We’ve been talking about branding all week. One question that has come up frequently is whether a new writer needs to get branded. So I thought I’d ask a newly minted author, Camy Tang, whose first novel comes out in September. Camy took my Fiction 101 lecture series three years ago at a writing conference. She’s made rapid progress and now calls herself the “loud Asian chick” who writes “Romance with a kick of wasabi.”
Camy is great fun to hang out with, and she’s put up with a lot of razzing from me because of the fact that ANYTHING makes her laugh. No kidding, if you say anything remotely funny, she laughs.
I once bet her that I could make her laugh by reading something chosen at random out of the newspaper. She took the bet and put on her straight face, absolutely determined not to laugh. I opened the newspaper and started reading an ad in my “Kansas hick” voice. (I was born in Kansas.) She started laughing hysterically. I feel confident I could read an obituary and make her laugh.
Check out Camy’s web site here. Notice how well the design, colors, graphics etc. all fit together. Graphic design is part of a brand.
Anyway, I emailed Camy yesterday and asked if she’d like to talk about how she got branded (and maybe show us her scars). She was quick to respond.
Randy asked: Do you think branding is a “good thing” or a “bad thing?”
Camy said:
I’m going to go out on a limb and say branding is one of the writer’s most powerful weapons (outside of God’s timing and His orchestration of the universe).
As an unpublished, nobody writer, what made my senior editor (who was a senior marketing director at the time, something to take note of) sit up and notice me was my brand. Fun, romantic, Asian American fiction.
Here are my theories why:
1) No one else in Christian publishing was doing Asian American fiction–some Asian American NONfiction, some overseas Asian (non American) fiction, but not Asian American fiction. I was blazing a new trail.
2) I was writing ROMANCE, which is a well-selling genre in Christian publishing, so I wasn’t totally out in left field.
When I pitched to Sue Brower, she hadn’t read any of my writing, but she was intrigued by my brand. It made me stand out from the other appointments she’d been taking at that conference because I had a definite MARKETING platform (remember I said she was marketing director at the time?).
If a writer can make him or herself stand out from the pack like that, then stellar writing is just gravy.
Randy asked: Tell us all about your brand.
Camy said:
I write Asian American Christian chick lit, although it’s also targeted at romance readers (which is by far the larger reader demographic). More on that below.
My tagline is “Romance with a kick of wasabi.” Wasabi is an extremely powerful horseradish used with sushi. I chose my tagline because my novels are romantic, but they’ve also got strong, unusual Asian characters (that kick of wasabi).
Randy notes: My wife is Korean and sometimes makes sushi with wasabi. It’s always fun to watch people eat wasabi when they think it’s guacamole. That’s a real kick!
Randy asked: What was the process you used to develop your brand?
Camy said:
Several things happened at once.
Originally, I had written a chick lit with ethnic-neutral characters. But then I did some research.
I looked at the books published in both the Christian and mainstream market. I looked at chick lit and also romantic comedy and comedic women’s fiction, since those genres are closest to what I write. I read a few books, but mostly I took time to look at the back cover blurbs posted on Amazon.com and Christianbook.com.
Those were the best couple hours I ever spent. I discovered that out of the books already published, there were no Christian Asian American novels, just Christian Asian American nonfiction titles or nonChristian Asian American novels. The Christian Asian novels out there were either historical or set overseas, not in America. That’s when the lightbulb clicked and I realized I had a unique perspective that could translate into unique fiction.
At the same time, Brandilyn Collins prayed over me at a conference. I told her to just pray however the Spirit led her, and the strangest thing came out of her mouth–“write your heritage.” Talk about weird. Just as I’d been considering writing Asian American characters, Brandilyn prayed this very specific prayer over me. Well, who am I to argue with God?
I already knew that I didn’t want to be just like any other author already out there. I wasn’t out to become the next Amy Tan or Kim Wong Keltner. I wanted to be original and unique rather than being “just like so-n-so.” I deliberately set out to NOT copy what was already published.
I also didn’t want to shoot myself in the foot–I wanted to make sure I appealed to the VPs of Sales and Marketing at a publishing house. At the time, chick lit was starting to die as a genre, but romance sales were (and still are) strong. While chick lit readers will read romance, romance readers will not always read chick lit.
So while my writing was still essentially chick lit with those strong female characters, I deliberately wrote my novels in third person to appeal to romance readers. It was a good gamble for me–this was one of many things that made my writing appeal to the editorial board.
If I’d discovered that my brand didn’t quite intrigue people, then I would have tweaked it even more until I found a brand that did. I wouldn’t ever write something I didn’t want to write, but because I enjoy writing in several different genres, I could have branched out to other things without any kind of pain or suffering.
Randy asked: Did your publisher or agent help you in developing your brand, and if so, how?
