Reading Tai-Bo

What did I learn from my reading this week?

As much as writers hate to hear publishing pros jabber on and on about branding, I saw in my own reading this week why it works.

This week I re-read First Test by Tamora Pierce. An old favorite, this series tells the tale of the first “known” lady knight in the kingdom of Tortall for over 100 years. The first book in the series is about her first year as a page.

Tamora Pierce writes about young strong female protagonists who have a dream that doesn’t fit well within their culture. Maybe they want to be a knight, or wild mage, or spymaster… These girls have dreams and everyone in the world tells them that they can’t dream that way and of course they go ahead and do just that.

I know exactly what I’m going to get when I pick up a book by Tamora Pierce. Most of the time I am not willing to buy a book unless I’ve read it from the library first and love it. The exceptions are books in a series that I’m following and authors whom I can trust to give me just what I want…like Tamora Pierce. If I’m in the mood to watch a determined young girl beat the crap out of a bunch of crude mean boys and succeed in her dreams, I can trust Ms. Pierce to give me just that. I can buy one of her books without fear of getting something else.

And that is why branding works. It reashures the reader that if they liked your other books, they will like this one as well.

It’s Frappuccino Thursday.
http://www.faithchats.blogspot.com/2012/01/kings-ball.html