Let’s talk about author branding. It may sound like a bit of a business buzzword, but it’s really important that you have a unique author brand in order to connect with your readership. Here are some thoughts on crafting your identity and building personal branding as an author.
What Is Author Branding?
What am I, exactly? You might think and answer, “Well, I’m an author.” Or maybe you’ll refer to yourself as a writer or a creative. And that is the correct answer to that question, but it’s a bit vague, isn’t it?
Author branding is a deeper dive into the above question. Your author brand should tell your readers (and potential readers) who you are as an author. You may hear the word “brand” and think it contradicts your identity as a creative individual; the term “brand” often evokes images of business and boardroom meetings. However, personal branding for authors is an important part of attracting readers.
Basically, your author’s brand is:
- It tells people who you are.
- It gives people an idea of what to expect from your work.
- It gives you a basis on which to sell your work and yourself as an author.
By building a brand and crafting an identity for yourself as an author, you go beyond just promoting your books; you are promoting yourself too.
Why You Need a Unique Author Brand
You will never read the work of all the authors and writers out there. To know if an author’s work is something we like, we need to know more than just what they’ve written.
We may happen to take a chance and read a book by an author we’ve never heard of and decide we like it, but that’s a gamble. It’s not going to be profitable or sustainable to just hope that people pick up your book.
Developing a unique author brand goes a long way toward showing your readers why they should read your book. The way we consume has changed over the years, but one thing has stayed the same: We buy from people and businesses that we trust, as well as brands with a good reputation for quality and branding exposure. However, now there are more ways to consume and more ways for us, as creators, to market ourselves.
Authors should also work on their personal branding because it gives them a sense of who they are and what they want to say. A big problem for many creative people is that they start promoting their work right away without stopping to think about who they are and what they want. To really get people to buy your workbooks, you need to know why you wrote them in the first place. This is the message you want to send.
When you know this, you can gain a better understanding of your target audience.
People need to be able to easily understand what makes you an author in order for your branding to work.
Crafting Your Identity
Personal branding for authors isn’t something that just shows up when you publish a book. In order to develop a unique author brand that sets you apart and shows your readers that your book is the one for them, you first have to establish who exactly you are as an author.
Your identity as an author will be similar to parts of your identity as a person, except it will be specific to your work. Your brand as an author isn’t just about selling your books; it’s about selling yourself too. Let’s look at the different aspects of crafting your identity.
When Developing Author Branding, Know Your Values
What is your goal as an author?
Surely, you want your work to be successful, but what does that success actually look like? In order to develop your author brand, you have to know what you are trying to achieve. Whether you’ve written one book or fifty books, you need to know what your message is and what you value. You may think you know these things already, but you need more than a vague idea.
In order to find out what your values as an author are, ask yourself: How do I want my writing to make people feel? Not everybody is going to take the same thing from your book, but if you could choose how they feel after reading it, what would you want them to feel? Would there be a call to action for them to follow? Would this motivate them to be interested? How would they be entertained, and in what way? You’re not just writing aimlessly if you’re trying to get people to read your work, so establish what reaction you are trying to provoke from the reader.
We all have things that are important to us, so what are yours? Equally important is the question: What sets you apart from other authors? What makes your work interesting in unique ways? You may not realize it, but what you choose to craft as an author is important to your potential readers and target market. So when crafting your identity as an author, ask yourself:
- What is important to me?
- What do I want people to take from my work?
- What would success as an author look like to me?
In order to establish your values, you need to have a clear vision of what you would like to achieve.
The Distinguishing Aspect of an Author’s Brand
Why exactly should people read your book? Why should they choose your book as opposed to a different one, or even just not read it at all? In order to establish a unique author brand, you need to establish why you are unique. What can you bring that nobody else can?
It can be hard to exactly pin down your unique voice, so ask yourself:
- Why are you a writer?
- What makes you qualified to write the book?
- What sets your work apart from others?
Personal branding for authors needs to involve an element of being different. So you need to establish why exactly you are different and what gives you the right to tell the stories you are telling.
Part of author branding and crafting your identity as a writer is storytelling, so tell your readers your story and show them who you are as an author.
Your Target Audience
When you know your values as an author, you automatically know who your target audience should be in a lot of ways. Really, the values of your audience should line up with the values you yourself hold as an author. There is no point in having a big disconnect between what you want and what your readers want. Equally, there is no point in writing for a group of people who are demanding something you don’t provide.
