Promo for Authors

A necessary evil, or The Monster That Ate Your Dreams?

I’ll let you decide which one is social media and which is the hapless author…

I got an email this morning from an author who regularly coordinates book promotions and invites all her friends to participate. Today’s email included a link to a Facebook page for authors who are interested in building a supportive LGBTQ Romance community on TikTok.

Oof.

She had me until she got to that last word. I mean, I know TikTok is a thing, and I’ve heard it’s a great way for authors to connect with new readers. I even know a couple of authors who have made the leap and are TikToking away.

So far, I have not joined them.

See, if I draw a line connecting the authors I know who have jumped on the TikTok wagon, I find a couple of common traits. They’re either full-time authors, or they’re younger than me. Or both.

I shared a link to the FB page with my writing partner Irene, and after some discussion, we decided we were both undecided. (Lol!) She recently met The Gang* for happy hour (*a group of her author friends) and one was all excited about the new platform and shared a bunch of popular hashtags.

I feel like we’ve been invited to join an exclusive club with secret codes and everything.

The thing is, though, Irene and I both have fairly demanding day jobs and are trying to fit this writing thing in wherever we can. And honestly, my goals for 2021 included things like “publish 4 novels/novellas” and “study writing craft through books and classes” and “recruit agents & editors for this fall’s Emerald City Writers’ Conference”.

Nowhere on my goal list was there anything about conquering a social media platform that was invented like fifteen minutes ago.

Part of my reluctance stems from the fact that, while TikTok may well connect me with new readers, I wonder if they’ll be my readers. One of the basic lessons in book promotion has to do with knowing your audience and identifying your target reader. While I know readers don’t always conform to a predictable demographic, I’m also pretty sure that the readers I’m trying to reach skew a little bit older than what I imagine for the TikTok crowd.

Of course, I’m basing this on a guess, because my experience of TikTok is the occasional silly clip my kids share or that I stumble over on Twitter. And they do make me laugh. The people who excel at the format are really, really clever.

Hmm. Maybe deep down, I’m worried that nobody will want to see a grey-haired old lady trying to be funny when all she wants to do is finish the damned novella for the August giveaway and get back to work on Benedictus (Hours of the Night book 3).

As usual with one of my writing posts, I start with a title that suggests I know something about a topic and then proceed to rant for five hundred words, leaving you with a heartfelt suggestion. And today’s suggestion?

You’re going to have to figure it out for yourself.

I don’t say that just to be snarky. (Okay, maybe a little snarky, but mostly not.) Because another basic rule of book promotion is to be authentic. If you like Twitter (bless your heart), tweet away. (Lol! Joking. I’m on Twitter daily.) If FB is your thing, focus your content efforts there. There are about a bazillion ways to promote your books – promos and giveaways and the like – and while some are expensive (Bookbub) others only cost you the time it takes you to write the book and put it out there.

And if TikTok is your thing, leave a link to your page in the comments. Can’t promise I’ll join you there, but you never know…

And just to prove me n’ Irene can change with the times…do you Radish?

Earlier this month, Irene and I republished Vespers (m/m vampire romance with a 100-year old monk and his college grad demon-fighting assistant) on Radish, the serial reading app that’s optimized for your phone. Vespers is now called Vampire’s Sin, and we fancied up the cover (b/c we had to get rid of the text) and you can download the first six episodes for FREE to see if you like it. Click HERE to see more!

DIAMOND & DAWN Preorder Campaign

It’s really wild for me to say this, but DIAMOND & DAWN, the sequel to AMBER & DUSK, hits shelves next week on December 3rd! It feels like no time since I was furiously drafting during last year’s NaNoWriMo, trying to get a disastrous first draft together in time for a tight January deadline. A year later, and a book I’m really proud of is finally coming out. I’m so excited to share this book with my readers!

So excited, in fact, that I’ve decided to run a preorder campaign! I’ve posted about this on my other social media platforms, but thought I’d share with you all in case you don’t follow me on teh interwebz. I curated some really fun goodies based on reader recommendations, so I hope you’ll participate!

All you have to do is preorder DIAMOND & DAWN! This includes hardbacks, ebooks, and even library requests! Then, email your proof of purchase along with your full name and mailing address to: preorderdiamondanddawn (at) gmail (dot) com.

