Okay, I'm sure you've heard this by now, but the new Starbucks logo has changed. And it no longer includes the words: Starbucks Coffee. I can't imagine what genius had that idea; perhaps the genius that thinks Starbucks should start making bluejeans and doesn't want "coffee" on their bluejeans. I'm thinking it's not the best idea. Turns out that the Gap had the same idea just recently and changed their logo. There was such a backlash that they reverted back to their old logo within the week. I'm guessing that we may very well see the old Starbucks logo reappear and the genius who came up with the idea will probably be having a lot of conversations with the guy who decided to change the Gap logo.
But all of this talk about logos got me thinking about branding...and writers...or branding and creative types in general. As a whole, we're not good at it. And we should make it our business to start getting good at it. While I have plenty more to learn, I've been thinking about "personal branding" in connection with my writing for some time.
I've been known to "ghostwrite" a book or two (or three or four) and have had the offer for my name to appear alongside my client's name on more than one occasion. At this point--outside of sharing writing credit on a screenplay--the answer has always been a very polite "no thank you."
And it's not because I was ashamed of the project at hand; I can truthfully say that I have been extremely proud of every project that I have been involved with. What concerns me about putting my name on a project that is not 100% my own is BRANDING. I am a novelist. I am a poet. I am a short-fiction writer. I am a BRAND. And while I don't have the kind of brand recognition that I hope to have in the future...it is definitely something I think about. And it's something that we will continue to explore.
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