When you market to your target audience, how do you meet a need they have? Are you providing a solution to a problem? Or are you fulfilling them in some way? People need to know what will happen to them when they read your books.
Your target audience wants to know what they are getting, so you have to tell them what they can expect. Then, you have to deliver on it by consistently giving them high-quality material that meets their needs.
Knowing your target audience means you know who you are writing for. Not everyone will fall into the exact same demographic as a reader, but you should have an idea of what your average reader looks like. By knowing this, you can ensure you appeal to them and keep their attention.
Growing Your Author Branding
You’re not going to be simply writing the same book over and over again. Just like you hope your fan base will grow, so will your author branding. That is to say, it will develop as your career as an author moves forward. You can understand this by comparing how a new author publishing their first book might market themselves to an established author who has published many books. Those two authors will go about things differently because they are at different stages in their careers.
We all grow as people over time, so the message you have and the values we’ve mentioned you hold may change too. It’s necessary to take stock of things to maintain your unique author brand. The process of crafting an identity as an author will continue as you develop. As an author, you should never stop learning and growing. As an author, your focus may shift over time to different things. So constantly check in with yourself and review your process. Ask yourself whether you are really in line with your values.
It can be easy to lose focus as you become successful, which is why it’s beneficial to have the right people close to you. Whether it’s fellow writers or trusted friends, you need to make sure you have people who will provide you with genuine feedback on your writing. Asking for and receiving feedback can feel awkward, but it’s necessary as a writer.
Basically, when it comes to personal branding for authors, you should be constantly developing rather than being stagnant. That’s not to say you need to regularly make wholesale changes or tear up what you’re writing and start over. But each piece of work should feel refreshing to read. While all of your work will feature your voice and your style, you need to ensure your identity as an author doesn’t become stale. Avoid letting your readers feel like they are reading the same book repeatedly instead of experiencing your latest work.
Tips for Personal Branding for Authors
Here are four things to consider when putting together your brand as an author.
- Build a hub: Where exactly are people going to go to find out about you? Sure, you may have books in bookstores and online retailers like Amazon. And you probably have some social media accounts. But you need to have one place where it all comes together. A good way forward for developing your author branding is to have a dedicated website for all your stuff. This means when people search your name, they will land on your website, where you can have links to where to buy your books and advertise your newest work. Your author website can be a one-stop shop with links to all your social media accounts, information on where to buy your books, and details about yourself as an author. You could even try direct selling [LINK DIRECT SELLINGPIECE].
- Blog: One thing you could put on your author’s website is a blog. This is a great way of keeping your regular readers entertained and introducing new readers to your style of writing. You can create SEO blog posts about being a writer and what you are working on. You can also write about your inspiration for what you’ve written so far. Continually putting out content related to your unique author brand is a great way to go. You could even consider getting ghostwriters to help you create content. At The Urban Writers, we have experts in SEO content creation.
- Social Media Marketing: When you look at those reading your book, chances are they have a social media account of some sort. Social media is the way most people connect in modern life, and the benefit of personal branding for authors is that it allows readers to connect with them on a deeper level. You can leverage social media in order to create a community around your writing. In the modern world, people like to feel like they are a part of something and can relate to the person they are buying a product from. Social media posts can include things like your process as an author, how you come up with ideas, images of artwork for your books, and even just funny observations about being a writer. Chances are some of your followers are aspiring writers, so engage with them when promoting your work. Social media is a big part of crafting your identity as an author, so plan out your posts in advance and make sure you post the right content on the right platforms.
- Capitalize on Current Skills: We’ve talked a lot about what you bring as a unique individual. Before you start putting together your author brand, take stock of what skills you have. Are you a naturally good speaker? Maybe you could do podcasts related to your work. Are you able to edit videos? That could be something to include on your website. Obviously, you have some sort of skill in terms of writing and storytelling, but what specifically are you strong at? So ask yourself what some things you are really strong at are, and focus on those when developing your ways of marketing yourself.
Final Words
Creating a unique author’s brand takes work. Crafting your identity as a writer involves looking inward and answering some questions about yourself. By building your author branding, you can ensure you connect with readers on a much deeper level.