ALL preorders will receive:

• Five (5) stunning full-color character cards designed and illustrated by the wildly talented @phantomrin AND a signed bookplate to personalize your copy of D&D! (This bookplate will match perfectly with those included with AMBER & DUSK in last December’s Unicorn Crate and Shelflove Crate!)

ONE grand prize winner will receive all the goodies pictured below:
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• custom “Coeur d’Or” candle from @book_and_jane that smells like sandalwood, fig, and ~intrigue~ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• custom “Ambric Illusion” essential oil bath potion from @tansyandvine that will unlock your highest potential
• amber sun pendant with chain
• exclusive copy of AMBER & DUSK, hand annotated by ME! I’m going to fill this copy with all kinds of fun behind-the-scenes content like deleted lines, what inspired elements of the story, and what my writing process is like!

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The last day to submit is 12/9/19, one week AFTER D&D hits shelves! That means in-store purchases during the first week of sales will qualify for these goodies! International entries welcome.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Thank you so, so much to everyone who pre-orders! Pre-orders are invaluable to authors. When you pre-order a book, it signals demand to both bookstores and publishing houses. Know that I’m forever grateful for your support, and I hope you love DIAMOND & DAWN just as much as you loved AMBER & DUSK! Scroll down for the cover, synopsis, and a sneak peek excerpt!

Synopsis:

Lyra Selene returns to the incandescent magic of Amber & Dusk in a second installment about the corrosions of even the most dazzling dreams, and the strength of hope amidst darkness.

Mirage, triumphant in her coup of the Amber Empire, returns to the palais prepared to take her place as empress. With the support of her friends and a tentative, blossoming romance with Sunder, Mirage is on the cusp of taking hold of everything she has ever wanted.

However, her place in the sun is not as sure as she expected, nor is it quite as bright as she imagined.

When the Empress Severine’s body was recovered from the battle, Mirage discovered she was not dead after all. Rather, Severine is in a coma, her every breath a threat to Mirage’s newfound power. Worse, a distant cousin, Gavin d’Ars, appears at court with the challenge of his blood claim. As Mirage uncovers more secrets from her family’s past, she proposes a series of ancient, grueling trials to determine the most deserving heir. But in Mirage’s fight to defend her vision for the empire, she begins to splinter all of her alliances. Will the battle for control leave anyone untainted?

Excerpt:

I unclenched my fingernails from my palm, crossed to the glass doors, and stepped out onto the wrought-iron balcony beyond. The music of marching wafted up — shod hooves ringing out on cobblestones, the champagne timpani of laughter and trumpets and song. The cortège was nearly the length of the Concordat: a river of riders in uniform — bright red and pale kembric, metal helms and dancing horses. Children ran beside the retinue, and my breath caught in my throat when I saw the soldats tossing coins to the onlookers. The procession was heading straight for Coeur d’Or’s gilded gates, flowing up the shallow steps like a sunlit river.

They finally came close enough for me to make out faces, and that’s when I saw him.

He rode tall and straight at the head of the procession on a prancing chestnut stallion. Even from here I could tell he was handsome — a bright smile laughed in a golden-tan face. Unlike the rest of the riders — who wore pale surcoats splashed in red — he was clad in kembric armor forged so that the sun hammered sparks off it. His dark mahogany hair seemed to glow, as though woven through with threads of ambric.

He shone so bright it was hard to look at him straight on. He looked like —

He looked like the Sun Heir.

“He’s already here,” I breathed.

A wave of sickly heat wafted off Sunder, slapping the back of my neck with the stench of bloody snow and icy metal.

“Here to steal your throne,” Sunder growled.

Where to Purchase:

Barnes & Noble

Amazon

Indiebound
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Of Vampires and Other Things

Back in 2015 – yikes! I’ve been blogging here for along time – I made a post called Ten Good Vampire Books. At some point along the way, that post got caught up in Google’s SEO magic algorithms and it’s had more views in 2019 than it had the year it was published.

Go me?

At any rate, when I sat down to write this post, I planned to make an updated version of the old post, except almost immediately I ran into a problem. I haven’t been keeping up on the vampire literature.

