“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Leonardo da Vinci
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Last week John Gilstrap posted about his brand, and it got me thinking about what an author’s brand is and what it does for us.
First, a little history. According to Wikipedia
Branding and labeling have an ancient history. Branding probably began with the practice of branding livestock to deter theft. Images of the branding of cattle occur in ancient Egyptian tombs dating to around 2,700 BCE. Over time, purchasers realized that the brand provided information about origin as well as about ownership, and could serve as a guide to quality.
More recently, we understand branding as a way to differentiate products in a world full of product names. Again, from Wikipedia
The key components that form a brand’s toolbox include a brand’s identity, personality, product design, brand communication (such as by logos and trademarks), brand awareness, brand loyalty, and various branding (brand management) strategies. Many companies believe that there is often little to differentiate between several types of products in the 21st century, hence branding is among a few remaining forms of product differentiation.
Wow! That’s a lot to think about.
Book Branding
When I was writing novels in my Watch mystery series, I assumed all my books would be watch mysteries, and therefore, my brand should be something related to time or clocks. I created some bookmarks and lid grippers with a watch face that I thought was cute.
In addition, my cover designer suggested putting a watch face on the spine of each book in the place the publisher’s logo usually goes. I agreed, and I love to see my books lined up in our local bookstore. Each watch face is different, but they define my series.
But then I was encouraged to write a novel on the Lady Pilot-in-Command theme, so the watch brand didn’t work anymore. The brand for the new series became anything to do with aviation: an image of a Cessna on a pen, the propeller on the spine of the book, or—best of all—the gorgeous propeller pens my TKZ friend and colleague Steve Hooley makes.
Currently, I’m writing Middle Grade novels that are traditionally published, so the book spine will carry the publisher’s logo. I’m not sure what brand we’ll come up with for that series.
Author Branding
But after reading John’s post, I’m wondering how to create an author brand for me in addition to my books.
Publishdrive.com summarizes some of the key elements for an author brand.
Author branding, which comprises your writing style, website design, social media presence, and the emotional impact of your work, not only defines your identity as a writer but also influences how readers perceive and connect with you, differentiating you from others and establishing a solid foundation for your writing career.
To build an authentic author brand identity, focus on creating a tagline that encapsulates your essence, establish a unique brand voice for consistency across communications, and understand your unique selling proposition to differentiate yourself from other authors.
Looks like I have some work to do.
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So, TKZers: Have you put much thought into branding? Do you have an author brand? Do you have a tagline? How about an image that reflects your brand?
Coming Soon!
The Other Side of Sunshine
A Middle Grade Mystery
The Reen & Joanie Detective Agency is open for business, and the first assignment is to find a treasure hidden by the mysterious “Mr. Shadow.” But others are looking for the treasure, too, and they may not be playing by the rules.
I admit, I hadn’t thought about a tagline as part of an author brand–and how do you create tagline if you write more than one genre? In your example above, writing middle grade and mystery. In my case, mystery and historical fiction. You would think that trying to come up with a tagline suitable to all genres would be so generic that it would be flat. Hmmm….. I don’t have answers. Only questions. LOL!
But thanks for your post–while reading it, it gave me an idea for a visual for my press logo to think about and noodle around with.
Good morning, Brenda!
Finding an author tag line that covers multiple genres is hard. Since my middle grade books are also mysteries, maybe I can find something mysterious that includes them all.
Glad you got a new idea. I find that happens to me frequently when I’m reading a TKZ post.
Have a good week.
Branding is one of those elastic marketing terms that’s hard to understand. You did an excellent job explaining its squishy, ever-changing nature, Kay.
One suggestion: before choosing your brand, check if anyone else is using it. Early on, my tagline was “Tawny Lindholm Thrillers with Heart.” One day I received a lovely, cordial email from C.J. Lyons to let me know she’d trademarked “Thrillers with Heart.” Oops.
Of course I stopped using the tagline and changed to “Thrillers with Passion.”
Good morning, Debbie.
I’m surprised that Lyons could get a trademark on “Thrillers with Heart.” The USPTO must be busy if authors are trademarking their taglines.
It got me thinking, though. My business card has a quote by Francis Bacon: “The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.” I wonder if I can use that quote (with attribution) as my tagline.
Love that Bacon quote for a tagline!
I knew I wanted to write thrillers and suspense. I began with legal thrillers, so came up with the tag line: The Suspense Never Rests.
To build a readership, it’s good to deliver consistently good books in a distinct genre. But what if you have a burning desire to write another type of book?
In the “old days” that was done by pseudonym. The publishers insisted on that. Evan Hunter (middlebrow literary) also wrote as Ed McBain (police procedural) etc.
In the trad world, if you become “big enough” a publisher may allow a one-off from time to time (Grisham finally got to do a literary work, A Painted House, then went back to bread-and-butter suspense). But that’s not the norm.
Indies, of course, have more flexibiity. It’s still good to have a brand, but you can allow yourself to try something differrent whenever you like. I wouldn’t advise doing this shotgun style. Pick a lane and get known for it, then take an occasional country road if you want to.
A major part of author brand now is the email list. Consistent communication with a fan base, in an interesting–even entertaining–way is the key (Dean Koontz does this extremely well. Sign up for his newsletter to see). Then you can bring them into the conversation about your “different” book and many will take the ride with you.
