Getting your brand right as an author

Now that you have your book cover completed, the formatting done and all edits finalized, your book should be looking great and ready to publish, but have you thought about your brand as an indie author?

You may be thinking ‘well, that’s for the big sellers who have a large publishing house behind them, right?’
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Not really, it is true that most big name authors will normally have a large advertising budget to spend, and they will have a ‘brand/style/image’ which is consistent across every platform they’re represented upon, but this is not something that’s exclusive to those within the best sellers lists.

In advertising your book, image is everything, having a consistent image/brand across every touch point your potential reader will see is important.

As an indie author your competition will be those best sellers, if you present an image of something which looks home-made or amateur, then the viewers will make the same assumption about the contents of your book and your proficiency as an author.
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So, making sure that your cover and the content you post online through social media, blogs or your own website looks professional and consistent is crucial. 

Here are our five tips on things you can do right now to help with your brand/image as an author.

One
Understand that in order to be successful and achieve the results that you may not currently have, you will need to do something different to what you are currently doing. Look, if you want change, YOU need to change yourself and your process first.

Two
Look at your current social media pages, are they personal or set up separately for you as an author? Most PR agencies and publishers will tell you to separate the two, keep your personal pages away from your author profile, this will enable you to present a consistent image as an author to your readers.

Three
Again, look at your on-line touch points, blog, website, social media, do they look like they belong to the same person? Or do you have different images, colors, profile photos etc.? Your social media, blog and website should all show a consistent image, one that lets the viewer know that they are on your page.

Four
Post regularly, be consistent with your standards and be visual, most social media is focused upon the visual (just look at how big Instagram is), so don’t just post huge chunks of text (as no one’s going to read it). Use professional images, banners and photographs that will grab the attention of your viewer.

Five
Don’t cut corners, you can get great banners, profile icons and advertising made to represent your brand very reasonably, look at what the most successful authors are doing on their websites and social media pages, look to them for inspiration.
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​With a small amount of effort, you can project a unified image across all of your touch points on-line, it all goes towards presenting a professional image of you as an author and that your books are something the public should take seriously.