In part, that’s because I have a vampire of my own. Thaddeus Dupont is 100 years old, and he was a monk before he was turned back in 1925. He and his boyfriend Sarasija Mishra appear in the Hours of the Night series I co-write with Irene Preston. (Jump HERE to learn more about Vespers, book 1 in the series.)

Some of you have seen me post about the Hours of the Night and Thaddeus Dupont before, so maybe this won’t be news, but bear with me for a bit. There were a couple compelling reasons I chose to write a vampire character – above and beyond Irene telling me I needed to write another vampire. (She can be very persistent.)

First off, I’ve always loved stories about vampires. Whether it’s trad vamps like Dracula or naughty vamps like Bill & Eric from the Southern Vampire Mysteries (the books that inspired True Blood), I’m a fan. For a while, I made something of a study of vampire fiction, reading as much as I could get my hands on.

Did you know George RR Martin wrote a vampire novel? I couldn’t finish it.

When Irene and I first started working on Vespers, I had a good knowledge of what was out there in the world of vampire literature and some ideas about the kind of character I wanted to create. The popularity of vampire fiction rises and falls, following some unspoken cultural zeitgeist.

Victorian vampires addressed the cultural fear of death. Later in the ’80s and early ’90s, the themes were blood and infection, likely a response to the AIDS crisis. Then in the ’90s to early ’00s, vampires explored our ideas about eternal youth and sexiness.

At the risk of taking myself too seriously, when I write Thaddeus, there’s a similar theme at play. See, I’m the elderScribe, a good 10-20 years older than the rest of the gang who blogs here, and Thaddeus Dupont is my attempt to express my sometimes bewildering experience dealing with the modern world.

Thaddeus was born in 1900 and grew up in the bayou, speaking a patios of English and French, in a time and place before most of the modern accouterments we take for granted. His mildly confused response to his 21st century boyfriend is an echo of my own feelings. I try to keep up, but kids these days….damn….

There’s another, more personal reason for Thaddeus Dupont’s creation, specifically, why I gave him a strong Catholic orientation. I’m a cradle Catholic, and while my relationship to the Church has waxed and waned over the last 50-odd years, it’s currently on indefinite hiatus. The dissonance between Thaddeus’s relationship to the church and the love he has for Sara give me a place to work out my own feelings – in a hopefully-entertaining way.

Irene and I are currently working on Spooked, book 2 in our spin-off Haunts & Hoaxes series. The first book, Haunted, was written for a freebie giveaway, but readers liked the characters so we turned it into a series. I made the first cover (b/c freebie), but we recently unveiled a much-improved version that brands the series.

Isn’t it pretty?!

Haunts & Hoaxes is a mash-up of Supernatural + The X Files with naughty bits thrown in, and we’re hoping to release Spooked sometime in early 2020. Keep your eye out for it!

This post turned into kind of a ramble, but in summary, I probably know more about vampires than is good for me, I hadn’t kept up with vampire fiction b/c I don’t want it to color my own vampire, I have several reasons for how Thaddeus Dupont took shape, Irene and I are headed in a slightly different direction but will come back to HotN soon, and this is one of the longest sentences I’ve ever written.

Happy Halloween!

Oh, and…uh… I have a couple gift codes for a free copy of Vespers. Leave me a comment and I’ll hook you up. (In the off chance that I get more comments than I have codes, I’ll draw names or something.)

Writing Under a Pen Name

Not everyone knows I have a nom de plume, which I do. I started writing under Leila Bryce Sin almost as soon as I started publishing under this name.

My first series was a YA series but I found that I had a little bit of talent at writing racier content and came up with this idea of a race I called Bright Elves. Bright Elves were kind of a take on a succubus who didn’t kill. They raised magic and power through lust and love and all that good stuff.

But, since I was starting out as making my name as a YA author, I was a little worried about the wrong audience picking up something they weren’t expecting from me.

So I decided to publish under Leila Bryce Sin. One of the cool things about writing paranormal erotica was that I didn’t have put out full-length novels every time–a lot of readers of that genre like novellas and short stories. I liked it too because it helped me hone some writing skills. When writing fantasy and world building I tended to get lost in descriptions and narrative, but if your word goal is less than fifty thousand words, you tend to focus on character and plot.

