Author Branding the Cringe-Free Way | Anna Caig Takeover

You might have found yourself shrinking away from this topic. Maybe you’re already skimming, wondering if there’s really anything for you here. Yet, author marketing is a key tool in your arsenal and – dare we say it? – it can even be quite fun. But don’t take it from us. Take it from Anna Caig, who offers media training for creatives and is here today to teach you how to take the cringe out of author branding.

Author Branding the Cringe-Free Way | Anna Caig Takeover  

‘Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.’ So goes the famous quote from Oscar Wilde. He may not have been talking about author branding when he wrote this – but he could’ve been. This sentiment certainly sums up the approach I take with writers who want to create an author brand that will help them build connections with readers who’ll love their work.  

I’ve worked in communications and marketing for nearly 20 years across a number of sectors – I’ve been the Head of Comms at a large organisation and taught on the MA Journalism course at The University of Sheffield. But I am also a writer. So I’m passionate about giving writers a practical understanding of marketing techniques – demystifying the language and principles – and supporting you to manage some or all of your branding and book marketing yourself.  

Many writers, initially at least, don’t want to think of themselves as a brand. It can feel fake or even like selling out – a word that comes up often is ‘cringe’. But a good author brand acts as the foundation for everything you’ll do to market and promote your work. It is the version of you – authentic, real but not ‘warts and all’ – that the public gets to share. And, perhaps counterintuitively, when you’ve gone through this process, the cringe factor is reduced because you’re drawing on your interests and passions to connect with readers. 

An author brand is how you present yourself and your work – it encompasses everything from the colours and typefaces you use, to the subject matter you include in emails, social media posts and features. More than anything, it is how you make people feel – the impression you create of the world they’ll step into if they read your work.  

One of the biggest mistakes authors make in their marketing is to try and appeal to as wide an audience as possible. If you try to appeal to everyone, your content will be so bland that you’ll appeal to no one. It is more effective to be clear about who your target audiences are, get in front of these people and tell them the reason why they’ll love your book. It is through standing out from the crowd that you’ll find readers who’ll sit up and see your book is their cup of tea – then go out and buy it! 

Building authentic connections with readers is equally important for traditionally and self-published authors. We all know the ‘Here’s my book; Buy my book’ approach doesn’t work unless you have a well-established existing following – and it’s not great even then. By exploring the inspirations and motivations behind your work – the impact you want to have on readers, which themes you return to again and again, what part of the creative process you enjoy the most – you can uncover a rich seam of ideas for content to use in book promotion. 

It is also important to consider what you don’t want to include in the public-facing version of yourself. Many of us draw on difficult or private experiences in our writing – but you’re under no obligation to explicitly share these with the public in your marketing. An author brand can be a useful way of protecting yourself from being drawn into subject matter you’d rather keep to yourself.  

One nice tip for exploring your author brand is to consider how you’d introduce yourself if you were a character in one of your books. You wouldn’t talk about where you were born, where you went to school… you’d bring in a lovely image or engaging nugget of information to make this person vivid in the mind of your reader. Your storytelling skills are your secret weapon – use them wisely. 

In my session on branding and self-marketing for Self-Publishing Month, we’ll be looking at practical exercises you can do to delve deeply into your own author brand and explore how to use this as an invitation to potential readers. We’ll also look at how to use your brand as the foundation of an effective marketing strategy. It’s an empowering process which shows you how to be yourself in your book marketing – and banish the cringe forever! 

Anna Caig  

A marketing professional with over 18 years’ experience, Anna Caig trains writers to build their brand and find readers. A former Head of Communications and MA Journalism tutor, Anna now works with traditionally, indie and self-published authors, as well as helping creatives in any discipline find a wider audience. She also writes historical crime fiction. You can look at her website here and follow her on Twitter and Instagram @AnnaCaig  

Anna will be running her workshop, ‘Branding and Self-Marketing for Self-Published Authors’, on 11 April as part of Self-Publishing Month. Find out more.