Quick little word association activity for you: When you hear the word “brand,” what comes to mind? 

Maybe you think of big corporate brands we all recognize like Nike or Apple. Or you might think of your favorite brands of clothing, skincare, tech devices, what have you. Either way, you probably think of what the brand looks, sounds, and feels like.

You want to offer that experience to your readers, too. When fans see your name, they should be able to imagine your books, how they sound in audiobooks or what they look like in print, and — most importantly — how they make them feel.

To do that, you need a strong author brand.

What is an author brand?

A “brand” is the identity and story of a company, or how it’s perceived. The same goes for an author brand. 

It’s your identity, story, and the message you want to share with your fans and readers. It’s how you want to show up online and be remembered. It’s also how you’re unique and distinct from other authors in your genre or space.

What does author branding include?

Your author brand encompasses a lot of elements, like your:

• Brand voice, or how you speak to your audience. Are you bubbly and lighthearted? Serious and witty? Nerdy and quirky? Aloof and mysterious? 
• Genre and writing style
• Values, beliefs, and opinions
• Hobbies and interests
• Visual branding, like colors, fonts, logos, images, sounds — AND your book covers! 
• Website design
• Online content (your emails, Instagram posts, TikToks, blogs, vlogs, Goodreads profile, etc.)
• Your author bio and photo

As you can see, your author brand is more than just the books you write. It’s your books, plus who you are as a person and how you show up online. 

Now, why does all this author branding stuff matter?

A strong author brand makes it easier to market yourself

If your head is spinning at the thought of all these author branding decisions you’ll have to make, consider this: you probably only have to make these decisions once in the foreseeable future. 

Once you’ve put your author brand out into the world, it likely won’t change unless you have a drastic change in your persona, genre, audience, etc. (Ex: you jump from romantasy to cookbook writing or something like that.)

In general, your author brand is set after you’ve done the initial work. The design of your online platforms is set. Your brand voice and tone will only get stronger and more distinct with practice. You’ll know what images and graphics make sense for your social posts and marketing materials. And while you can always upgrade elements of your brand over time, you don’t have to do the heavy lifting again. 

Basically, there’s no more guesswork when it comes to this part of marketing yourself. (Your entire book marketing strategy is a whole other thing, BTW.)

You’ll still create content that’s on-brand, which requires time and effort, but you’ll no longer wonder if something feels right for you or your audience. Because your author brand guidelines will determine that beforehand.

Your author brand connects you with your target audience

As an author, you’ve probably noticed how books in one genre often share similar design elements on their covers.

Romance books are bright and vibrantly colored, with artwork of couples kissing, couples sneaking flirty glances at each other, or one-half of a couple looking hot and bothered. Fantasy book covers are dark and shadowy, with intricate fonts and designs, otherworldly environments and creatures, or flowers and swords.

Without reading the book titles or the section of the bookstore you’re browsing, you can guess what genre you’re looking at. You want a similar effect for your author brand.

A strong author brand will tell people what they can expect from you and your books. Does your website look serious and mysterious, with headlines in red and all capital letters? If it looks like a thriller novel book cover, then that’s what a site visitor will assume you offer.

Your author brand sets expectations for your books, plus anything else you use to communicate with your fans, like social posts or email newsletters. And when you deliver on those expectations, you build trust in your fanbase. 

You turn casual followers, readers, or email subscribers into loyal followers. You become an “auto-buy” author because people are sure that they’ll like your next book before even reading it.

Your author brand guides how you show up online

One more thing we love about building a strong author brand? You get to decide how much you show up online. 

You’re in charge of: 

• How you look and what you sound like
• What you share about your books
• How you want to promote your books
• What message you want to share
• The readers and fans you want to interact with
• How much of your personal life you reveal
• How you want to connect to your readers
• Who you network with
• Which authors and others in the publishing industry to support
• Who gets to work with you (influencers, Bookstagrammers, BookTokers, book reviewers, etc.)

Isn’t that freakin’ powerful? 

This goes without saying, but the internet is like the Wild West. Anything goes out there. If you don’t craft your author brand, your readers (and other people online) might do it for you. Which might not be a bad thing, but it’s a risk you might not wanna take.

By building your author brand ahead of time, with clarity and purpose, you have more control of it. You’re the one calling the shots.

Need help bringing your author brand to life?

So, Dear Reader, how are you showing up as an author? Would your readers be able to pick you from a group of authors in your genre? What is your author brand? 

You brought an entire fictional world with lively characters and a thrilling plot to life. But marketing is just not your thing. You get the importance of an author brand now, but you’re also like, “Um, what do I do next?”

You give us a call so we can take care of it for you. 

At Uncanny Unedited, we’re marketing strategy experts AND obsessive bookworms. We can help you discover your author brand down to the last detail so it feels like you did it yourself. 
Whether you’re looking for a one-quarter marketing strategy, help with social media, or full-service copywriting, we’re the gang for the job. Schedule a call with us today and let’s get going on establishing your author brand through content and marketing strategies.