But then I had an idea for a novel. A story set in Las Vegas, one of my favorite places, following an actual succubus who was hiding from the other demons of Hell and working as a bartender at an Irish pub. Billie the Bartender.

I love Billie and her story was pretty well formed in my head when I first set out to write her book. I didn’t realize it was going to be a full-length novel, let alone the trilogy it turned into, but some characters demand more stage time than others.

I got the first novel, Hellfire, and the second novel, Holyfire, written in good time while trying to balance writing under my real name. But the novels I was working on as Shauna Granger definitely took precedence and I realized, as I was starting to hit a creative wall thanks to a massive word count I was building, I didn’t have anything left in the tank to figure out the third and final book.

I’d ended book two with a cliffhanger and the start of a war, I couldn’t not write the ending. But I also couldn’t write it. While I’d given myself a creative outlet for a different audience and type of story, I’d also pushed myself to the limit and couldn’t find it in myself to keep going.

So there was a very long break between publishing Holyfire in April of 2016 and even starting the outline of the final book this past autumn. Honestly, if it wasn’t for NaNo last year, I don’t know if I would have finished writing the book, let alone be ready for it to be live tomorrow. #shamlesspromo

But I did.

So what I can tell you about writing with a pen name is that it gives you a lot of freedom. You can delve into new genres or age categories that you don’t normal wade into. You can try new techniques and voices that don’t lend themselves to your normal milieu. And if those genres are a bit racy and you don’t want friends and family to know it’s your work, they don’t ever have to know! But you need to be careful. As with any creative job, it takes something from you, so if you’re not careful, if you don’t find a balance, you can wear yourself out and burn out before you’re ready.

Where is the line, exactly?

 

So there’s a storm brewing in the world of [redacted] romance. One of the biggest authors in the genre {name withheld because drama} has been accused of catfishing – of creating an on-line persona that is substantially different than who they really are. While the last thing I need to do is throw myself into the middle of that pigpile, I think there are higher-level issues that are worth considering.

Issues around trust, and faith, and how much authors owe their readers.

I write under a pen name, because in real life, I’m a nurse practitioner (just like it says in my bio) and I don’t want anyone googling Amy D-C NNP to have to wade through a bunch of hits about vampire romance. I have two kids, a husband, and three ferrets, just like it says in my bio. (Well, the ferrets are technically my daughter’s, but…)

All that aside, I’m conscious of where I’m posting what. There are private Facebook pages where I’m comfortable identifying my kids by name, and others where I’m not. If we’re friends on Facebook, you’ve likely seen me tag my kids or husband in posts, or share stuff that names them, but I try to limit that kind of thing. I feel like people who are Facebook friends with Liv Rancourt get the real me, but that’s by my choice, and it’s within my comfort zone.

But what if, say, I was writing in a subgenre where it could make a financial difference if readers thought I was a man? Or anything besides a cis-het, married, middle-aged, woman?

And what if there were other authors supporting me, vouching for me on social media, and telling readers I really was a [insert imaginary persona here]?

That would totally suck, and if I was found out, it could quite possibly ruin my writing career. (And I’d probably deserve for it to be ruined.)

Needless to say, the ongoing potential-catfishing situation has generated a whole lot of conversation. In the midst of a fairly heated enthusiastic thread, my friend Sadie framed the issue this way…

I find it interesting how much of this thread is actually about the generalities of trusting people to be who they say they are and internet negotiations of identity, not just about whether ________ is _______ or not. I think that’s part of why this situation seems to be such an inferno. Partly because there is someone willing to dig and put ‘facts’ out there for others to consider, partly because a lot of people seem willing to put a lot of emotion into it. But also partly because it hits at an insecurity in a lot of us. We all know we take chances when we trust someone to be who they say they are and scenarios like this one force us to consider where we’d fall if we found we were being duped.

Back in the day – like five years ago – most authors didn’t spend a lot of time on-line. (Okay, maybe ten years ago. Or fifteen. Something.) Regardless of the time-frame, there didn’t use to be the same demand to have a social media presence. If an author met readers at cons or book signings, it was a bonus. They exchanged names, and shook hands, and the author signed their book and everyone went home happy.

