Building Your Author Brand

What is Author Branding?

When we talk about author branding, we aren't just talking about a logo, or brand colours. These are of course a part of the 'brand', but they are by no means the whole story.

If you've been around anyone in marketing, you'll know that it is often said that "people buy from people that they know, like, and trust." 

In order for people to know you, they must be given the opportunity to do so. It's difficult to know someone who doesn't show up and interact authentically with them.

Once people are given time to get to know you, they'll decide whether they like you enough to keep you around : by following you on social media, for example. If they decide that your messages don't line up with their beliefs, or they don't agree with what you're saying, they aren't going to move forward in this process. That's ok though, you aren't marketing your books to everyone! (You may have already read the article about knowing your audience, but if you haven't, or you don't have a clear idea about who you're speaking to, this free resource can help!)

Once your audience has decided to click 'follow' and they keep seeing consistent and reliable communications from you, they will begin to trust you. 

A huge amount of people greatly underestimate the 'you' part of the process, and go straight for the sell. Your author branding should be such that your audience is really able to get a true sense about who you are. 

Content and Style

For ease here - content is what you write, style is how you present what you've written.

First you need to create a style guide - this should cover things such as font usage, colours, your logo (and any variants), book art or key characters that appear on your publications. If you write in different genres, or under different pen names, then you should consider whether your branding is consistent across the board, or whether you create a different brand identity for each. 

Example : 

Your first series was in young adult fantasy fiction and you've decided now to switch genres to erotic fantasy. You'd probably want to have some clear distinction between the two.

If you're writing in different sub-genres, you may consider it beneficial to keep your branding consistent, so that your books are easily identifiable by existing fans.

Example :

You've written a series of contemporary romance novels, but have decided that your next series is going to be in the fantasy romance sub-genre. The likelihood being that fans of your contemporary romance series, will also be interested in your fantasy romance series as well. By keeping your branding consistent here, your existing audience can identify you easily when it comes to publishing and marketing your latest work.

These content pillars should act as a guide for you when you are posting on social media or on your blog, having them to hand will also mean that you always have something to write about! Remember that encouraging engagement and audience participation will allow for audience growth. Interaction with your audience allows you to build authentic relationships with them, which in turn will develop their trust in you and your brand.

Build Your Audience and be Consistent

Once you have your style guide and content pillars decided upon, you can build your brand consistently across all channels available to you. Showing up for your audience authentically will really help your brand stand out. 

Some ideas for interactive posts could be as simple as

• Writing a post on your author blog about how you overcome writer's block, sharing that post to social media and include a CTA asking your audience for their tips.
• Sharing a snippet of your WIP on your socials and encouraging your audience to join in and share theirs too. Click through to your participant's socials and interact with them there. 
• Posting a reader review and sharing a link to where others can purchase their copy of your excellent book!

Online marketing tells us that it takes up to 50 impressions for a cold lead (someone who doesn't know the brand at all) to become warm (ready to take action and purchase.) By showing up consistently, you're giving your brand credibility and allowing yourself to be visible to your potential readers.

An author bio can be written in first or third person - which is best for you will be decided by your target audience and where your bio will be used. It is useful to note that most are written in the third person. It should be a short paragraph that can touch upon your literary achievements and prior works. It can be humorous or straight to the point. What you write and how it is presented depends on your genre, and the general tone of your brand.

Examples :

If you're a non-fiction history writer, your author bio could list your credentials and prior works. You could talk about why your writing focuses on a specific period in history. Your bio should offer credibility to your name.

If you're a children's author, you can talk about what drew you to the genre and what has given you inspiration when creating your characters and their adventures. If you have based a character on yourself, or plot around a personal experience that you had as a child, these can be good things to include in your bio.

If you write about business, a factual bio that details your experiences in this field would be a good place to begin. Again, your bio will tell your reader why they should read your book, as opposed to another author's release based around the same subject. What sets you apart?

These are just a few aspects of author branding to consider - if you'd like help with your branding, or would like us to assess your brand for you - click on the enquiry button below.