Camy said:
Most definitely. My agent and publisher both encouraged me to play up the romance aspect of the stories so that the Sales Team would have an easier time selling the book to retailers. Well, I love romance, so that wasn’t a problem for me.
My agent also pointed out something I hadn’t even noticed myself–my books have a very strong theme of family running through them. I enjoy writing about Asian American families, and it’s fun because all families are essentially alike, no matter the ethnic background. I have friends and readers saying, “Oh, my grandmother does that!” or “My mom is totally like that.”
So at the suggestion of my agent and editor, I’ve also tweaked my brand a bit even more, and I delve deeper into the Asian American culture to explore Asian American families. I’ve been reading Asian American studies books and also Asian American women’s studies books.
I have a feeling my brand will remain essentially the same, but there might be little “tweakings” here and there along the road.
Randy sez: Notice what Camy did. She thought about who she is and looked for things that were unique about her. She researched the market. When she talked to editors and her agent, she listened to what they had to say. (Other people often see things in us that we don’t see in ourselves.) Then she put it all together into an angle that she felt comfortable with–something she could feel excited about writing for the next several years.
You go, Camy! I’m hoping your book really takes off.
Thanks, Randy! It was fun doing the interview!
I also want to add that I attended a terrific workshop on branding taught by Lee Hough, an agent with Alive Communications, at an ACFW conference (www.acfw.com). That helped me understand the basics of branding because Lee used examples like Nike to explain branding, taglines, etc. I was also able to ask questions, which was invaluable.
So another suggestion I have to writers is that if you are able to, attend a writers’ conference. Workshops like Lee’s branding workshop were important to me as a beginning writer.
And just for the record, I do NOT laugh at everything. If anyone has heard Randy’s hick accent, he sounds so ridiculous you just can’t help laughing.
Camy
Thanks for the interview, Camy and Randy! Terrific!
You’ve got such a great brand and personality that I’m totally drawn to your writing, though I wouldn’t have been originally. I checked Camy out months ago, when she had a contest. I was (and still am) intrigued by her style.
Thanks for the interview, Camy. You have given me a new perspective on branding. Thanks to Randy and his daily blogs, and then your interview, I’m slowly starting to understand how I should go about finding my brand.
Figuring things out the hard way takes a lot of time, hardship, disappointment and probably money. I thank you again, Randy, for showing us the things that would otherwise take years if not decades to figure out.
Okay,
I’m beginning to get something else. I took some time to read around in Camy’s website.
Her short stories, from the flash fiction, Idiot, forward evidence a pattern that’s as much a part of her brand as anything else.
So the body of her work is consistent. And helps to solidify her brand.
Thank you, Randy and Camy.
Great interview! Branding and platforms are still two areas I’m working on – this is such helpful information.
Camy – we can even hear laughter in your blog posts, so I think Randy nailed you on this one!! 🙂
Camy, I think you should put a short audio file on your site. We’d love to hear you laugh. It could be like canned laughter on the old sitcoms. We’d read something, then hit the button for a better effect.
Great post, Randy and Camy! I’m intrigued by your brand and watching you closely, friend… (so I can follow in your footsteps, of course.)
One question I have for Camy. I remember at one point you wrote suspense. (Did I hear wrong?) If so, how did you get from suspense to your Asian Chicklit brand? Did you have to sell your first novel to solidify your brand? (Okay, more than one question) If so, if you had sold your suspense, would you have a totally different brand?
I was born in Kansas I was
Bred in Kansas — and when
I get married I’ll be
Wed in Kansas. . .
I grew up in Wichita, Kansas, Randy.
Where did you grow up?
I haven’t lived there in 25 years, but I did live there for 20! (Guess that gives away my age a little.)
It’s fun to meet a fellow Kansan! Hey, quit making fun of our a-uhk-sint!
Thank you for posting the interviews! They are very informative and interesting reading.
I see how branding is done and used when you have something going into print, have an agent and that already, but I’m still a bit confused on how to use a brand/promotion when you’re only still writing that first novel, freshman or maybe sophomore level. I guess what I’m asking is: how can you go about establishing it when you have nothing specific to promote yet?
Thanks for a great interview, Camy. You are an encouragement to me and I don’t write romance.
I was thinking of my brand being: fantasy thats points a heart toward God. But now I think it needs to be punched up a little, so I’ll keep on trying.
Thanks, Randy!
I’m looking at my “brand factors” I came up with since this discussion began. I can see some definite patterns and direction. The problem is my current wip. When I first started writing, friends & family said, “I can’t wait to read it, it’s gonna be so funny!” to which I answered, “Uhhh…no.”
Thanks to what I’ve been learning here, I can picture myself pitching this first novel to an editor and saying, “Even though this is a serious, faith inspiring romance, expect to see something different from me in the future, something faith provoking and full of dark wit.” Seems a foolish thing to do, doesn’t it?
