Author Toolbox Blog Hop – Branding Decisions

This post was written specifically for the #AuthorToolboxBlogHop.

One thing that’s been on my mind for a while was about how best to develop and build my brand. And since this is the last #AuthorToolboxBlogHop for 2018, I thought I would share some of my ideas about it. I am going to range about a bit, focusing mainly on web/blog sites and social media but I do have some other thoughts beyond that.

One caveat about everything I’m about to say. What may be true for you at one point in time, isn’t necessarily going to remain true so you may find yourself re-assessing some or all of these in the future.

• Brand Theme

To be clearer about this one, what I mean by brand theme is; do you want to make it about your writing in general, your series (if you have one) or about you?

When I started this blog page, I originally set it up with my series as the theme (hence why the URL is housevalerius.wordpress). However, as things progressed, I found that the scope had expanded to include book reviews, occasional interviews, some personal thoughts & events, etc. That was when I thought it better to change the branding to reflect that, which is why it has The Scribblings as the header now.

• Photos, Fonts & Fripperies

One of the things that I’ve tried to do regarding any headers, post images and text that appear is to make them either unique or, at least, emblematic of me and my work. Now I do have a slight advantage when it comes to photos since my wife is a professional photographer and was kind enough to help me with a lot of the images that go on my menu pages. She also suggested the app Wordswag to me, which is the what I now use for the majority of the title cards accompanying my posts. While these are free images and, as such can’t be unique (I’ve seen the same images on other posts), I try to accompany them with a font that I think looks close to my own handwriting.

I also think it’s important that when it comes to posts, while you want to make it as clear and easy to read as possible, don’t be afraid to include your own little idiosyncrasies of speech into them to identify them as your own.

• Social Media

We all have some type of social media presence, whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, a Youtube channel or any combination of the above. Part of developing your brand should include trying to ensure a degree of consistency across however many platforms you use.

• Consistent & Captivating Cover Art

This one will probably go without saying that you’ll want to make your covers appealing. Despite the proverb, there are many people who are going to pick up your book (or not) depending on the cover art. So you’ll want it to be as eye-catching as possible, while still remaining true to your story. And, if you have a series, you’ll want the art to carry through that series, wherever possible.

When I was thinking about this part, I came up with some examples of cover art, which to me are both beautiful and unique to the series/author.

Now granted this may not always work out, for any number of reasons, but I do think it’s something that should be kept in mind. While I nowhere near being ready for this sort of decision, I have tried to apply some of these ideas to the mock covers that I have made for my work.

I hope some of this has been useful. Drop me a line & let me know your thoughts.

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