Although there are currently three books listed on the site, as of now I am actually the author of five non-fiction books. So you’re probably wondering where are the other two?

The answer is that they have been written under a Pen Name and are in a completely different genre to the one that I want “me” to be known for.

The subject of Pen Names is one that authors often struggle with but, if you are known to your audience for your writing in one genre, older and wiser heads all say that you can end up getting the wrong sorts of readers if you also write in another genre.

People love to pigeonhole things, including writers, as it makes things simpler for them. If you’re known for Non-Fiction, then you’re labelled/pigeonholed as a Non-Fiction Writer. Try to break out into another category and you’ll only end up confusing the pigeonholers…

If you are known for writing say, crime thrillers but want to write, I dunno, vampire erotica, then that’s potentially not going to be a crossover that works. Unless there’s part of your readership that is into erotic vampire crime thrillers, that is..

 

 

For Bryan Mack Books, there has always been A Plan. The Plan was, and still is, to start off writing Non-Fiction before moving to Fiction. Since my first published book Sell Your Self! was non-fiction, when I wanted to set out on my Self Publishing Adventure it made sense to me to stick with non-fiction. 

Since I got started with a published book about Acting Skills for Sales People, when it came to my first self-published book it made sense to write about something related to Bryan’s First Book in Bryan’s Second Book. Which is why my first self published book was The Fan Film Book.

Start with Doctor Who non-fiction, then transition to fiction which will hopefully appeal to the Doctor Who audience who know you from your Fan Film Book. The Plan has always been to have a “through-line” of sorts, a progression where I transition from one connected thing to another. So far, it seems to be working but, like many authors, I have other interests that sit outside Venn Diagram intersection of Who He Is and What I Know Him For.

Writing those two “outlier” non-fiction books taught me a lot, and What I Learned When I Did What I Did is what’s coming up in my next post.