act of ego and you might as well admit it. Use its energy to keep yourself going.”
–William Zinsser
As I said in my last entry, I am a horror writer, and it’s all I’ve ever wanted to be. I write horror fiction. Yes, I have stepped outside the genre here and there, but if you asked my newsletter subscribers to describe me and my work, I am confident they would say Horror Writer.
Stephen King is a horror writer, one of the most famous. He got that label by starting out in the horror genre. The story goes when King submitted his second novel, ’salem’s Lot, to his agent, the agent warned him he would be labelled a horror writer. We see how that turned out. You say “Stephen King” to any random person, and you know exactly what kind of images come to mind. Stephen King knows his identity.
The same goes for Edgar Allan Poe, Clive Barker, John Grisham, Tom Clancy, J.K. Rowling. They have all established firm identities in the literary world.
Identity is important, especially when you start publishing and selling your fiction. If you enjoy writing mainly science fiction or crime stories, it wouldn’t do to be known as an author of children’s stories. Or to be perceived as an author of children’s stories.
Some authors will use a pen name for publishing different genres. Some authors do this because they have established an identity and don’t want to confuse their readers. If a young adult author decides to try their hand at erotica, they don’t want those young adult audiences seeing their name on the cover, recognizing it as their favorite young adult author, and buying their smut.
It’s important, when publishing and selling, to know who you are, and to convey that to your audience. It’s equally important to do this if you’re just getting started, especially if you’re an indie author. Make sure your cover conveys the genre and establishes your identity.
My short story “Maggie Andrews Gets the Facts” sounds like it could be part of a mystery series like Nancy Drew, so I made sure the cover spoke louder than the title. You’re not going to confuse THIS cover with a YA sleuth:
This cover says “I’m a horror story by a horror author” because I know my identity.
In a sea of anonymous authors writing anonymous books, you want yours to stand out, you want your name to be one readers know they can come to for what they’re seeking because they know who you are. And they know who you are because YOU know who you are.
Having an identity is what plants your feet in the publishing world. Marketers and booksellers hate an author they don’t know what to do with (I’ve heard countless stories of novels publishing companies loved, but didn’t know how to market, so they passed). Readers hate an author they can’t find in their bookstore. Know who you are when you start publishing, shout that name to your (potential) readers so they can find you. Decide who you are, who you want the world to see when they look at you, and then be that person.
I’m a horror writer, and despite publishing stories like “Kung Fu Sasquatch”, I’ve never wanted to be anything else.