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@archanasarat
Archana Sarat
@archanasarat · 2:50

Can Switching Genres hurt your Author Brand?

article image placeholderBusting Writing Myths #3
Also, would it put you off if your favorite author wrote in a different genre, I would love to know your views on the same as readers and as writers. Thank you so much

Can switching genres affect your authors brand? @NamelessJournal @bookishpodcast #writing #writingmyths

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@Ramya
Ramya V
@Ramya · 2:27

A reader's perspective

Great question, Archana. So I'm so glad you asked this, but I would love to respond to this question as a reader first, and as a reader, I have no qualms whatsoever were about my favorite authors switching between genres because I somehow feel that at the end of the day, their voice, their writing style is definitely going to give me what I have always admired or loved about their writing
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@Ramya
Ramya V
@Ramya · 1:43

A somewhat ambivalent writer's perspective!

But I also feel that there is no harm in continuing with the same identity or the other brand. If we could in some way make it very clear to your readers as to what to expect from our books. Obviously, we wouldn't want grumpy readers complaining about how they picked up what they thought was crime fiction and ended up with scifi instead
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@Swell
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15

Welcome to Swell!

@Karan.Dev
Karan Dev
@Karan.Dev · 1:19
As a side note, I have a two year old nephew who's going to begin reading in the next couple of years, so I'm going to give him your book when the time is right. As for your question, I try brand read across genres, but that's mostly because I began reading nonfiction when I first started reading, when I first started seriously reading books. And I think that conditioned me to look at substance over categories
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@SVJ
S V
@SVJ · 3:09
Hey, Archana, I would say that one, though the genre would attract me to an author. Once I am in tune with their work, I would love to read other genres that they would explore and simply be excited by the very fact that they are experimenting. And I have also earlier mentioned two examples of such cases where a gather Christie wrote under the pen name Mary West McCarthy. And I was quite fascinated by how well she handled those topics, which had to do with human psychology
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@bowie
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 2:21

Ottessa Moshfegh & Lily King

And that's something when I start reading any writers books, I get really excited when I see them trying something new. Another writer that I recently started reading, Lily King. I read her later book Writers and Lovers, which is definitely literary fiction. But she also wrote this book euphoria that I'm really excited about that I would definitely consider historical fiction, but I think just generally she's thought of as a literary fiction writer, though obviously she's experimenting with genre as well
@archanasarat
Archana Sarat
@archanasarat · 1:49

@Karan.Dev Thank you 😊

Hi, Karen. Thank you so much. Your words made my day. What you said is so true, not even just a genre. I think we even stick to the authors whom we are first introduced to as a child. I remember Inad Lighten was my favorite for years and I wouldn't budge from her works. And then came Agatha Christie and PG Woodhouse Brand. I went on a spree reading and rereading every book they've written
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