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March 08, 2013 by Atilla Vekony, Publishing Information Manager 
What is author branding? Author branding is presenting yourself in such a way that when readers think of you, they associate a book with you. A type of book, a style of writing that, like your fingerprint, will always be uniquely you. Even if you write in different genres, the essence of how you write will always be yours.
Laurel Marshfield of Bluefield Communications explains author branding by a simple demonstration. She asks her readers to think of authors and note what image comes to mind. I quote this paragraph from her article, ?Do Authors Need to Build Brands? (You Don?t LOOK Like a Box of TIDE).?
?Here?s a small demonstration:? Does the name Stephen King conjure something different for you than the name J.K. Rowling? What about Dan Brown, Elizabeth Gilbert, Jodi Picoult? Or Malcolm Gladwell, Joan Didion, Seth Godin?? What association appears for a second or so when you first see each name??
Each of these authors has a style of writing, research, and thought that?s unique no matter on what subject or topic they write. Their readers come to know, love, and trust their writing and want more.
Have you ever fallen in love with a book and, immediately upon finishing it, wanted another one just like it? That is the power of branding. The essence of branding is building trust and following through with your readers? expectations of that trust.
Developing your author brand is important if you want to sell a lot of books this year, more next year, and a lot more the year after that. You should consciously write each book so that you build your audience rather than starting from scratch each time. Link your books, your writing, your social media efforts, your public speaking, blog, and website to a core message as a single brand. United in one front you raise your chance of becoming a successful author by leaps and bounds.
In the glut of today?s book market, you will never rise to the surface if you change your spots every year. It is incredibly hard for new authors to gain a following. The competition is stiff and gets worse every year.
With all that said, let?s get started building and identifying your brand.
Step One:? Ask yourself this question: Are you a writer of fiction or nonfiction?
Step Two: If nonfiction is your writing, is it inspirational, technical, historical, or business?? If it?s fiction, is it mystery, science fiction, romance, or historical? Is it thrilling like Stephen King or quiet like Jan Karon?s Mitford series?
Step Three: What would you like your readers to experience with your books? Escape for a bit or rev up their motors and start a new project?
Step Four: How can you build upon that experience outside of your books? For instance, if you were a writer of children?s stories, you would design your website to be appealing to children and parents. If you have a business book you might expand and reflect back to your book by what you blog about.?
Step Five: Write a mission statement. (If done well this will take some time and effort.) Think about it a lot. Then once you have it. Print it out and put it plainly where you can see it often.
Step Six: Focus everything you do, write, or speak about in accord with your mission. If you can keep that one thought in the front of your mind, your brand will deepen daily with little effort.
Step Seven: Unite your efforts by referring to your mission statement with your website, business card, email signature, social media bios, article writing, and blogging.
Step Eight: Write a good bio and put it on your website. Center it around your mission statement. Make sure you explain what has inspired your writing. What makes your writing unique and offers a perspective that?s different from other authors in your genre?
Step Eight: Think of one word that exemplifies your writing. Honesty, passion, frightening, encouraging, thrilling, fun, danger, peaceful, comforting. Associate it now with a color. Start using that color consistently and it will become part of your brand.
Step Nine:? Visualize your brand as an image. Think of McDonald?s golden arches, Apple?s logo of an apple with a bite out of it, or the roaring lion of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios. It could be something fun, simple, or dramatic. You don?t have to actually print or use your logo, but having an image that ties in with your brand is a powerful mental trick for staying brand centered.
Step Ten: In the beginning for authors to think of branding themselves, it may seem slightly melodramatic or over the top, something to do only when you have made it. But every author who pulls away from the herd has developed his or her brand in some way that causes people to know and remember them.
Wheatmark can help you create a book marketing strategy and platform that will help you maximize your impact while minimizing your time. Visit the Authors Academy to learn about more.?
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Tags: marketing, author platform, authors, branding
Filed Under: Marketing, Social Media,
Source: http://www.wheatmark.com/blog/entry/10-steps-to-developing-your-personal-brand-as-an-author
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