Steps For Creating A Strong Author Brand - Book Branding
Branding is one of the buzz-words that we usually hear in the corporate world, because it assists in escalating the brand image & creating remarkable results for the readers. Your brand is the first thing that interacts with the audience and makes them feel the importance of getting in touch with you, if required. The writing business has flourished so much these days, that we actually guess the name of the author just by seeing the similar branding or patterns that correlate with each other. Being an author, and the writers of many leading books it’s important to build an author brand image, so whenever someone hears your brand name they should get an idea what they’re about to conquer next!
Building a strong author brand image is important, and one of the key points in book branding. You know one thing is very common, in almost every field of interest; Exposure. It’s actually the words, images, and emotional preferences that make the people feel what they want, and how they connect with your personal brand. Your name is your personal brand, and you have to be very concise while deciding and taking any steps. Whatever you do, your audience is keeping a strict eye on that and that’s the core reason one has to be very careful while making any decisions.
One of the greatest hurdles, or should I say challenges, an author faces is raising their brand’s name, and author profile in such a competitive environment where every other day a new author is joining the club with some exciting storyline. You might see a lot of juggling words, or tools that may raise the hope of getting more brand image in your mind, and giving you a visible front face but the word ‘brand’ is way more than what we thought of it.
In this blog, we’re going to put light on some of the amazing tips for creating a strong author brand, which will help you in branding your book & better compete with the audience in the competitive environment.
So are you ready? Let's get started with the steps for creating a strong author brand image in the world of anonymous and famous authors.
What Exactly Do We Perceive From A Brand?
Brand is everything people see in you, and then create an image in their mind. Your personality, the words you say, and the way you write using a consistent font, and colors makes your personal brand, and people remember everything in their mind. Making the readers feel they're reading your masterpiece is when you realize you’ve finally built a brand of yourself. A lot of people wrongly misconception the branding to just a logo, or by inducing creative colors to the website however, the real game is beyond this. A brand is much more than what these graphics play, & how things are done!
Let’s consider the example of a brand Nike;
Nike is known worldwide, and anyone who sees a tick gets an instant that it’s about Nike. But the brand is made up of other things as well like customer services, quality of products and a lot more.
Branding is a constant promise that whatever the customers will see it's going to be based on some terms of condition, and it will not differ from the ongoing things because the style guide will remain constant.
Why Author Branding Is Important?
There is a lot of confusion people have related to brands, and how branding someone can differ from the normal branding. A brand is actually like a person, who gets recognized by his name, actions, and all the sort of attributes that makes him different. There are however some other attributes too, like the styling, clothes, haircut and how someone chooses something.
An author's brand is important because his books, and write-ups will be sold and purchased by people based on the branding they have done so far.
7 Magical Ways For Building A Strong Author Brand Image In Market
Whenever an author steps into the market,and starts out with their work they generally don't do branding and focus more on writing. That's where the problem starts, because people don’t know about them and it’s easy for others to overshadow their work, and bring it with their own names.
However, it’s not too late to get everything done right. Here are some of the best seven ways through which you start with building your own author brand with a purpose, and generate values with all the necessary importance.
1. Know Your Audience | Readers Segmentation
The first and most important step in building your brand is to know your audience first. The person who will first align you with the books, and read is your readers. Find out the reason why people are most likely to buy your books. If we talk in simple marketing language then, these are called customer persona and these are semi-fictional characters that embodies the qualities, and characteristics making the people reach to your brand. Ideally, it will definitely take a lot of time to recognize your audience but the hard work will be worth the hassle! When you reach a point, where you know everything about your audience, and why they hang out online at your book,and what they liked the most, it will be easier for you to speak with them, and connect in a friendly way.
2. Develop Your Brand’s Voice | The Communication Skills
The time you understand that your brand is trying to speak up, it’s the best time to start working on building a brand’s voice. Everyone has their own brand voice, and tone of voice through which they communicate with their audience. Authors also have different brand voices, and this is how they make the difference.
- 1. How do you want your audience to perceive you?
- 2. What do you want people to think, whenever they hear about your name?
- 3. Will you be communicating in a friendly tone, or a mild different one?
You can answer all of these questions, and then dictate how you can develop your unique tone of brand voice. Start by finding the author’s brand voice, and take time to keep everything sync in that tone and practice it thoroughly. It might be a bit difficult in the start, but later on you will establish your own brand, focused on a premise tone of voice. Some people choose a friendly tone of voice, while some go for a witty one, your readers keep that in their mind, and communicate in a similar tone of voice.
If you generally post motivational stuff, then you’re actually going off-brand. Choose a topic that collides with your brand voice, and then start writing on it. In this way, you will also earn the trust of your readers, and they will follow you. Your brand voice is the way you think, your values, and what’s more important for you and what you think is relevant with your brand’s identity.
3. Identify Your Unique Selling Point |Author Brand USP
Do you know what a USP is? If not, then let me explain it to you. USP is the unique selling point which every brand or service oriented company has that makes them different from the existing brands. Knowing your USP lets you compete with the competitors, and then definitely you would know how you can sell that piece of writing. If you’re a thrill writer, what makes you different from the existing thriller writers? Even if you’re a romantic author, what makes you different from the others that readers should purchase? These are some of the things one should know when you're planning to start your own brand, like what makes you stand out from the one already selling stuff in the market.
Like;
- 1. Do you know the reason why people read your books?
- 2. What are your strengths and weaknesses?
- 3. Are you more focused on quality, or quantity?
4. Build Up Your Own Expectations Level | Selection Criteria
The major aim or vision of a brand is to let the readers know what makes them different from others, and how can you maintain a consistent pace. Helping your readers to understand is another task, however, it is an essential part in the life of an author. The expectation criteria can differ from one to many like;
- 1. The way you write
- 2. The number of pages
- 3. The images you use
- 4. The story you cover
- 5. Or, the suspense you create within it.
As an author, who is striving to build its own brand, they should know how to better cope up with things, and know their audience.
5. Choose A Look For Your Brand | The Reason Why You’re Branding
Lastly, this is the most important part where we analyze what people think and to give them a better idea choose a look for the brand. The color palette and the graphics that will be used should be appealing and photos along with typefaces give it a more attractive look. While choosing a look for a brand, there should be no need for anything fancy but pay attention towards things that are minor and remember to stay consistent throughout. Moreover, the right selection of fonts, and colors that support your brand voice and the brand message matters. Like if you’re a thrill writer, choose darker shades for your books. Think about who you are, and how you represent the message you want your readers to know and perceive. Your decision should stay consistent throughout the book, and make the readers learn everything.
Publish Your Brand Everywhere With Your Strong Author Brand
I hope you learn a lot about brading, and know the difference now that it’s just not about the logo, and the combination of colors but your book and the tone of voice. Your brand is a makeup of different things, which altogether forms a consistent strong brand author image. Your social channels, promotional activities, bookmarks, and page layouts everything matters and come beneath branding. Always keep this in mind, that it’s about the looks but the way you present it to the audience. Your branded signature, and headers will definitely make you different from the existing authors in the market, and that’s how you can create your own brand image.
It’s really important to think about your brand, take some time out of your casual activities to learn about branding and reach your audience telling them what you see, and how you’re going to say it right. The results will amaze you, and of course you will build your own author brand image.
