Rebranding

This is basically a regurgitation of what I said over at my urban fantasy site, but in case you're seeing it for the first time, I thought I'd post it here as well.

When I first started publishing, I didn't know anything about branding. Now, it makes sense. I mean, if Nora Roberts all of a sudden started publishing hardcore sci-fi, I'd probably question it. I might try it because I like her writing, but it might not necessarily be what I was expecting. Since her name would be slapped on the cover, I'd go into it thinking "this is going to be a romance... with aliens". If it didn't meet those expectations, I'd probably rate the book lower because I wouldn't enjoy it as much.

Essentially, this type of scenario is the sole reason I decided to finally split up my genres. Epic fantasy and urban fantasy just don't mix well. They draw in different types of readers, with different sets of expectations from the stories. When they don't deliver as promised based on their experiences with a different title of mine in a different genre, then they'll naturally rate the book lower.

It's not all about ratings, but let's be honest - ratings can totally make a book sink or swim. My epic titles aren't big enough to draw in that many readers yet, but I could see how someday the cross-branding of epic/urban could become problematic. Readers of my urban fantasy will be expecting something more thrilling and fast-paced while my epic readers want something a bit slower with more details.

I'm in the business of pleasing my readers. I won't ever put out a book I think is crap, or that you guys won't enjoy. But I also have to consider what type of readers I'm drawing in. And with the more books I write, I definitely know my urban titles have a very different flair from my epic. That left me with two decisions: Stop writing one genre and focus solely on one, or rebrand them.

I've always loved epic fantasy. Hell, I'll read anything - horror, epic, contemporary, erotica - as long as it entertains me. If it gets boring, I'm out. Veiled Innocence and A White So Red have been the most difficult stories for me to write. Epic is harder for me. It can be draining at times because there are so many things you have to be careful about when writing (mostly, the danger of sounding too contemporary for the time period). There were a lot of bumps in the road to getting both of them to publication, and I considered giving up on epic altogether more than once, thinking maybe I just wasn't cut out for it. But then I'd read a great book like Graceling or Throne of Glass, and I'd fall in love with epic all over again. I love it too much to quit.

So here we are.

Ideally, I would have had the business savvy to do this from the get-go. But this isn't a perfect world, and there is a LOT of info on publishing. You don't always know what to listen to until you've actually gotten your feet wet.

I hope the decision to rebrand doesn't throw too many people off. I'm in the process of switching all my epic titles over to my pen name "K. D. Jones" on the retail sites and on Goodreads. I even have separate Facebook and Goodreads pages dedicated to just my epic now. (By the way, they could really use some love. So if you liked either of my epic titles, please consider "liking" or "adding" me.)

I also have a separate newsletter subscription list for my epic titles. So if you'd like a heads-up on when I publish something new or am running a big giveaway, please consider adding your name to the list. You can sign-up by entering your email in the little box at the top right corner of the sidebar.

That about covers it. If you have any other questions, feel free to drop me a line, comment here, or message me. I try to respond as quickly as I can. =)

Take care, and thanks for your support.