Branding And New Products

I recently wrote a novel-length story.
It is a great story.
It will sell if marketed the right way
and placed with the right publisher
with the right pen name.

The problem is…
it doesn’t fit any of my pen names.
It is too spicy for my traditional name.
It is too traditional for my spicy name.
It doesn’t fall into the right genres
for the others.

If I have it published,
it would need its own pen name.
It would then be an orphan,
one of those one hit wonders
people read about.
It isn’t strong enough for a solo book
(solo books are rare in romance,
readers like series).

So I’m shelving it
(maybe not forever, but for now).

That’s the thing about product development.
The product you are developing
should fit somewhere
within your existing strategy.
You need an existing brand
to support it
or the confidence to launch
a new brand around it.

If you have neither,
concentrate on a product
that DOES fit.