Why would I want to write what’s been written? I want to write what I want to read – something new and different in my genre. Paraphrased from comments by Max Brooks, author of The Zombie Survival Guide
The setting was a panel at WizardWorld Philadelphia, an annual comic book convention, and Max Brooks was answering a question about why he published his popular book about zombies as a practical guide instead of a novel. His answers to questions about how he liked certain movies in the zombie genre and whether he thought there was still room for new works in the genre followed a similar train of thought, with some sadness expressed towards the creators who just kept doing the same thing that someone else had done.
The comment inspired me to blog not because of the idea of differentiation but because of how it connects to the idea of a collection. For example, I’ll read almost anything based on an unusual twist of a fairy tale and my husband will get another statue of a superhero he already has if someone comes up with a good enough twist. Yet it’s not something I see discussed in regards to artists building bodies of work or in a broader marketing sense.
Much of what I read about branding and product differentiation is about making your offering stand out so that it’s the one that the customer sees, considers best, purchases, and refers to others. But the information seems to exclude the possibility that some customers are making additional purchases of a similar type and it may not just be about how your offering stands out, but how it fits in. Maybe I’m just not looking in the right places, as I expect the fashion industry enticing a customer to buy yet another pair of shoes takes into account the shoes she likely already owns, for example.
There seems to be a subtle shift in attitude between the person who’s buying because what they have doesn’t solve their problem or fulfill their desire and the one who is collecting things that are similar but different. At least, I see it in myself.
Sometimes the point may not be OR but AND.
This is one of those posts that almost didn’t happen. I kept feeling a desire to hedge, retract, and say that my original point was not significant. I struggle with a need to add disclaimers as a defense against the possibility (and eventual inevitability) of being wrong or at least ignorant. Doubt in my own opinions and whether I’m expressing them well is one of the reasons I blog – to conquer fear with practice.
In 2006 we took our vacation at the San Diego Comic-con. This is the BIG ONE, where everything debuts that might remotely be related to comic fans. I picked up some neat ideas related to my art at the time and was awed by how many variations on the merging of words and pictures could be found in the small press section.