If an author was really a middle-aged, cis-het, married, woman she could tell everyone she was a twenty-something, single, ex-Marine and no one would be wiser. She might be found out – if, say, she got big enough that her agent demanded she make public appearances – but the unveiling of her real identity wouldn’t be as personally devastating to her readers.

Unless, you know, she let those readers raise money for her to treat her imaginary war injuries that she never sustained while fighting a fictitious war.

Or she played the James Frey card and faked her memoir and got called out by Oprah on national television.

There’s a line somewhere between the names on an author’s credit cards or birth certificates and the person they present in their pen names and on Facebook fan pages and Livejournals and Twitter and whatever other social media platform you’re into. Sometimes fans lose sight of that line, but sometimes authors do, too. Like Sadie said above, it’s an issue of trust.

Good writers open themselves wide, recording frank emotion on the page, but their honesty doesn’t give their readers to right to know how they think and feel 24/7. On the other hand, creating a safety net for their “real life” doesn’t give authors the right to fake the whole caboodle. I have no idea how this current kerfufle is going to shake out, but I recognize that the conversation is a necessary part of defining where that line is.

Regarding what’s expected of authors, the rules may have changed, but you know, the rules we learned in kindergarten will likely still apply.

 

 

On Persistence

Those of you who know me or follow me on social media have probably heard my good news by now. (Okay, you’re probably already tired of hearing about my good news.) For those of you who don’t, I’m incredibly pleased to say that my YA fantasy Amber & Dusk was acquired by Scholastic for publication! *cue happy dance forever*

But I don’t want to talk about that right now. I don’t want to talk about what the book is about or what inspired it or what it means to me. Today I kind of want to talk about something else, something that I’m not sure is discussed enough in this glorious complicated frustrating industry. I want to talk about an important–if not crucial–lesson that I learned very slowly, and with much difficulty, over the course of a number of sometimes soul-bruising years. The name of that lesson is persistence.

I didn’t start writing seriously until six years ago, almost exactly. I’d written all my life–from incredibly detailed diaries to elaborate illustrated short stories to painstakingly-typed royal histories–but it had never really occurred to me that I could be a writer. But when the opportunity to really take a stab at writing presented itself, I jumped at the chance. What I didn’t realize was that I was jumping into a black roiling sea of rejection with no floaties and oh yeah, there were sharks.

No lie, I thought I was going to write a glorious first novel, make a million dollars, and I don’t know like move to a castle and surround myself with adoring fans. Spoiler alert: that didn’t happen. Looking back on my first query letters is seriously cringe-worthy–they’re full of awkward self-deprecating jokes, vague stakes, and rhetorical questions. SO MANY rhetorical questions. I was so naive, and so inexperienced. And when most of my query letters were summarily rejected with form letters–or, worse, not responded to at all–I was crushed.

I’m not sure whether it was pride or shame or competitiveness or some internal strength that made me soldier on. But I wrote a second book. And then rewrote that book in a different setting with a different main character. And then I queried that book. And when that one received four rounds of rejections, I wrote another. And after querying that one I finally got into PitchWars, an amazing pitch contest hosted by Brenda Drake. And I got an agent! I finally made it!

HAHAHA gotcha. No way. No siree. Try another three rounds of revisions, and going on submission with editors only to hear another mountain of pure unadulterated NOPE. And then writing another book and a half. And then going on sub again.

True story: three weeks before finally getting an offer on A&D, I literally broke down and finally quit. I remember sitting with my sisters on the floor of my niece’s playroom and sobbing into my wine. I was done, I was finished with hearing no. Writing isn’t just a job; it’s pouring something of my soul out into the world, and having industry professionals read that art, recognize that as art, and then still tell me it wasn’t good enough had started to break my heart.

All’s well that ends well.

Don’t get me wrong–I have no illusions. I’m still learning this lesson: persistence isn’t the end game–it’s the name of the game. And listen–my goals aren’t and shouldn’t be everyone’s goals. But having my book published traditionally has been my dream, and despite the above paragraph, I’m usually not a quitter. So while it feels amazing to have taken a step forward in this crazy journey, I still have a thousand miles to walk. But I’m not going to worry too much about that now.

I’ll just try to remember to be persistent.

Author Branding – More Than Your Logo and Tagline

Many of the external elements of my brand can be seen here.

