I am not a marketing specialist. I’m hardly competent at marketing but, nevertheless, I’ve been doing it for a very long time (yes, just because you’ve been doing something for a long time does not actually mean you know what you’re doing – sad to say!). One thing that every marketing person will tell you is that the very first thing every author should do is to establish their brand.

Your brand tells the world of readers who you are. It tells them what they can expect from your books.

There’s a lot that goes into creating a brand. But first, you need to decide who want to reach—that would be those who you think would read your books. What sorts of images, what sort of tag line, even what colors might appeal to them – all need to be taken into account.

The trickiest part of this is that once you decide on your brand, it cannot be changed easily! So you really need to love what you choose because you’re going to be living with them for a very long time and seeing them all the time. These are things that will define you and therefore they will be everywhere you are: your website, your social media pages, even on your books.

Once you know who your audience is and have looked at what sorts of things they like (you can do this by stalking other authors who write in your genre, books similar to yours and see what their websites look like, what colors they use, what images), choose a tag line that will speak to your readers. It needs to be something five words or less (according to the marketing experts) that defines you and your writing. Short and pithy!

• My tag line for my writing: Magical Romance
• My tag line for my author services: Help for Every Writer

What makes your work different from all those other authors you were stalking? What do you do that’s different that makes your writing yours? What emotion does your work elicit? What message are you trying to get across with your work – remember it has to be something universal that will fit all of your work, not just the book you’re writing right now but all the books you will write in the future as well. Easy, right? (ha!)

You’ll need a logo or picture of some sort. Most readers love to see your picture. A good number of writers have absolutely no desire to put their picture (or at least not a current one!) out into the world for people to see. 😊 Choose something you’ll be comfortable sharing and that readers can identify with – the identifying part is why it’s best to have a picture of a person rather than a thing or fancy scripted letters. (I have a couple of pictures I use–the one above, a drawing I use on social media–if you follow me you’ll have seen it and it’s the cover picture for this post– made by a friend who takes commissions (message me if you want their name and contact info), and a photograph of myself.)

Once you’ve got your tag line and your logo or picture, you’re set to start designing your website and your social media pages (which should match, by the way). The idea is to have a unified look, something that reflects you and your work and is attractive to those who you want to attract.

Need help developing your brand? There are plenty of marketing experts out there who can help. I highly recommend Jenny Kate at The Writer Nation who is about to do a marketing analysis of my brand and marketing efforts in order to help me promote my work better (because I always need help!).

So, have you worked on your brand? Decided on what it will say to potential readers? Share a link below!