Sheesh, I was only going to write one paragraph. Maybe my brand is prolixity.
“The Suspense Never Rests.” What a great tagline for legal thrillers.
Since all my books—whether adult or middle grade—are clean mysteries that focus on finding the truth, I think I can come up with a tagline that encompasses them all. I don’t intend to write anything other than mysteries, so a tagline could be something that references truth, puzzles, persistence…
Thanks for mentioning Dean Koontz’s newsletter. I signed up.
“The truth is out there…”
Oh, wait, that’s been used. 🙂
I’m constantly playing with this. And I LOVE taglines. Especially three-word ones. For a few years, it’s been: “Author. Publisher. Mighty fine swimmer.” That final swimming one adds some playfulness (and I’ve got the bona fides to back it up). The “publisher” one covers the Indie side of authoring and also references my history as a magazine publisher.
But since I do more than write novels these days, I’m rebranding a bit into the “creative” direction. Something like: “Author. Creator. Mighty fine swimmer.” This ties into my having been a Creative Director and now moving into screenplays and videos. I even changed my email list service to Substack to create a new publication: “Create or Die!” (it’s another story ;-).
So, yeah… I like branding.
Morning, Harald!
You seem to have a knack for this branding business. I like “Create or Die!”
Adding “swimmer” into your original tagline gives it a personal touch. Great idea.
I did a post on branding a couple of years ago. I’m too lazy to give an actual reply here, so this is the link.
Thanks for the link to your previous post, Terry. I enjoyed re-reading it. Book covers are an important part of the branding process.
Do you still wear the cowboy hat at conferences?
Yes, I do.
Great. When we attend the same conference, I’ll recognize you. (I’ll be the one in the tennis visor.) 🙂
For years, I used, “An honest peek behind the crime scene tape.” But once I veered into eco/environmental thrillers, the tagline didn’t include my passion to save wildlife. Now, I’m also writing children’s books that focus on wildlife conservation, like my thrillers, but as a fun, upbeat, and exciting adventure for kids. Need to figure out the shortest possible tagline to encompass both genres.
How about this one (from my Gemini): “Crime’s Trail. Wildlife’s Hope.”
Love it, Harald! Thank you. It’s perfect.
Good morning, Sue.
I’ll be interested to hear what tagline you come up with. Covering two genres is hard.
Have a great week.
The tagline on my blog is “Where love and faith cross paths with murder.” It pretty well sums up what I write.
Good morning, Patricia!
I love that tagline. It’s perfect for your books.
Good morning, Kay. Great post!
I’ve thought about branding. I now have published under two names: Fantasy and science fiction as Dale Ivan Smith and cozy mysteries as Dale Ivan. I considered a pseudonym for mystery but decided to go with my actual first two names rather than make something up.
Covers are where I do my branding. At the moment, my website is strictly my mystery name. Jim’s comments resonate with me. If I do return to also writing fantasy/SF, I’d be publishing in two distinct genres and thus each name would be its own brand. As an indie, I have freedom to do whatever I want, but, at the same time, creating your own lane(s) and staying in it/them can help create that brand.
I hope you have a wonderful week!
Good morning, Dale!
You made a good decision to change author names when going to another genre. I can imagine there are distinct audiences for each genre, so creating a separate brand for each is probably a good idea.
Have a great week!
Good post, Kay.
My tagline, used on my website, is “Tall Tales and Short Stories of Redemption”. It kind of gives me “permission” to delve into fiction or non-fiction, yet keeps my “theme” of Redemption.
Good morning, Deb.
I love your tagline! It says it all.
Have a good week.
For authors publishing across different genres, I’m not convinced that an overall author branding works. In the world of corporate marketing, you don’t see a lot of wildly different products listed under the same brand name. Pepsico is a good example. Unless you read the fine print on the package, you won’t know that Pepsico owns Lays, their chip brand, or Quaker Oats, their cereal brand. While it’s true that Pepsico purchased the companies that originally made those products and the products already had a loyal brand following, you don’t see Pepsico trying to move the brand ‘audiences’ over to Pepsico. People shopping for breakfast cereal aren’t looking for soft drinks. I think the same is true for readers. I don’t care who the author is, I’m not in the market for middle-grade books. If I saw the same tagline on a middle-grade book as on an adult thriller by a favorite author, I’d be confused and probably have unrealistic expectations of the content. I’m not convinced that an overall branding is worth of the risk of alienating readers.
You bring up an interesting point re: confusion on using the same tagline on a different type of book and I can see that. (although I would imagine most authors are careful to also distinguish by book covers their different genres).
But then I think of the other issue discussed in this thread–using different names for different genres. Is it really that hard for people to figure out a writer might have more than one interest and therefore might write in more than one genre? That’s like saying a football enthusiast couldn’t possibly enjoy watching baseball. Again, you’d have to distinguish your work’s genre in your book covers, etc. But it just seems like a way for an author to make their lives that much harder creating multiple personas.
When we edit fiction, we don’t write every single little thing because “we trust the reader to get it”. Why can’t we trust the reader to get it that an author has more than one interest? I’m just wrestling with pros and cons out loud here.
Hi KS,
You bring up a good subject: reader expectations. The author has to use branding and info in a way that readers don’t get blindsided.
That’s an excellent topic for another blog post.
Have a good week.