Building Your Author Brand

Most people I meet hate the idea that authors are brands; they seem to assume that this means the publishing industry is treating them like tins of baked beans, sports clothing or chocolate bars. This reveals a lack of understanding of what is involved in building an author brand and why it is so important. The aim of a strong author brand – to put it into much more positive terms – is to build an authentic relationship with readers and, further, to encourage readers to think and feel certain emotions. It is also about establishing your uniqueness.

To help you establish your own unique brand in practical ways, here are three important elements of author branding you can focus on:

1. Design

The design elements of your author brand involve the creative choices you make for your book covers, your website, your social media and anything else that is seen by the market and potential readers (is ‘outward-facing’).

These design elements should be used consistently across your website, social media, ads, point of sale, merchandise and any other touchpoints you have with your readers.

2. Voice

Your voice should be within keeping of your genre and appropriate for your audience. Never lose sight of who your readers and wider audience are; so if you write children’s books, don’t forget that your voice must appeal to parents, teachers and school librarians, as well as being suitable for children.

3. Consistency and repetition

Once you have established the elements of your author brand, you should use them everywhere and consistently. You want your audience to become familiar with you.

This is an abridged version of an article taken from the Writers' & Artists' Yearbook 2022, available to purchase now from Bloomsbury.com.

Sam Missingham is founder of The Empowered Author, a book marketing service for authors. Find out more at theempoweredauthor.com and follow her on Twitter @samatlounge.