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New Name For A New Year

It has taken a lot of thought and a heck of a lot of hours to rebrand my romcoms under a new name, but I think I finally finished and am ready to unleash these on the world. Watch out!

Quick thoughts on WHY…

When I first published in 2013, I branded as a YA Fantasy author. I decided using my real name really was the best option, mostly because I wanted to rub it my 9th grade teacher’s FACE that I had written books and was published. “Candace” is a very regal, fantasy acceptable name. I do love my given name and it works well for these books. I had no ideas of publishing anything other than fantasy.

Then I began writing comedy. I considered a pen name but not too seriously. I even went as far as putting CJ Thomas as the author, but surprise, it was taken, so I just moved forward publishing under my name because it was me and established and the easiest option.

Little did I know about brand dilution and algorithms. If I am branded as a YA Fantasy author, I have a pure brand and algorithms that state it as such. I become much more searchable and I have good traction. If I add books that do not have anything to do with YA Fantasy, then the algorithm gets polluted and not as searchable.

As much as I thought the audiences for both YA Fantasy and RomComs would cross-pollinate, they actually do not and it just became a big, snarly mess.

With rebranding my romcoms under a pen name, I am creating a pure identity within that genre. There will only be romcoms here and nothing else. Many authors do this.

VE Schwab writes her YA under Victoria Schwab.

Charlie Holmberg uses CM Holmberg for her RomComs.

AM Luzzader is a Middle grade author but Amanda Luzzader for her YA/Adult books. (I have to give kudos to Amanda here for really teaching more about branding. She’s amazing!)

Trying On A Pen Name

Picking a new name grew a bit of difficulty. It wasn’t as easy as I would have liked. The people listed above used versions of their names, that wasn’t as simple for me. The last name Thomas is just too common. My maiden name “Johnson” is one of the most popular names in the country, next to Smith and Williams. So, where do I go from here?

I decided to go with a nickname.

I have been called “Candy” since I was a kid. It’s a cute nickname and my family and close friends still call me this. I went for a different spelling that I usually like to give it some distance and identity. I picked the last name Teasdale as “Tea” being comforting and “Dale” as a lovely valley. I write simple, non-spicy situational comedy. It all came together. I’m a sweet comfy valley. (Incidentally, I picked this name BEFORE my SIL moved to a small town with the same name. No kidding!)

So here I am! All branded! You will start to see more branding with my pen name on things. I’m throwing my names together if you follow different social media of mine or on my website. This is what it all means.

And without any more waiting, here are my new covers with my new pen name.

To Dream To Daylight on my website

Vampire-ish on Amazon!

I can’t wait for you to find these out and about.

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