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FOCUSING FORWARD…
Watching the Old Magnum Television Series… It was filmed in the eighties. We are watching it not to study anything, but to shut down and enjoy the entertainment, even though sometimes dated. Still fun. The one we watched tonight was about the internment camps of Japanese Americans on the islands. It happened 40 years before the show was aired and they kept talking about those 40 years. The show aired 40 years ago now. So interesting to think about the 80 years. 40 years ago Kris and I had not met yet (a couple of years from meeting, actually). We were both writing like crazy, but both of us were…
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Length of a Brand/Trademark
I Was Surprised… I was working on an issue of Pulphouse Fiction Magazine tonight and mentioned in the introduction that Kris and I started Pulphouse in 1987 and it has been going along one way or another, making money as a brand and a business name for 37 years this coming year. And we have plans to expand the brand even more very shortly. I find it interesting that the older I get, the bigger the numbers get with different things I have been doing. My best friend and I have been close for sixty years this year. I sold my first short stories 50 years ago. And the Pulphouse…
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The Fun of Building a Brand…
And A Trademark In the Process… So many writers think of doing a Kickstarter campaign for a new book or a series of old books as a way to make some small money. It is that if done right, and if you have a few followers of your work. Doing a Kickstarter campaign is also great promotion for your new book. Here are the steps for that… Have your book finished. Build Campaign and launch it. (Study lots of other campaigns first.) Put book on pre-order at the same time as you launch the campaign. Get book out to backers when campaign is over and while doing that put it…
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Real Basic Trademark Quiz…
Just Fooling Around This Friday Night… Since we just launched the Bite-Sized Branding and Trademark class yesterday and have an early bird discount on it for the weekend, (See previous post) I thought I would ask a few basic trademark questions. These are very basic… Do you have to register a trademark to own and control it? What makes something a strong mark? What is the Lanham Act? Basic Differences between Copyright and Trademark Registration? Did you get the answers right off the top of your head? Why would writers worry about trademark and branding? Well, simply put, to make a lot more money. Sure you license your work to…
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Bite-Sized Branding and Trademark
EVERY MONDAY MORNING FOR 2025 Last few years we have done Motivational Mondays (twice), Creative Survival, and Bite-Sized Copyright with the structure of four videos every Monday morning for the entire year. So for 2025, we are going ahead and really doing a challenge with BITE-SIZED BRANDING AND TRADEMARK. Four videos every Monday morning for the entire year to make branding and trademark for writers easy and painless to learn. Of all the classes we teach, this might make you the most money in both the short run and long term. This will not be legal advice on trademark in any way, but will be advice from one writer to…
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A Branding Summary,,,
Figuring Out What I Missed… When you write a series of nonfiction posts on something, with no outline or path you are intending to go, unlike fiction, it can get really jumbled. And then do the posts over almost ten months of crazy busy stuff, it gets stupidly disorganized. Yeah, I did that. So now my attempt to start figuring out what I have missed in these branding posts turns out to be tougher than I thought it might be. I started doing branding posts back in February with a post titled: Fiction Branding Part 1… https://deanwesleysmith.com/fiction-branding-part-1/ About different types of branding using the Bryant Street books as an example.…
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Accidental Branding…
Happens to Most Writers… Pretty simple how it happens. You end up with a logo or a certain look or on a series of books. You are doing it because it looks cool and to tie your books together, which is a basic form of branding for sales. All fun and if you let it slip or change it down the road, the brand is gone. But what most writers don’t know or seldom think about is the increased value of their copyright, their trademark, their brand caused by doing something that simple. Granted, most writers worry bout how many sales they are making month-to-month and nothing about creating value…
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Branding… An Example
Not Sure Where This Will Fit In the Series of Branding… But I wanted to talk about a branding example at a middle level. Big level is things like Barbie, G.I. Joe, Toy Story, and so on. They grew from small and middle into monsters. The brand has items for sale everywhere in every form imaginable. Small levels are something like a new fantasy series with a small Kickstarter and a growing audience. No web site yet for the series, no Shopify store, no merchandise. Just books in a series branded to look similar. That is the base level. But that middle ground is where all the fun happens. For…
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12 HOURS LEFT…
TWO GREAT WORKSHOPS WILL VANISH… The two special workshops that are in the Ghost of a Chance Kickstarter will never be available anywhere else in 12 hours. And they are both great classes. So only 12 hours left get them (plus you get the five books as well to read.) The Kickstarter ends at 7pm Thursday evening West Coast Time. Here are the two special workshops in the Ghost of a Chance Kickstarter. — FINDING YOUR READER This is about branding. This is a special three-week workshop on how to find the readers for the books you wrote. In essence, what this entire campaign is all about. This class will talk…
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2 Days Left To Get Classes
GHOST OF A CHANCE KICKSTARTER ENDS IN TWO DAYS…. The two special workshops that are in the Kickstarter will never be available anywhere else. And they are both great classes. So only two days to get them (plus you get the five books as well to read.) Here are the two special workshops in the Ghost of a Chance Kickstarter. I am going to have a blast doing these. — FINDING YOUR READER As I have been doing for for nights now on this blog, this is about branding. This is a special three-week workshop on how to find the readers for the books you wrote. In essence, what this entire…