Who Are You Again? Why Self-Published Authors Need a Clear Author Brand
What do your ideal readers (or customers) associate with you?
This is a particularly important question for self-published authors because most of us do not have thousands of readers waiting for our next book or publishing house marketing resources to introduce us to the world. Unless you're a well-known ministry leader or social media influencer, you probably lack instant name recognition.
So, what happens when someone encounters your name online? Do they know who you are? More importantly, do they know what you write? If the answer is a little fuzzy, you may have a branding problem.
Your Brand Is More Than a Logo
When people hear the word branding, they sometimes think of logos, fonts, colors, professional headshots, or a beautifully designed website. Those things can be part of a brand, but they aren't the brand itself. Your author brand is really about association. When readers see your name, what do they associate with it?
If you write Christian devotionals, perhaps you want readers to associate your name with practical biblical encouragement. If you write children's books, maybe you want parents and grandparents to recognize you as someone who creates wholesome, engaging rhyming stories. If you write historical fiction, you may want readers to expect carefully researched stories that bring another time and place to life.
Who Are You Writing To?
One of the most common things I hear from new authors is, "My book is for everyone." It probably isn't.
That doesn't mean everyone can't read it. It means trying to market a book to everyone usually results in marketing effectively to no one.
Think about the person most likely to pick up your book. How old is that person? Why is he or she looking for a book like yours? What problem are you helping solve, or what experience are you providing?
And remember that the person reading your book may not be the person buying it. Your four-year-old reader probably isn't browsing Amazon with a credit card. A parent, grandparent, teacher, librarian, church leader, or caregiver is making that purchasing decision. You may be writing the story for the child while marketing the book to the adult.
The same principle applies in other genres. A devotional for women navigating grief has a different audience from a general Christian inspirational book. A military memoir may appeal specifically to veterans and their families.
The clearer you become about whom you're trying to reach, the easier your publishing and marketing decisions become.
Now Look at Yourself Through a Reader's Eyes
Once you know whom you're trying to reach, take a little field trip around the internet. Visit your website and the places where you maintain a public author presence: Facebook, Instagram, Amazon Author Page, LinkedIn, YouTube, or elsewhere.
Pretend you don't know yourself.
Within about five seconds, can you tell what this person writes and whom the books are for? Can you easily find the books? Do the photos, cover images, bios, colors, and general messaging seem to belong to the same person?
Or does the website say "Christian children's author," while Facebook says "political commentator," Instagram says "cat enthusiast," and LinkedIn still says you're an accountant?
This is where branding becomes practical. You don't necessarily need an expensive designer or marketing consultant. You need consistency. Use the same author name, recognizable photos and book imagery, and consistent colors and visual elements. Make sure your bios tell roughly the same story. Someone who discovers you in one place should recognize you somewhere else.
Give People a Reason to Follow You
What in the world are we supposed to post if we aren't constantly posting links that say, "Buy my book"?
Go back to your audience. What interests them? What helps, entertains, or encourages them?
A children's author might share ideas about reading with children, family activities, educational resources, or glimpses into how a children's book is created. A devotional writer might share encouragement, questions for reflection, or thoughts related to themes in his or her books. A historical fiction author might share fascinating bits of research that never made it into the novel.
The goal isn't to trick people into following you so you can eventually sell them something. It's to create a genuine connection with people who are likely to appreciate the kinds of things you write.
Your Website Should Be Home Base
Social media platforms are useful, but you have limited control over them. Algorithms change. Features disappear. Accounts get restricted.
Your author website should serve as home base. It doesn't need to be complicated. Readers should be able to quickly discover who you are, what you write, and where they can find your books. If you write in several genres, help them navigate those categories. And make sure your website connects naturally with what they're seeing from you elsewhere.
Don't Build a Platform Bigger Than You Can Maintain
Once we start talking about author platforms, someone inevitably tells us we need a website, Facebook page, Instagram account, TikTok, YouTube channel, Pinterest boards, email newsletter, podcast, blog, and probably three platforms invented while I was writing this paragraph.
You don't have to be everywhere.
Maintaining six abandoned social media accounts may be worse than maintaining one or two good ones. Find out where your readers actually are and what you can realistically maintain.
If your target readers spend time on Facebook and you enjoy interacting there, Facebook may deserve your attention. If your audience isn't on a particular platform, don't spend hours creating content for it simply because another author says you should.
Your time matters. You are, after all, supposed to have enough left to write books.
Branding Won't Fix the Book
Good branding cannot rescue a poorly prepared book.
Before worrying about logos, social media strategies, or marketing plans, make sure you have done the publishing work well. Your manuscript needs editing. Your cover needs to fit your genre. Your book description, formatting, and publishing choices matter. And sometimes there are details new authors simply don't know that they don't know.
For Christian writers, this includes specific considerations when quoting and referencing Scripture. Bible translations have copyright and permissions requirements, and devotional-style works have style and formatting considerations that aren't necessarily obvious when you begin. Who knew?
That's one reason I wrote The Complete Beginner's Guide to Self-Publishing for Christians. It walks Christian writers through the self-publishing process with the additional considerations that come with faith-based material, including Scripture references and quotations.
For writers who don't need that Christian publishing focus, Self-Publishing Simplified: Your Step-By-Step Guide to Success covers the self-publishing process for a broader audience.
Both are designed around the same idea: you shouldn't have to figure out every part of self-publishing by making expensive mistakes first.
Clarity Is a Gift to Your Reader
For Christian authors especially, marketing and branding can sometimes feel uncomfortable. We don't want to turn ourselves into products or make everything feel like self-promotion.
It doesn't have to.
Branding can simply mean making it easier for the people who need what you've written to recognize that it is for them.
Present yourself consistently enough that when readers encounter you again, they recognize you. Give them a clear path to your books when they're ready.
Here's a simple exercise to try today.
Open your website or the public social media account you use most often as an author. Give yourself five seconds to look at it.
Now pretend you've never heard of this person.
What does this author write? Who does this author write for? What does this person seem to care about? What would you associate with this author's name?
And finally:
Is that the answer you want?