My options, as I see them:
1.Toss the current baby out the window and begin fresh with something that reflects my “brand factors.”
2.Beef up the baby to include bits of my bf’s, so that it somewhat resembles the style of future stuff
3. Finish current wip all serious as first intended, count it as practice, cross my fingers and send it away. Then have a blast cramming my NEXT novel full of fun, twisted, provoking stuff.
I’m not sure how to proceed with the half-written, sweat-stained novel at this point. Any thoughts?
p.s. It’s WAY premature to brand or tag me, but I think my heart, personality and background might say to a Christian Adult Fiction audience: “Laugh Louder, Reach Deeper.” Maybe.
p.p.s. Thanks Randy! I appreciate the time & energy you put in here. I’ve learned so much!
This was good to whet the appetite for tomorrow’s teleseminar. Really looking forward to the “checklist”.
My writing and brand will be evolving a lot over the next year. I’m taking a year of college writing courses and anthropology/sociology (to assist in world building) and hope to refine my work.
I’ve taken Randy’s 101 and other online writing courses, but I’m looking for a real live audience to bounce things off. I’m so thankful that I’ll go into this with branding information already in my head. I will be dabbling in many genres as part of the program, and I’ll have feedback from instructors and other students to help in discovering the “how I am perceived/how I want to be perceived” part of the process.
Now if only I can get Paypal to accept my change of address, I’ll register for tomorrow’s fun and games…
Gina asked:
One question I have for Camy. I remember at one point you wrote suspense. (Did I hear wrong?) If so, how did you get from suspense to your Asian Chicklit brand? Did you have to sell your first novel to solidify your brand? (Okay, more than one question) If so, if you had sold your suspense, would you have a totally different brand?
Yes, Gina’s right, I did write a suspense. In reality, I wrote five full manuscripts before I sold to Zondervan.
My first manuscript was that ethnic-neutral chick lit, which I changed to Asian American characters. While my agent was shopping that around, I wrote an Asian American suspense, but with a smart-aleck character. It wasn’t quite chick lit suspense, but it did have that strong, sassy heroine that I had written in my other manuscript.
It took me all five manuscripts to figure out what I wanted to write. I had tried suspense, and while it was fun, I discovered I liked writing chick lit better. When I came up with my tagline, “Romance with a kick of wasabi,” I purposely made it applicable to both chick lit or suspense, depending on what I wanted to focus on. After I decided to pursue chick lit, I didn’t have to change the tagline. I wrote more chick lit manuscripts after that.
I guess what I’m saying is that it might take you several manuscripts to figure out what your brand is and how you want to focus your writing. You might write 2, 3, or 10 manuscripts before you discover that unique marketing angle that will become your brand.
Camy
Thanks Camy, that answers my question as well though raises others. I am writing my first novel now and it is a drama based on a true story (mine). I don’t know if it was a good idea to write that sort of story first. How would I find a brand for a one off story? Or do I write other stories similar to it but totally fictional? What I’m writing now is a mixture of fiction and true story. My friend, who I thought knew me well, thought that one of the fictional characters was actually a real person in my life, I suppose because she expected to find only real characters. I think I will just keep writing it. It probably will take me a little while to find my unique brand too so I’m not going to stress over it. It’s like titles to books, they pop up at the most unexpected times.
I think that was meant to be whom
I am really intrigued by the concept of branding as a writer and most interested in Camy’s story. I am from South Africa and writing Christian “teaching” books and ebooks on various topics, but especially end times. They are “easy to read” and understand, though full of doctrinal truth. Often devotional. Always challenging.
Randy, do you have some helpful comments? Right now I “brand” myself (if you can call it that) as “www.valwaldeck.com – reaching our generation one book at a time.”
These interviews have been great to really understand how branding works in practice.
Thanks so much Randy, and thanks Brandilyn and Camy for sharing your branding journey with us.
Camy, thanks for sharing your story with us. I have heard that first-time authors usually do not get published until they’ve written three or four manuscripts. I always thought of the main reason as the need to develop one’s craft, but I never considered branding as an integrated component until reading your interview. Your experience encourages me because I wrote two manuscripts in one genre, and very much enjoyed the genre (even thought it was “the one” for me), but now I’m not so certain anymore that I’ve found the right niche. So hopefully after another story or two I’ll have a better idea.
The interview really gave an insight into marketing strategies a writer needs to adopt to be recognized. Randy, your blog always has something new which I haven’t found on most websites on the net. It is really helpful. Thanks for sharing your experience and thoughts here. And thanks to Camy for letting us know more about branding.
I don’t know if what I’m writing now could have such a specific brand. What about a tagline like, “Seeking to Satisfy the Searching Heart” or is that too vague.
Mary
I’ve been lurking on Randy’s site for over a year now. So I was very excited to see him interview Camy Tang! She is one of my favorite new writers, though I’m not exactly part of her demographic.
