{"id":21421,"date":"2019-05-08T15:02:22","date_gmt":"2019-05-08T22:02:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/?p=21421"},"modified":"2019-05-08T15:18:34","modified_gmt":"2019-05-08T22:18:34","slug":"building-your-author-brand-by-beth-barany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2019\/05\/08\/building-your-author-brand-by-beth-barany\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Your Author Brand by Beth Barany"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>You can build your author brand. Let’s discuss some tips how.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

You\u2019re a creative writer. Maybe you write romance, and maybe you write other things too. You probably want to market and sell your stories to readers. But you may not know where and how to begin.<\/p>\n

Maybe you\u2019re being dragged kicking and screaming to the idea that you need to market your work at all.<\/p>\n

Your Author Brand<\/h2>\n

What does this have to do with building an author brand, you may wonder?<\/p>\n

Everything.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s define our terms.<\/p>\n

In the broadest sense, your author brand<\/strong> is the promise of an experience the reader will get every time they read one of your books, encounter your marketing material, like your website, your social media, your visual material (digital and physical), and any other aspect of your professional author self. Yes, including public appearances.<\/p>\n

While we creatives don\u2019t like to be hemmed in, readers on the other hand what to know what they\u2019re buying.<\/p>\n

For romance, they want to know they\u2019re going to get their Happily Ever After, but the kind they love.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest beginner mistakes authors make in presenting themselves to readers, and even to other authors, who could be fans, is to say they write romance. Then they stop.<\/p>\n

Then I ask, \u201cWhat kind?\u201d and they may look at me blankly.<\/p>\n

They know what kind of romance they write but may have never thought of how to express that.<\/p>\n

What are some possible answers to the question, \u201cWhat do you write?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

An author could say, \u201cI write Otherworldly Romantic Adventures.\u201d (Keri Kruspe<\/a>). Or, \u201cI write new pulp fiction romance.\u201d (Carol Malone<\/a>). Or \u201cI write magical tales of romance, mystery, and adventure.\u201d (mine<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Of course, you can also say you write shifter romance, or contemporary military romance, or magical paranormals, or small-town Western romances.<\/p>\n

(More on how to discover how to write your author branding statement here: https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/04\/your-clear-message-get-your-potential-readers-curious-now\/<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The first step in knowing your author brand<\/h2>\n

The first step in knowing your author brand is know how to describe your type of romances in a way your potential readers can identify. Ideally, you want to describe it in words they use.<\/p>\n

Another key step in building your author branding is to list the values and themes presented in your book and pick the strongest one. What I\u2019ve discovered in working with hundreds of authors is that their core values are the story\u2019s core values.<\/p>\n

This might look like:<\/strong><\/p>\n