Branding for Self-Published Writers

I saw an interesting post by UK author David Robinson (who also wrote this guest post for my blog about Calibre recently) regarding the value of branding for self-publishing authors.

It was a guest post on Lorraine Mace's blog The Writer's ABC Checklist. In it, David talks about how many of the most successful authors produce series of books based around the same characters, and how this fact is even more relevant to authors who self-publish. As he puts it...

When it comes to pulp fiction, Holmes, Poirot, Bond, even Harry Potter have been around a lot longer than the Amazon Kindle. But from an indie point of view, it's even more important. Put out a series of whodunits with the same loveable characters, and the readers will be queuing all the way to the virtual checkout.

In his post - which you can read in full here - David talks about how he is attempting to apply this principle by creating not one but several series of books, each aimed at a different target readership.

They include his STAC Investigates books (a series of "cozy" murder mysteries) and Space Truckers - a favourite of mine - a series of science-fiction comedy novellas. The image at the top of this post is from Coronallium Conundrum, the first in this series.

So is his strategy working? David says:

It's early days yet. I'm not breathing down Amanda Hocking's neck...but the signs are promising. Without any serious marketing effort, my titles are selling. STAC Investigates has its own Twitter account (@stacinvestigate), my website is currently under reconstruction to concentrate on STAC and my other brand, Space Truckers, my Facebook author's page focuses on them, my blog concentrates on the characters and background, and I have another blog which gives away FREE reads from the STAC Casebook. Pricing doesn't appear to have as large an impact as many indies would have us believe, but I'm still playing with it as part of my research.

Creating a brand is like creating a new detergent. When you go to the shop, you don't ask for a packet of Unilever soap powder, but a packet of Persil. You don't ask for a bar of chocolate, but a Cadbury's Dairy Milk. When the buyers come to the Amazon Kindle Store, they won't be looking for the latest novel by David Robinson; they'll come for the latest STAC Investigates title...

I'm intrigued by David's strategy, and impressed by the hard work he is putting in to implement it. I'm sure he won't mind me mentioning that he is 61, and that he also told me recently (which I can quite believe) that he is working harder now than in any job he has ever had in the past.

I agree with David that as a self-publishing author it's especially important to build your personal brand, as nobody else is going to do it for you. Creating series is an excellent way of doing this, as people who read and enjoy one book in a series are then very likely to seek out the next. Of course, this is exactly how self-publishing sensation Amanda Hocking achieved her massive success, as described in this guest post on my blog a few months ago.

By contrast, if your books are unrelated to one another, you have only your author name to represent your personal brand. This works for Stephen King and Dean Koontz - but as an indie author competing with many thousands of others, there is much to be said for creating characters and series people will want to follow as well. Once you are a household name, of course, you can strike out in any other directions you wish!

Finally, although David is primarily a fiction writer, exactly the same principle applies with non-fiction books. If you've published one book on a particular subject, from a branding angle you will be much better off producing further books on related subjects, rather than subjects that are totally different. Not only will this help build a group of devoted readers who are keen to read more from you on the topic in question, it's also much easier to cross-promote one related title from another.

If you have any comments on building your brand as a writer, whether self-published or with a legacy publisher, please do post them below.