Camy, I’ve been challenged by your statement that you wrote five books before you found your market (and your voice). That’s some serious discipline.
Couple that with Randy’s snowflake method. Well, it’s time for me to get to work.
Great interview about the brand.
Funny how Randy said you call yourself loud Asian chick. I thought that was what WE called you. (and wasn’t bossy in there somewhere?)
I love hearing all the work that went into your brand. Guess I need some help with mine. 😀 I liked your suspense but I LOVE what you write now. You are an awesome writer and I’m so happy God decided your time is now. I cannot wait to get my hands on that book.
And Randy, thanks for having this blog. So helpful. Great job.
Can we comment on the seminar yet? Maybe I’ll have to copy and repost this tomorrow, but I want to strike while the iron’s hot…
Clearly I should spend more time on it, but I got a rough draft of the WHAT you do, WHO you are and WHY you do it settled down. Next was the nefarious tagline (Brand Identity Statement).
I came up with two that I actually like (room for improvement I’m sure) but now face a dilemma. One tagline expresses WHO and WHAT, the other deals with WHY and the target audience. As an unpublished writer, should I focus more on selling myself and my style or demonstrating who the publisher would sell it to?
I attempted to combine it all, but then it isn’t a tag line any more.
Help?
~bonne
This is a great series, Randy. I wish I could’ve done the teleseminar. Will you offer this in a downloadable format for later? Or offer it again?
Camy, you are one of a kind! I have loved you and your style from the first time I met you! Thanks for sharing your journey here.
I started a blog in order to find my voice because my fiction manuscripts, while showing some direction/voice, just didn’t seem to be defining me. I have several passions in both my fiction reading and in my writing. I love reading historical fiction and historical romance best; but I love helping “book doctor” the fantasy novels most; but I’ve been told my “voice” seems best for women’s fiction. Sigh. As I’ve gone along with my blog posts, I’m discovering a certain pattern.
I have Randy to thank for working me over in his ezine to give me a start. Slow, slow process, though. I did take a step and bought a domain for my name, as he suggested. I stopped doing most book reviews (and my column, even though I still do nonfiction health book reviews and whatever else Lin Johnson sends to me) at Randy’s suggestion, too.
I still wish there was a step-by-step process, like the Snowflake for manuscripts, to work through branding and finding those passions. Reading about Brandilyn’s process, and Camy’s experience makes sense, and also Randy’s process is a lesson. Randy, I still remember you sitting with us at Mt. Hermon as you chatted to Wendy Lawton about branding early on.
As to Randy’s different type novels, I still love the City of God series best.I’m glad you are concentrating on ancient history. But then, I love reading historical fiction best…
It’s a game of Who Am I? Will the real whoever you are please stand up?
What about, like, a very strong theme/pattern that crosses genres, like, “Friendships tested in the face of terror” or something? That could be suspense, fantasy . . . It sort of narrows it down to a thriller-type thing, but could involve many different elements.
I’m still quite the freshman, but looking at my passions and tendencies, I enjoy writing about strong relationships with bouts of action. Perhaps it should be “Relationships tested by terror” or something. What do y’all thing?
Okay, Randy. You’ve got me actually thinking about maybe narrowing down my nine genres. LOL. My question is, WHAT am I supposed to do with all these story ideas that keep popping into my head?! Think we could set up some kind of story idea exchange forum where I could dump all these other genius ideas that don’t fit into my genre of choice? (Whichever that one turns out to be.)
And what if the genres are close? Like, romantic suspense, cozy-mystery w/ romance elements, and contemporary romance? Would that be narrowing it down enough?
You’re killing me, here. LOL
Randy,I am really sorry have been too busy to keep up with these great blogs and am playing catch-up now. This branding has really set me thinking. I’ve been told I write emotional, tear-jerker type inspirational romance with satisfying HEA endings. I’ve been working on trying to lighten them a little but this is apparently how readers have perceived me. I’ve written all contemporary novels with only 4 historicals – and currently only longer contemporary. Do you think “Australian (or Aussie)romance with faith and hope” could be a suitable brand – or is this a tagline?
And sorry, should add I own my domain name but still waiting for the website to be developed
This has been a great discussion. One thing that has helped me think about my brand is my Shoutlife presence. I have established a group over there called Empty Nest from Both Sides Now. That sort of encompasses my books. My heroines in the contemporary romances and young adult romance are right at the leaving home age- 17 to 19. They have good relationships with their parents but long to find their own niche in life. My one and only historical focuses on the Mom who begins to feel helpless when her children seem to be growing up and getting along just fine without her. I had hoped for more input on the youthful POV from the discussion group, but so far, responses are heavily from the Mom side. But, along the way, I think I’m creating a reputation as a good listener, which can only be good in the long run.
Jenny Mc C