On Being Different--Standing Out From the Crowd

Every year there are thousands of songs written (and recorded), thousands of books written (and published) and thousands upon thousands of other things that are the same as everyone else is doing, ad infinitum. It is easy to get lost in the shuffle. But it is not impossible to get to the top and be seen.

What makes you stand out from the rest of humanity? First of all, I would ask what makes YOU different from those around you? Do your friends always say things like, "I love your sense of humor" or that you are the "level-headed" one? Who are you to your peers? Find that unique thing or two about you that makes you different. Now ask yourself how to package it and capitalize on it. A comedian can't just be funny. He or she has to find a way to stand out from the crowd of peers. A niche is needed. Jeff Foxworthy has found a niche--Redneck humor. Bill Engvall has found a niche also--Texas humor. Will Rogers was unique in his time. A lot of folks spoke about politics, but he did it differently. Groucho Marx also had a niche--he was borderline insane, but in a lovable way. Don Rickles--insulting humor, from the nicest man you would ever want to know (a natural choice in order to be different, because it was NOT him). Phyllis Diller--cheap chic--she "out-Rosanne'd" Rosanne before there ever WAS a Rosanne Barr. Moms Mabley--one of the funniest and homeliest women you ever saw and you could not help but love her. Godfrey Cambridge...made a living out of saying, "Oh, YEAH!" in his own unique way. Red Skelton--couldn't help but laugh at his own jokes, especially when they went wrong. I could go on. All unique and original. No copies here.

A niche may be nothing more than your own personal little twist that you can add to it--something that makes it uniquely yours. My oldest son was wanting to learn to play guitar and has since shown a lot of talent in songwriting. While he was trying to decide what to play in front of an audience, whether to do 'cover' tunes or not, I gave him this advice: First, Don't play any song if YOU don't like it. The audience will know if you are having fun and if you are it will be infectious--they will have fun, too. Secondly, if you choose to do a cover tune, you must approach it one of two ways--either do it EXACTLY like the original, vocals and all, or put a twist in it that makes it uniquely yours and yours alone. Because of that, he has taken a hybrid approach and thrown some bits and pieces of several ethnic styles into his own truly unique works--enough to make an audience say, "Aha!" as they discover a new twist they never knew existed in todays' music.

He is also very outgoing and gregarious, so it was a natural thing for him to become a salesman--but he does it with a twist. Instead of trying to get the biggest commissions he can by sending a customer out with the most expensive thing he can, he tries to send them out with as much as he can for their money without compromising their overall quality and buying experience. For example: "Why spend that much on a top-of-the-line stereo and still not have enough to get good speakers that will do it justice, when for the same amount you could step down one--get this excellent stereo, STILL have enough to get good speakers AND have better cables to carry the signal and make it sound as it was meant to?" Then he takes them into the listening room and proves it will sound just as good. The funny thing is this: to the customer it sounds BETTER because their deal just got sweeter. Instead of one small box in their arms when they leave, they have a full cart and a total experience they never thought they could afford when they went in. And my son has never failed to be one of the top two salesmaen within a month of being hired--at several companies! He applies his own twist and it pays off in greater numbers in the long run. People he doesn't even know come in and ask for him by name. Why? Because he treated the FIRST customer so well that they told their friends. That is advertising at its best--advertising you cannot buy. I went in with him on his day off a few times, so he could show me the latest thing he was excited about--(oh..another way he stands out--he does his homework on a product so he can educate a customer or at least build confidence that he isn't giving them a snow-job)--in the first half hour, each time, there were customers AND salesmen asking for his assistance. And he was out of uniform! Now, that speaks highly of his level of service and knowledge. Armed with this technique he was actually training salesmen within his second month at one store.

Am I proud? Sure, but the moral to the story is that when you do it right it pays off for a long time to come. Do it in your own way, but do it right. All this may sound like common sense and simply the way it was meant to be--and it is. However, it is not very common for anyone to want to do their homework so they know what they are talking about (research for your book), so they can convince a reader that they know their stuff. It is uncommon to care about customer (reader) service by making the experience as good as it can be (rewrite and polish). It is uncommon to do the little value-added things that matter (neat PDF format, good cover design--even for a downloadable copy, contact information, author bio, jacket notes, etc.) These days it seems that doing things right is like breaking the rules. You get accused of making others look bad when you do. You stand out from the crowd!

