I've said before that I am only going to put into this what I make from it. The argument sent back to me from others is-- do you believe in your product? If you do, pay for professional editor, cover artist, and someone to help you get publicity. That can run $1000 a book to hire those with quality resumes. Repeating again, I'd go nuts right now if I did that as I might find my books not that salable even if I put out that money, and we would be talking $10,000 for all of them. I am sticking to my philosophy.
So how do I market me as a quality product when I can't hire experts? For the first two parts it has meant for the last year putting a lot of hours into editing and creating covers which now involves trailers. No money but a lot of my own sweat when it's not fun to be reading for errors and not pleasure.
My covers are done (again and again) with some paid stock images as well as many of my own landscape photos. I even got a new set of fonts to offer a little more professional look to titles.
Basically I have worked, what amounts to a full-time job, for a year on these manuscripts. Whenever I find something hasn't worked, I redo it. It has been a tremendously demanding project. I did it because I felt the books deserved the best I could give them.
BUT there is still that pesky branding problem. How does one brand oneself? I don't even know how I would do this as a woman let alone as a writer.
Who am I as a writer? What is my purpose in my stories? Is there a common purpose? If I wrote one of these series type books, it might be easier. My contemporary manuscripts, some with continuing characters, are not a series other than set in the modern West of Montana, Arizona, Idaho, and Oregon. To be honest, I rarely choose series books to read although I can think of a few exceptions (Elswyth Thane Beebe, Roberta Gellis, Patricia Veryan, Diana Gabaldon) but generally I don't care for the series format. Well a lot of readers do; so one of the ways I might have created a Rain Trueax brand would be if I did-- too late for that for these contemporaries.
I got distracted. The issue is what is my purpose in writing?
Primarily, I love creating stories I would enjoy reading.
Plots and characters come to me various ways, and when they do, I want to give them life.
With issues I care about, a romance is a good vehicle to highlight them.
The coming together of two people with all the energy of an emotional explosion is exciting to write and read (yes, I love reading my own stories-- when I am not editing them).
I love finding combinations of words, the perfect dialogue, the energy of a scene that went well.
In each of my stories there will be a man and woman who find they are stronger through what they experience than they either were before. They will go through some very tough times which will always mean a dangerous event or events. Through them, they will find their strongest self. The heroine will be an equal partner in overcoming these tribulations. I like strong women.
My life and interests are reflected in my stories which are of love, of men and women finding relationships, working, trying to better their world, and struggling with all the things humans do.
My stories do explore sexuality but always from a healthy perspective which includes responsible choices. I do not write about women as victims. No heroine of mine will ever say no when she means yes.
Not sure any of that sounds much like a brand, certainly not like hey, it's Wranglers, I'll get myself a pair; so back to the drawing board.
