Am I Successful?

Good Morning. Ten years ago, I had the inkling of a story. Nine years ago, I started writing it down (pen and paper mind you.) Seven years ago I got my first computer. (Yes, only seven.) Five years ago, I finished writing my first book. Four years ago, I finished my second. Three years ago, I self-published my third book. Two weeks ago, I published my fourteenth.

(And yes, some of those books are novellas, some short stories, however, they are still mine, and were published by me. Written, formatted, and uploaded by me. I had help of course, by amazing critique partners, beta readers, and my fabulous cover designer.)

I'm a little stunned with that timeline. If you take out the short stuff, that's still six novels in three years. Two a year, with a couple of novellas thrown in for good measure. That's a lot. Well, for me anyway. I know a few writers who can bang out a novel in three months. (Personally, I think those people are aliens with super hand/mind/eye coordination, and a built in dictionary/thesaurus/encyclopedic brain.)

Having said all that, I have to wonder if I'm successful. I'm living the dream so many of us had. Read any interview with an author, and they always say, "I've been writing since I was a kid."

But what determines our success? Is it money? I've had good months, I've had not-so-good months.

Is it reviews? Some authors have thousands. I have several handfuls. Some fabulous, some not-so-much.

Is our success determined by how other people see us? I don't get out much, so my contact with the outside world is limited to mostly the Moms at Monster's school. Some of them are pretty impressed with my writing ability. Others, not-so-much (when you consider there are a couple of doctors, lawyers, a brain surgeon, an astro-phycisist.)

Is success determined by what we have? Cars, houses, vacations, shoes?

I can't go by what the outside world, or even other authors, think, do, have, or say. I am the only judge of my success. And I'd say I'm pretty damn successful. I'm doing what I want to do, living my own fantastic dream. Sure, I'm still struggling for footing in this ever changing publishing landscape, but for someone who's built some name recognition for herself, by herself, I'd say I'm doing okay.

But now what? What does the future hold? Yes, I will still write. I can't not write, it's like breathing for me. But there has to be more. The question is -- more of what? More money? More fame? More reviews? I don't know. What is it I'm missing, or THINK I'm missing? Or am I just delusional thinking there is MORE?

Do I continue to build my "platform"? Join other social media? Join writing groups? Find new followers, new readers, new ways to make myself known? Or do I keep on doing what I've been doing -- quiet promotion -- because it seems to work -- and if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Or do I take chances, step out of my comfort zone and find something else? I've been writing Regency for most of the last decade. I do have a contemporary romance out there too, and that has also been met with quiet success. Do I pursue that avenue as well, or just stick with what I know, and obviously love. Do I become the next Jane Austen? or the next Danielle Steele? Or both? Do I want to try for an agent now? Do I want to be a hybrid author?

Can I have it all? I don't know. Or, as I've been thinking lately, do I just leave it all, finish up this series of books and call it good? End on a high note. Walk away from writing as my work and get a job in the real world? Publish what I want in my own time as a hobby. This new publishing dynamic has a long tail, and as long as I don't un-publish, I'll still get paid for years to come. Instead of two novels a year, just one every two years or so.

Or do I measure my success by how I FEEL? If that's all it truly is, then by golly gumbo, I am at the top of the charts. I couldn't have asked for a better life. No, I don't have a new car, or groovy new shoes, but I can buy Monster what she wants for Christmas, and I can go to the beach this summer.

Tell me -- Are you successful? What determines your success?

Anne Gallagher (c) 2014

The Double SS Bar

Or more commonly known as branding. The new hot topic, or possibly a rather old tired topic, but let's get into it, shall we?

If you didn't read this post by Anne R. Allen a few weeks ago about branding your NAME you should. As always, Anne's post is informative and brilliant. I can't add any more to her discussion, other than -- because my name Anne Gallagher is also the name of three other women who write books, I use Anne Gallagher Writer in mostly all of my searches or tags. If I want to be really precise, I use Anne Gallagher Regency Romance Writer.

However, Anne Allen's name branding aside, I'd like to discuss other ways in which to brand yourself and your books.

COVERS
As you all know, I write Regency romance novels. There is no sex involved. I wanted to put that across to my readers right off the bat with the covers. There are no heaving bosoms on my covers, no men with open shirt fronts showing off their washboard abs. I don't write sex, so I don't want to show sex on my covers.

I think I've done a pretty good job with that particular brand.


TITLES
I'm writing my way through another contemporary women's fiction novel. The title of that, and the subsequent novel I'm going to write in 2015, are going to become branded to REMEMBERING YOU. Kind of like Roni Loren's erotic novels -- CRASH INTO YOU, FALL INTO YOU, MELT INTO YOU, STILL INTO YOU. Mine aren't erotic, I'm just using the titles of her novels as an example. My titles will be similar to REMEMBERING YOU.

I like that part of the branding process. Everything is similar, but different. You know what you're getting with that particular type of series of books. You almost don't even have to look at anything else about the book. The title says it all. Harry Potter anyone?


LESS IS MORE COVERS
Emily Griffin uses pastel colors for all her book covers. Nothing but the titles, a little tiny drawing, her name and lovely Easter egg shades. You know what you're getting. Sweet contemporary romance. There's nothing to hit you over the head, no picture to look at, nothing that screams "Buy Me". But they're bought all the time.


However, all that being said, is "branding" becoming a pigeon hole exercise?

When I had a couple of my Regencies out, I decided to publish my contemporary romantic women's fiction. REMEMBERING YOU was as far away from sweet Regency writing as you could get. Italian cuss words, modern day problems, cell phones, jerk face ex-lovers, sex (gasp). I went round and round with the idea of publishing under my name Anne Gallagher, or a derivation of that -- A.R. Gallagher -- or just giving up and going with something new -- Robynne Rand. I decided to go with something new -- to the consternation of a few friends who thought I could ride off the waves of my Anne Gallagher success.

But I knew my Regency fans would never buy my women's fiction and if they did would be appalled. They were used to reading certain things from me. They KNEW me as a writer, KNEW what kind of stories I told, KNEW what would happen (happily ever after) but were along for the ride. Because obviously it was a good ride.

I know how I felt when I read Susan Wiggs historicals and then her contemporary romances. I hated her contemporary stuff. H-A-T-E-D  IT. I just didn't think she had the same flair for writing contemporaries as she did with historicals. Perhaps if she had used a psuedonym I might have liked her contemps just fine. But that's just me, and it played a major part in how I decided to brand or rather re-brand myself as an author.

But now, I'm finding I'm unsure where to put myself if I decide to venture into YA. Yeah, you heard me. YA. I've had a couple of stories in my files, pretty good ones too that I'd like to eventually finish. Also a couple of sweet contemporary romances (think Harlequin). Do I have to re-brand myself when I publish those? Can I get away with putting them under my Anne Gallagher/Robynne Rand names or do I find myself ANOTHER pen name?

Tell me -- What do you think about branding? Is it good for an author? Does it pigeon hole their writing? Do you think they should write under different names for different genres or is one name okay? I know we've had this discussion before, but I'm hashing it out again.

Anne Gallagher (c) 2013