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From Writer to Brand: Why Authors Need to Work on their Personal Brands

Indie authors, raise your hand if you hate marketing your books? Let me see, yep, that’s most of you. Let me preface this blog with, I understand. I understand you didn’t become an author to spend all your time marketing your books. I understand that it is a necessary evil for you, and that you’d rather be spending your time doing what you love; writing. So let me help you. There are two ways you can do this 1. you can hire me to do it for you or 2. you can take a look at my content that will hopefully help make marketing easier.
Personal Brands: What is it and why do you need it?

So personal brands. A necessary evil for the modern author. No longer is it enough to just pour your heart into your writing and letting it speak for itself. These days readers don’t just buy stories, they buy you. They buy your energy, your vibes, your chaos. They want to see you screaming at 2am about your characters, and they want to be there with you! They want to see you romanticise coffee-fuelled writing sprints, they want to see you wax lyrically about your characters and then threaten them in the same breath. You may not be building it intentionally, you might have made a start accidentally, but you’re going to want to lean into it.

When we talk author brands I want you to forget what you know about brands. This isn’t corporate nonsense, and it’s not about logos and slick colour palettes. Your brand is going to be about the emotional imprint you leave, it’s going to be how a reader describes you and your books to their friends.

One of my favourite author brands at the moment has got to be CG Drews. CG Drews writes YA Gothic Botanical Horror. Their personal brand: unapologetically queer, neurodivergent horror master that has unleashed their chaos onto the world. They embody their work, no one could take a look at their brand and be confused about what they’re getting from their books. There’s no way you can forget what their brand and their books are about. And that’s what you as an indie author need to embrace. Not just shouting into the void for the sake of it, but shouting into the void, and giving people something to remember you by!

Building Your Author Brand – The Feral Way.

Right how’s it done? How do you build a personal brand? Now I could give you a 12 step marketing plan that is full of marketing jargon, but I know I’ll lose you in 30 seconds. So instead I’m going to break it down into 4 sections.

1. What’s your emotional flavour?

Ok this should in theory be easy for you. You need to identify what themes or feelings live rent-free in your stories. See easy! You know that! You know if your books are a cosy warm hug, you know if your books are an unhinged botanical horror story. And that vibe, that feeling is your brands anchor.

2. Who is your reader?

There is two parts to this step, what I think of as the ‘technical’ side and then the ‘vibes’ side. When writing your book you know if you’re writing a YA novel, or if it’s a spicy 18+ romance, so you’ll always want to keep that in mind when it comes to marketing your book right? If it’s a YA book you’re not going to be using 18+ elements to promote your book right. So that’s the technical side taken care of.

For the vibes side of your reader I want you to think about who it is you want to summon. Are you looking for the cottagecore girlies who feel at home in a hut in the forest baking sourdough? What about the romantasy lover who is OBSESSED with wing span and shadow daddies? Once you know who your reader is, that is who you are talking to! Stop shouting into the void and start calling to them!

3. Match your books energy.

If you’re writing a gothic masterpiece, with yearning and slow burn romance, your brand can’t be all cottagecore tea parties right? You want to give your readers the same emotional hit across every touch point.

4. Consistency is key.

Unfortunately this is how it works for marketing generally. You need to be consistent. And this doesn’t mean posting on social every day, this doesn’t mean weekly email newsletters. But it does mean some sort of planned chaos. Come up with a plan that works for you, and stick to it, and most of all stick to your energy. Stick to being YOU. You want to make your brand, your energy, instantly recognisable.

Getting Your Brand Out There

Right now you have an idea on what your personal brand is and how you want to present yourself to the world you need to think about where you’re going to DO the presenting. Pick your platforms. Don’t stress about being on every platform possible, you’ll burn out quicker than a candle lit at both ends. Pick your platforms. Some of my favourite platforms for authors are:

TikTok/Booktok: Great for being unapologetically you. Great for behind the scenes info dumps. Don’t worry about making polished, flawless content. Scrappy, and real is what you want. Saying that though, if you hate making video, then don’t!
Instagram: great for showcasing your vibe using pretty pictures, graphics and the occasional video. Think mood boards, behind the scenes, polished content.
Newsletters or Substack: this is great for engaging with readers who maybe aren’t on social media, but also you know you’re going to get to them. No relying on algorithms, just content straight to their inboxes. Only thing with a newsletter is it takes time to build an email list, so probably worth while working on it in the background via websites, ARC signups etc while doing a bit of social.
Website: so your website is your HQ. You want to keep in on brand and unmistakably you. And while you need a website, I wouldn’t stress too much about trying to grow or develop your website. Depending on your genre etc you’re going to be fighting against the big names in terms of SEO and search engines. So make it, keep it on brand but she’s a slow burn.

This of course isn’t a comprehensive list of platforms, there’s Threads, there’s BlueSky, Tumblr, LinkedIn, guest blogs, Goodreads, Reddit… The list goes on. Whatever space you choose, you just need to remember one thing. Everything needs to scream you. You’re going to bring the same energy to whatever space you join.

Things to Avoid

We’ve gone over what you do want to do, but it’s worth mentioning some of the traps you probably want to avoid.

Trying to be everyone’s cup of tea. You won’t be everyone’s cup of tea and that’s ok!
Inconsistency. I know, I know this is just be consistent in a different font, but it’s so important!! If your books are emotional devastation but your brand is ‘soft girl journaling’ your readers are going to be confused!
Only ever posting sales links and ‘buy my books’ posts. Your readers know you’re trying to sell your book to them, but you don’t need to shove it down their throats. Remember they’re human and they’re looking for connection.
Copying someone else’s brand. Look I know nothing is ever truly unique but you’re selling your self short if you just copy someone word for word.

What Happens When You Nail It

You celebrate it for a start! Don’t forget to celebrate even the small wins! Marketing is hard and it’s a slog, so make sure you celebrate when you make even the smallest steps forward.

When you get your personal brand right it can feel easy, as easy as breathing. You stop forcing posts for the sake of it, and you don’t feel like you’re running up hill. From there you’ll start seeing things like other authors wanting to collab, you’ll see readers recognising you on sight, and best of all your audience will grow.

Final Thoughts: The Brand Is You

So there you have it, how to make having a personal brand not so much of a chore. Having a brand isn’t about being corporate, it’s not about turning yourself into a product, it’s about owning your energy. You’re not selling, you’re storytelling! You’re not pretending, being fake, you’re just showing the world what’s already there!

So go on bestie. Go be authentically YOU! The truth is your words hook your readers – but YOU make them stay.