Whole books have been written on author branding, but I wanted to go over the basics today since a lot of people seem confused by the idea. Even though I have a background in marketing, I used to be intimidated, too, until I realized branding is really about how you present yourself to the world. After watching my day job company go through a multi-year re-branding process and reading up on it applies to authors, I’ve learned quite a bit.

We usually think of logo, maybe tagline, when we hear “brand.” Yes, those are the most obvious aspects, but branding is much, much more. Think of the term as meaning your “whole package.” Within that, there are elements that are more internal to you as an author (but still affect those you interact with) and those that are more external-facing to your audiences.

The key with all of these elements is consistency. Pick something (a color, a voice, etc.) and stick with it. Otherwise you will confuse your readers. You also will fragment your image if you switch around too much. Every element of branding should work together to provide a cohesive view of who you are as an author, much like facets in a gem. Below are some of the main elements to consider:

Internal 

1. Voice – This is both your authorial voice in your books and the voice with which you write on your blog, in social media, etc. It is internal because it is part of you. Do you use contractions or not? Do you prefer large words or common slang? Are you one for short, clean sentences or are you verbose and flowery? Think about it this way: a YA author is likely to have a much more relaxed voice than a literary fiction author because literary fiction is concerned with the art of word-craft first and foremost, whereas a YA author takes on a fun, hip voice in order to relate to their audience. Similarly, a non-fiction history writer would sound much more serious than a non-fiction inspirational or motivational author.
2. Attitude – How do you talk to those whom you communicate with?  Are you positive and cheery or are you serious? Are you helpful or do you give off a sales-y vibe? Anyone who comes in contact with you will be able to tell. This is why it’s important to stay off of social media when you are unhappy or angry. No one is going to be Polly Sunshine all the time, but following someone who is constantly negative is a turn off (trust me, I have followed someone like this). But then again, people have made tons of money embodying a character, so that may be something you want to consider as well, especially if you’re writing a long-running, very popular series. (I personally prefer authenticity, but you can make up your own mind.)
3. The way you interact with fans – This is similar to the two above because your voice and attitude play into it. Are you quick to reply to emails/messages/tweets? Are you open to answering questions? Do you pose for pictures with fans at events and engage them in conversation? Or are you more standoffish and closed to online or in-person interaction? Some authors will sign books for hours, while others refuse to ever give an autograph. Think of your best and worst experience with authors you love and you’ll immediately see why this is important and know who you want to emulate.
4. What your books are about – This informs your voice, what you blog about, and how you see the world. Let me give you an example: I write historical fiction about women whose stories are in danger of being lost to history, as well as romantic comedies about strong modern women. This means – not surprisingly – I am a feminist. You will see a lot of social media activity from me on women’s issues, as well as historical articles about women on my blog. It also means I will give a very different interview than a woman who has more traditional views on woman’s roles in society.
5. Why you write about what you do – The why is almost more important than the what because it gets to your core motivations as a writer. Do you write mystery because you love solving puzzles and are insatiably curious? Do you write YA because you want to be a positive influence for the next generation? If so, you’d have a different brand from someone who writes in that genre because it’s what is hot or because it was the best time of their life. Like the “what,” the “why” informs what other marketing activities you may do, groups you may be part of, even locations for your author events, all of which are part of your brand.

