: Re: Series: How can I get my reader to not expect any one genre? Background: I'm planning on writing an extensive series of fantasy books. I plan on writing quite a few of these books, and while

@Odierno164

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Other than an explicit "disclaimer" in an author's note or something, I really don't think you can. If I buy five books set in a dystopian fantasy (I might), I will be disappointed if the sixth book is a romantic comedy.

My best suggestion would be to be explicit in a sub-title or something, and call it out. Call this the "XYZ Worlds" series and in the sub-title say "A Romantic Comedy in the XYZ Worlds", "A Dystopian Adventure in the XYZ Words", "A Murder Mystery in the XYZ Worlds".

Your better bet is to listen to Trout and Ries (Marketing Consultants for Fortune 500 companies) and not try to pile everything on one Brand, and thus make that Brand meaningless. Focus on one brand, this dystopian fantasy, and get published there, then invent again. Make a different world with with different rules, and write a story in it. Your NAME, as the author, will get your dystopian readers to try your new world with a new name without any expectations of dystopia, just because they like your writing.

Make a separate brand for each genre you want to write, just like Pepsi or Coke make a separate brand with its own artwork, music, commercials, websites and demographic targets for each product they sell. You can still see who owns the copyrights; but instead of just trying the easy way out by riding one brand name for everything and thus diluting the power of the Brand, they let each Brand acquire its own following. It's a winning strategy that broadens the market.

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