Branding is something I am very familiar with. Time was, before I was a Writing Arts student, I was a web developer/graphic designer, which means part of my job was doing a lot of branding for others. It also meant doing branding for myself, and my personal website for getting freelance work (this no longer exists, so don't go looking).
When I started getting serious about writing, it seemed natural to apply the same principles to introducing myself as a writer. Everything down to my pen name was carefully chosen, down to the fact that for a time I used “E. J. Lorre” as a pen name due to not wanting to be obviously female. Since I write primarily horror, often being a woman in the genre is seen as a determent, after all. No longer do that, of course, since I happen to like the name Elle, although my choice to never use my last name is also calculated in the same manner. Not only do I choose to avoid it do to previous safety issues, but it's also because my last name (which is literally the ethnic slur for “German”) just doesn't sound marketable. “Lorre,” my pen name-last name, in contrast, a.) sounds better with the name, and b.) happens to be the name of an old actor who got type-cast as a villain/horror actor upon coming to America. It's a fun reference that's a little less obvious than sharing a last name with Vincent Price.
That said, social media is still something I am occasionally wary of—especially if my normal last name is attached. The fact it's listed on my resume on this website, and on the website for this class makes me nervous, even. My LinkedIn account uses my last name, and, honestly, that's probably as far as I'd go because it's an exclusively professional website. But beyond safety concerns, I also think people need to be cautious of spending too much time on social media. You can brand yourself as an author all you want, but until you sit down and write, you're never going to be one, after all.
When I started getting serious about writing, it seemed natural to apply the same principles to introducing myself as a writer. Everything down to my pen name was carefully chosen, down to the fact that for a time I used “E. J. Lorre” as a pen name due to not wanting to be obviously female. Since I write primarily horror, often being a woman in the genre is seen as a determent, after all. No longer do that, of course, since I happen to like the name Elle, although my choice to never use my last name is also calculated in the same manner. Not only do I choose to avoid it do to previous safety issues, but it's also because my last name (which is literally the ethnic slur for “German”) just doesn't sound marketable. “Lorre,” my pen name-last name, in contrast, a.) sounds better with the name, and b.) happens to be the name of an old actor who got type-cast as a villain/horror actor upon coming to America. It's a fun reference that's a little less obvious than sharing a last name with Vincent Price.
That said, social media is still something I am occasionally wary of—especially if my normal last name is attached. The fact it's listed on my resume on this website, and on the website for this class makes me nervous, even. My LinkedIn account uses my last name, and, honestly, that's probably as far as I'd go because it's an exclusively professional website. But beyond safety concerns, I also think people need to be cautious of spending too much time on social media. You can brand yourself as an author all you want, but until you sit down and write, you're never going to be one, after all.
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