Building a strong, effective author brand will help you and your book stand out among the crowd. To create an authentic author brand, author and book PR/marketing expert A.G. Billig suggests first asking yourself: What are your values? What is the theme of you, and your books? Who is your ideal reader? Why do you write? Your answers to these questions should be true and unique to you; don’t try to emulate someone else!
Then it’s time to communicate the brand with others. Here are Billig’s keys to success when sharing an author brand:
• Authenticity: what makes you different from everyone else?
• Courage: the courage to be authentic and show yourself in the world.
• Consistency: find out what works for you and what gets you results.
• Evolution: grow with your readers and keep offering the best experience possible.
• For fiction authors: use stories for your brand. Readers don’t care as much about where you went to school or where you work. Share personal, interesting stories.
• For non-fiction authors: your credentials are important to share … but also have a story, which helps make you human and relatable.