External Self

1. Logo – Not every author has a logo and that is fine. But having one can help people readily identify who you are and what you are about. You can (and should) put it on your web site, business cards, swag items, posters, etc. Everywhere. You don’t have to have something fancy or spend a ton of money having one designed. As long as it is distinctive and says what you want it to, you’re fine. Example: Nora Roberts‘ logo is her initials in a particular font with a circle around it. While being easy enough for a non-designer to create, it conveys class and authority, two things she is well known for.
2. Color choice – This may seem odd, but consider that corporate brands go so far as to trademark their exact shade of a color. (Think Tiffany blue or Coca-Cola red and you’ll begin to see the impact color can have.) Color works the same way for authors. Have you noticed that a lot of romance authors choose pink or red? Or that crime writers tend to go with dark blue, black or another dark color that conveys seriousness and the dark side of life? Cookbooks abound with green. You will want to have one or two consistent colors that you use in your logo, on your website and all of your collateral materials. It will tie everything together and begin to build a vision of you. (My colors are navy blue, white and yellow, in case you were wondering. Navy blue is for the seriousness of a lot of historical fiction, and yellow is for joy. White is a color of both freedom and innocence, aspects of both types of fiction I write.)
3. Font – This may seem like a little thing, but if you’ve ever done any design, you know that font can make or break what you are trying to say. Think of a deadly serious message written in Curlz font or a love note written in Chiller. Doesn’t work, does it? Font conveys a feeling, whether you want it to or not. That’s why you’ll see romance writers leaning toward cursive, curly, curving fonts and thriller writers using thick block caps. Like your colors, you will want to keep this consistent. Find one, maybe two, that are you and stick with them.
4. Tagline – Both books and authors can have taglines. Either way, a tagline is a short, one-sentence hook that says what you (or your book) is about and draws people in. The more creative and emotionally evocative you can be, the better. Examples: Mine is “Stories of Strong Women from History and Today” because that bridges the two genres I write and conveys what I am about in both. My fellow Spellbound Scribe, Liv, uses “Laughter, life, & romance under partly sunny skies.” That tells you what you will get from her: humor and romance, but with a serious side, as well.
5. Header graphics – You want to have a consistent image that says “you” regardless of where people encounter you. That means you should use it on your website, social media, event posters, business cards, etc. You want people to know it is you before they even see your name. When you have a new or recent release, this will obviously tie into your book cover, but you need something for the in between times. This can be something you create from scratch or have designed. Or you can layer images from stock image sites (please only use images for which you have or have licensed the legal copyright, don’t use things from Google). Mine is a composite I created of a silhouetted woman (so that she can represent every woman I might write about) between a castle (history) and the Chicago skyline (the setting of my contemporary novels). Above her are my name and tagline, and there is plenty of room for images of my books. Check out the web sites of your favorite authors and you’ll begin to see things like this, even if they aren’t specifically in the masthead (top header) of the site.
6. Book covers (especially in a series) – Whether or not you have full control over your book covers, you should at least advocate for consistency in font and, if you are writing a series, some element that ties your titles together. Traditional publishers are very good at this, so you likely won’t have to worry. Indies, however, are responsible for these elements and more. The key here is making books in a series look like they belong together. This can be done through images, font family, font size and overall design composition. If possible, there should also be consistency among your books that aren’t in a series so that people know they belong to the same author even before they see your name.
7. Author photo – First, please have a professional photo taken. That is part of being a published author and speaks highly of you to your fans, potential readers, the media and anyone else who may look at your book or website. Most of us will have a generic headshot, but you can spice those up by using bright colors, which the eye is drawn to. If you write in a specific time period or genre, you may want to reflect that in your author photo. For example, historical mystery writer Leanna Renee Hieber goes full on 19th century gothic in her photo, historical fiction author Yves Fey is a little more subtle, wearing a Belle Époque hat in her photo, while romance author Chanel Dolz Cleeton as an air of romance/sex to her photo. It’s really up to you.
8. Website design – This is your online presence in the world, so you want it to represent who you are. Try to tie in the colors you’ve chosen, your fonts, header graphics, logo, etc. This is where it all comes together. And make sure your pages are written in your brand’s voice.
9. Email signature – If nothing else, you should have your tagline below your name in your email signature, along with your website. You may also want to link to your books, include social media information, or a newsletter sign up link. I also include writer organizations I’m a member of and awards my books have won (although my signature is getting out of hand *humble brag*). Think of your email signature as a concise way to sell yourself and your books.
10. Business cards – As mentioned before, your business card should include your name, tagline, genres and contact information at the very least. You may also want to include your book covers, header image, or even your author photo on your card. I’m including all of these in my new card and it looks snazzy!
11. Social media – This was covered somewhat above, but you should always use your author photo in your social media avatars, not your book cover, because people connect better with faces. Again, tie in all of the other elements of your brand here and keep your voice in mind when posting.

There are even more elements we could discuss, like choosing where you host your events, with whom you associate online (no, this doesn’t mean you should shun people who you feel are beneath or less experienced than you), and what conventions or events you attend/speak at but this may already hold the record for longest Spellbound Scribes post ever. I hope you found it useful!

What questions do you have for me on branding or its many aspects? I’m happy to help because this subject fascinates me.