Branding Yourself as an Author

Over the past month I have been working hard to “Brand” myself as an author, more than I have in the last several years. I’ve worked hard honing my writing skills, but putting myself out there as an author, selling myself and my books is a different story.

So, I’ve been communicating with other independent publishers and making my presence known. It’s not an easy thing to do. For an independent writer/publisher to make an impact with today’s readers is like pulling a tooth out of a shark. You constantly have to be promoting, which takes away from your writing time. I’ve made a promise that when I’m writing on a new project I keep clear or promoting. There has to be a time and a place.

But IF you want the reader to become aware of you, you have to get in their faces (nicely) and remind them of the little guy trying to entertain through his art. The fact is, there are so many good independent writers out there its hard make people aware of you. One way to do that is to set up at book expos, or conventions that focus on the genre you write and sell your books. I’ve started to book shows, if you’ll notice on the sidebar of this webpage I’m listing my appearances, and I hope to grow the list over the next couple of months.

Another way to build a following (or awareness) is to share the exposure with other writers. In order to do that, you ask a writer to become a guest blogger on your website, with hopes he or she will bring over some of his fanbase and they will discover you from the other writer’s appearance. In turn that guest writer will be exposed to your followers with hopes of increasing their exposure. The community of independent writers are good at helping each other out - we aren’t against one another, we are thrilled to help each other and share in the wealth and are excited when one of our fellow writers succeed.

On Friday, August 31st, this website will host the first, of what I hope will be many, guest bloggers. This will give a chance for authors to grow their awareness and in turn bring new eyes to my website and my books. It’s all part of building my brand, and getting myself out there among potential readers. I hope you’ll join us.