Creating An Author Brand

I remember a time when I had no idea what branding yourself as an author meant. I mean, I knew what branding was. Sort of. Products you encounter every day have branding. You can't look at certain logos, even without the name of the company on it, and not think of that company. THAT IS BRANDING!

 

But why is this important for an author?

 

It's very important, actually.

 

Think about it this way. When you're looking at a group of books, how do you know which ones are part of the same series? It's branding.

 

All the books in my Serpent's Kiss series not only have Kiss in the title, but they also have the same color scheme. This makes it clear to readers that yes, these books are in fact part of the same series. There's no guessing. It's clear.

 

That's what branding does. It tells people, readers in the case of books, what to expect when they purchase a story. It's why authors use the same font on the covers of all their books. Some even take it a step farther and make sure the placement of their name on their covers is consistent.

 

Having a consistent font is important for a couple of reasons. First, it just looks better, more professional. Think how it would look if every time you went to buy your favorite cookies, the name on the box was in a different font. You might stop and question if these were really your favorite cookies or a knock off trying to be your favorite cookies.

 

As an author, you don't want this happening with your books.

 

Every author has their own voice and that is what draws a reader in. They learn what to expect from an author and want more of it. Branding is the neon arrow guiding the reader directly to more of what they already loved.

 

But branding is more than just the fonts on a book cover. It's an author's logo, their website, the way they present themselves online, and even how they set up their table at book signings. It's all branding.

 

When I published my first book over a decade ago, I had no idea about branding. I just wrote the book, sent it off to the publisher, and moved on to writing the next story. And while most of us wish it were that simple and it would be like in the movie Field of Dreams 'if you build it they will come', or in this case 'if we write and publish it they will read it', that's just not how it works.

 

I was lucky in that after my first standalone novel, I wrote two series. The font on my covers was at least consistent within each series, if not across series.

 

If I had to do it over again, I would have pushed to make sure all my branding was consistent. And when I set up my website, I would have been sure to use the same font for that as well.

 

The goal is for a reader to glance at your book and know exactly what they're going to get. As Donald Miller says in his book Building A Story Brand, if a customer has to think too hard about whether or not to purchase your product, then they will most likely just move on.