Sometimes you have to bend or even break the "rules" to get noticed. I once broke the rules in order to get a job interview. (Well, actually several times...but....) The popular wisdom says never show up at lunch time and expect to get an interview. Well, that was the only time I could show up, so I made the best of it--and made myself stand out from the crowd. I told the girl at the front desk to tell ___ that if she would drive, I would buy lunch. I had done my homework and knew the name of the HR representative ahead of time. I had never met her and didn't know if this would work or not, but I had nothing to lose. The girl at the front desk looked puzzled for a moment and then went to the back and did as I suggested, assuming I knew the woman in question. Did I get an interview? Yes, for 45 minutes--during her lunch! She had a sack lunch, but she was curious as to who would be inviting her out to buy a lunch for her. The truth is that I was nearly broke, but I could have bought her lunch if I did without my own, which I was willing to do. Now, I did not get a job from it, as there were none then available, but I got in where the conventional wisdom said I could not. I did the "impossible".

Another time when I wanted to get through on the phone directly to someone who was "impossible" to reach without an appointment, my wife said, "give me the phone". She then proceeded to pull off the most simple and brilliant stunt I had ever seen. She rang the number and when the personal secretary/screener answered, my wife said, "Personal call for ____" and then waited quietly. Again, the several second pause. Again, the assumption that the caller knew the intended recipient. But this time, the secretary also assumed my wife was either an operator or another personal secretary. She would have felt foolish asking what the call was in reference to, after being told it was a personal call. She would have felt silly asking if my wife were a secretary or an operator. So, she just hesitated long enough to know there was no graceful way for her to do her assigned job and then she patched the call through like a good secretary should. Brilliant! We found a way to stand out. Call it guerilla marketing.

JK. Rowling has found her niche in writing about magic and a world that exists alongside ours, where nothing is without its surprises. The Harry Potter books are wildly popular and are spawning a series of movies (and making 'tonnes' of money for Rowling, who doesn't really have a middle initial, but don't tell her I told you). Lemony Snicket (no, I did not make that up, though it is not his real name) has found a niche in writing a series of books called A Series of Unfortunate Events, now a movie. Stan Lee was a noted comic book author and has gone on to become popular fodder lately for the movie market as well. Spiderman, the X-Men, Captain America and others attest to that. Personally, I feel my first novel would make an extremely exciting movie and I intend to work in that direction.

You must do something with your writing that makes you unique in the world of writers. You may be covering the same old subject as others have, but find a way to do it differently, through the back door or a window, so to speak. What do you know or what do you do differently that will make your writing stand out? Do you have an area of expertise that will do the trick? There are many books by Michael Crichton that are unique to his background in the chosen subject matter. W.E.B. Griffin, Tom Clancy and others have found their niches in military and espionage books. Douglas Adams has found his in the sci-fi humor field--now there is a twist! The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy is now a movie. Who would have thought?

A recent acquaintance, Melanie Hurd Goldmund, is writing a book she calls an LDS space opera. Being a Mormon, I knew what LDS was, but the space opera bit threw me and I begged an explanation. What she described was a very ambitious sci-fi project with a real twist to it--something that would definitely make her stand out from the crowd. I am not at liberty to divulge that Top Secret information at this time--she would have to kill me if I did--but suffice it to say that I am impressed and can't wait to see the manuscript when she is ready for a proof-reader. "Oh,...Pick me! Pick me!" (Waves arms furiously).

So, what is your niche? What is the twist you could add? In the sixties a lot of bands would pick a name by some very unorthodox methods. They might throw slips of paper into a hat and choose two or three and see if they went together--which actually meant to them that they should do anything BUT go together--which made it more cool and it was definitely different. That is how we ended up with band names like Bubble Puppy, Strawberry Alarm Clock, Ultimate Spinach, Moby Grape, Glass Harp and scores of other names of that ilk. Others would make a chart or a wheel-like device that would rotate in separate rings and match (or mis-match) words. Very creative, really. What will you do to find the twist you need? Maybe you like crafts and also want to write a book about white-water rafting. (Could a woman knit her own raft? Hey, it's your story--I'm just asking!) Branch out and don't be afraid to look at the world differently. Through a childs' eyes, through a bugs' eyes, through...wait, this is YOUR assignment. Get busy, be creative and have fun!