Artist Branding: Consistency

"You would have thought that I was a writing agents dream with four books, a movie option, a syndicated column, and a radio show. But my agent said that she didn’t know what to do with me. Yes, my projects showcased my talents, but the nugget of my work was not consistent enough from a marketing perspective.

Publishers want to be able to brand writers because then they’ll know that they’ll get their investment back. When you stick with one thing, your ability to build a large, loyal audience over time increases. This is good in the long term, but in the interim and from a money-making standpoint it’s tough. I mean we’re talking about finding one genre you feel like sticking to for ten years and sticking with it."

Martha Randolph Carr, is a nationally syndicated columnist, author, and speaker. She is the author of “A Place to Call Home,” (Prometheus), “Wired” (Nimrod House) and “The Sitting Sisters” (Cumberland House). Carr speaks to groups across the country through The New Voice Movement speaker’s bureau on the topics of race & politics, change, celebrating your children and spiritual growth. She is also the founder of the Family Tree Project, an online orphan registry to reunite the more than 200,000 older alumni of U.S. orphanages. She resides in New York City. www.martharandolphcarr.com