These are notes from Life the Universe and Everything. Any misinformation is the fault of the note taker.
– The presenter has three brands, one brand is romance; he keeps it separate from his two others. Children’s Dungan master exhamineamator.
– You need to think about what you are doing. What is your target audience and what are your goals? What are you trying to accomplish?
– Treat your fiction like Niki Shoes Company. You even define fonts to match the brand on how you publish your author’s name. People buy who they know.
– Having a name that is unique on google is also very powerful.
– Cowboys branded cattle so you know what belongs to whom. Determine what belongs to your brand. The same goes for your brand on your website and brand on business cards. They all need to look like they belong. What are readers going to expect when they pick up one of our books?
– Your persona: when you interact with fans you have a certain feel about you. One author always wearing a black shirt and a leather jacket.
– Some authors will have different author’s names for different genera.
– A brand is the set of ideas and images you want readers to associate with you. Ideally should be a small and clear set. Disney hired consultants: The Company interviewed employees to get their perceptions. They identified Disney as magical family fun. The same should work for you as a writer. Have a set of concepts, images, and artists that represent you. This author wears hats. It is a way to be memorable.
Q: How do we discover our brand?
– Thinking of your fan base ask who is your target audience. One author might like dark tragic and no humor. Now targeting some humor as a new brand by keeping the same name attached to politically incorrect humor. May lose some fans but other fans will see that he does dark and humor. For his children’s fiction brand he does use a different name but the same initials. Branding is to make money. Make sure your fans like what you are delivering. They can come back to get that time after time
– The reason one has a brand is to rise above getting lost amongst all the other authors. Finding your brand. The presenter talked to a dentist and he said what kind of dentist do I want to be? He decided to become the BMW of dentists and set his branding. Everyone else misspelled his name.
– Before I write a story, he looks for pictures of books or TV shows that show the image of your brand. Try to define what they illustrate and how your match. Find out what your core principals are according to your brand. What lines will you cross or not cross? He reviews comics for Brandon Sanderson. His staff needs to avoid words that Brandon Sanderson would not use to maintain his brand.
– Be deliberate with your brand. You never know what you’re going to sell. You want to choose a strategy upfront. As facts change you need to change. Find out your brand from your writing group. They can determine what you write. What do amazon reviews say about your work? When readers say when they say I like ** about you.
Q: What role does passion play in making your brand?
– If a publisher does not publish it, you can yourself. Make sure the brand is definable to attract a lot of people. Stay true to yourself. The further you get away from your own code, the less happy you will get. You have to look at what you love and incorporate them. Look at Brandon Sanderson’s website (https://www.brandonsanderson.com/).
– Some of the tropes in children’s movies are actually true.
– He loves dr. who. They all wear coats. So the author likes cool jackets. He loves to write fantasy but his fiction was not coming outright. The presenter saw air bender and following that type of slant and the similarities have made the presenter happier and more successful in his fantasy.
– You are not writing yourself you’re writing for others. Chefs cook meals for their customers and get paid. You want other people to pay you. You have to be your own number one fan. You need to see what your circle is your target audience. What genre is you needed to be in the center of? Do you write politically incorrect humor, then I am your reader. You have to love what you do. You have to be passionate about what you write.
– Reasons he wrote romance, he like romance movies. He loves chick flicks. He does not promote that brand as himself. Romance just sells. What does your target audience want to see?
Q: Query your readers.
– Keeping a brand with the public:
– No matter what brand you have, you have to be a kind person. Think about how you treat other people. What goes around comes around. My team managers and agents will push me to not have any political or religious opinions on social media. You will lose half of your audience so you might give political jokes on either side. If you do a political brand that becomes divisive. Some will make money by motivating people to feel rage. Some becoming provocative to sell books.
– The right way to be creative is to believe in abundance. There is enough abundance that you don’t have to steal someone else’s success. Be willing to do a blurb for authors just to support others. The presenter will organize periodic meetings free for writers in the community to share advice. He has a poet come into his home to support the creative community. He believes there is enough for everybody.
– What tip do you have for this group? What do you watch out for? Don’t do anything by accident everything is by purpose. Be intentional from the beginning of this point forward. You are allowed to have your opinions but social medial is forever.
– Do what you love. You will be happy to write about what you love. Sometimes deviating your energies to little pet projects can hurt your brand.
Q&A:
– even a blurb needs to be part of your brand.
– Can recommend something that will coincide with your brand. we want to match our recommendation of other authors’ brands/ products that are similar to our brand. If you do recommend other work that does not match our rand make it clear how it is different.
