Consistency is Key

So, I'm going to be totally honest here, and admit that I don't really have much of an idea of what to write for this post. It's pretty much totally on the fly. Most nights I get to my laptop and I've already had a few days to ruminate over what I want to say, but tonight, my muse seems to have taken a vacation. (As a side note, there's something that sparked my interest for a post about Korean Pop Music, but that's a whole other story involving in-depth analysis of culture and the value of art and such. Stuff that I need to research a bit more before posting about.)

So what will this post be about? Consistency. In the end, the reason why I'm posting right now, and not when I'm feeling "more inspired" is because it's Wednesday, and I need to have this post ready for tomorrow. Because I always have two posts a week. For those of you on the East Coast, I update it early Monday and Thursday morning. For those on the West Coast, I update late Sunday and Wednesday night. Even when I have some really awesome idea in between those times, I save it for one of those dates. Why? Because I want you guys to be able to anticipate when I post here. If I'm not consistent in when I post, then people are going to lose interest. It's a simple fact of blogging. But how true it is of so many other things in life!

Something that a lot of writers don't like to talk about is author branding. Not the kind that involves hot poking sticks, but the kind that defines what kind of author you are. For example, Stephen King is a writer of horror. If for some reason he wanted to write a romantic comedy for his next big hit, there would be a lot of confused fans. They'd say, "You can't write that! You write horror!" to which he may reply, "Too bad! I like rom-coms, and I'm going to write them if I feel like it! So there!" This obviously sounds ridiculous, but so many amateur novelists (me included), feel like we have the right to demand this!

We often say that we aren't a one trick pony, and that "of course, that's not the only side of me! I'm also a fantastic comedian! And you should read my non-fiction book on cooking with blubber, and my western/alien YA novellas, they're a huge hit. Almost as big as my legal thrillers from last year..."

Need I go on?

The point isn't that no one thinks you can do a good job of these books. That may or may not be an issue at this stage in the game. What's important is that you start gaining your fan's trust. You need them to see that you care about what they like and what they don't like, and that you're willing to give them that despite being able to write other stuff. Devoted fans will not keep coming to the same author if they don't reproduce the same kinds of books the reader fell in love with.

This isn't to say that an author can't possibly write in more than one genre, but I think it does mean that an author needs to be aware of who they're affecting, and how much influence they want to keep. Do you want lots of fans who kind/sorta know you a little bit? Or do you want substantially fewer people to know about you, and have them be the most devoted fans you'll ever see?


Bottom line is that you really can write whatever you want, but is that going to get you the readers that you want? When it comes to bringing people back for more, consistency is key. That means consistency in things as small as blog posts, and as big as the genre of your next novel.

How high up on your list of priorities is consistency? How have you been affected by inconsistent, or consistent people around you?