A BRAND new you!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: What’s your brand? I don’t mean Armani, or Tide, or Pepsodent or Crocs. But hey—when I say those names—you get a vision, right?

And I’m sure you know there’s a lot of talk about branding your self!  (Not THAT kind of branding. It doesn’t hurt. Except maybe your brain, a little.)  

And THIS book will not only tell you why, but how you as an author—or you in any career, actually!—can successfully figure out how to do it.

And listen. What the amazing Dana Kaye is about to reveal is the kind of stuff you usually only hear behind the closed doors of consultant offices and publishing houses.  

Your Author Brand: What It Is and Why You Need One

By Dana Kaye

Almost every author I’ve met, whether they write literary fiction for a small press or category romances for Harlequin, has considered themselves an artist of some sort, and no one wants to equate selling their art to selling Kellogg’s or Coca-Cola. They don’t view their books as commercial products.

But the purpose of branding is the same whether you’re selling books or breakfast cereal: to let customers know what they’re going to get before they buy. When you pick up a Coke, you know exactly what the soda is going to taste like. You know that the Lexus will have more luxury features than the Hyundai.

When you pick up the latest Nora Roberts novel at the grocery store or a James Patterson book at the airport, you know what types of stories are within those pages. Known brands are comfortable, familiar, and come with limited risk.

How do you identify this unique author brand? By implementing this formula:

You + Your Book = Your Author Brand

Your brand consists of who you are and what you write. For most of you, the “Your Book” piece of the equation will be easy, especially if this is your first book, if you write series novels, or if you’ve written multiple books in the same genre.

Where it gets tricky is if you write in different genres, for different age groups, and have a wide scope of work under your belt. Identifying one unique brand for many different books can be difficult, but it’s far from impossible. You just need to find your common denominator.

For each one of your books, fill in the following:

1)   Primary themes

2)   Secondary themes

3)   One line about the protagonist

4)   Genre category

Then, go through and highlight any patterns. Your books may be more similar than you think, and those common denominators will make up the “Your Book” portion of your brand.

Next, you have to figure out the “You” portion of the equation. Start out by asking yourself a few questions:

1)   Where do you live?

2)   What is your day job or background?

3)   What did you study in school?

4)   Are you considered an expert in any field?

5)   What do you do when you’re not writing?

6)   Do you have kids? Pets?

Once you have your list, highlight the responses that directly link to the book. For example, if you write a cozy mystery series and you also happen to knit, that would be a key part of your brand. On the other hand, if you went to school for molecular biology, that wouldn’t quite fit into your author brand.

Use your responses to come up with a tagline and a brand summary. Think of your tagline like a twitter bio: it should be short, clear, and memorable. Your brand summary should be a longer, 3-4 lines, and should convey a clear message about who you are.

For example, my tagline (and twitter bio) is: Publicist, triathlete, and all-around hustler. These 6 words accurately convey who I am, what my philosophy is, and a sense of what I’m like to work with. It’s also memorable and sets me apart from others in my field.

My brand summary is: I’m a book publicist with a knack for staying ahead of the trends and I there’s no substitute for hard work, creativity, and a whole lotta chutzpah. I’m passionate about books, spreading a love of reading, and educating authors on best publishing practices. I frequently jump off cliffs and build my wings on the way down.

This summary doesn’t encompass all that I do, but again, it conveys an idea or feeling of who I am and what I’m about, and that’s what you should expect of a brand.

I encourage all of you to take some time, go through the steps outlined above, and create your unique tagline and brand summary. Then the next time you’re at bookstore event or writers’ conference and someone asks “What do you write?” or “What kind of an author are you?” you’ll have a clear and concise answer that people will remember.

Feel free to share your taglines in the comments section. I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

HANK: Oh, this is so HARD!  But Dana is here to help.  How about you, Reds and Readers, do you have a brand? And what books (and authors) do you think are successfully branded?  And why? Does it work?

Dana Kaye is the owner of Kaye Publicity, Inc. and author of Your Book, Your Brand: The Step-By-Step Guide to Launching Your Book and Boosting Your Sales. Known for her innovative ideas and knowledge of current trends, she frequently speaks on the topics of social media, branding, and publishing trends, and teaches online courses at KayePublicity.teachable.com.

Are You Branded?

 

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I met Chris Tieri from the podium. She was in the audience. I’d finished my speech, and asked—Any questions? Expecting, you know, something about my writing process, or schedule, or adding fiction to my resume.  I recognized an eager hand—you can tell by the expression, an intelligent person with something she really wanted to know. I pointed to her, the well-dressed woman in the third row. “Yes?” I said.

She stood.  “I’m a Certified Brand Strategist and the owner of a brand and marketing agency, “ she said. “How has the Hank Phillippi Ryan brand helped you as a mystery novelist?”

Whoa. And whoa again. The…what?

This started a great conversation between us about the importance of a developing and managing your personal brand whether you’re an author, artist, athlete, leader, philanthropist—or whatever. And after I fumbled my way though the answer—didn’t she want to know where I got my ideas? I took her aside  and corralled her for Jungle Red. 

As you can see from her corporate photo, she's the big fish of her company. Or a good catch. Or you'll be hooked. Or…well, it's all something good, right? 

The importance of honing your personal brand as a writer

     By Chris Tieri

Some do it well, like Oprah, Derek Jeter and Seth Godin.   Other brands turn “bad,” (just as consumer brands do), Lindsay Lohan, Michael Vick, and the most recent example, Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News. His was a brand of honor, integrity, humility – and with the current allegations (whether they turn out to be true or false), his image has become damaged.

Of course you’d like to think your work speaks for itself, and largely it does. But, as professional writers, it’s imperative to develop and hone your entire brand. Everything from how you present yourself, to how you tell stories, to your hobbies, to the causes you support, rolls up into the reader’s perception of the entire package – not just your latest novel.

If you are a writer, consider whether your personal brand is aligned with the style, tone or theme of what you yourself are penning or how you’re presenting yourself to your readership.  While it may be a bit strange at first to think of yourself as a brand, these five exercises will ensure that your vision fully aligns with how you present yourself and the books you write.

• Outline your goals for the future. What are you hoping to achieve as an author? Go nuts, list as many as you can think of. Then, prioritize them and pick the top three.

• Figure out your “why.” What is your higher purpose for doing what you do? I love Simon Sinek’s book, Start with Why, and recommend finding the time to read it or to watch his famous Ted talk. Finish the sentence, “I get up every morning so that…” Then ask yourself why that is important, and ask it again. Ask why until you uncover your true purpose. You’ll know it when you feel it.

• Next, find your most unique attribute. What are your claims of distinction that make you different from everyone else? Similar to the goals exercise, write down all the unique attributes and experiences you might have that make you distinctive. Then, cross out the ones that you can’t prove (Hank’s investigative reporting background is a stellar distinction that makes her an authority in the mystery genre). You are shooting for three to four final words or phrases.

• Understand who your audience is and know what it takes to delight them. Develop an audience persona by compiling any available data about your readers (demographic or anecdotal) and create name for them — you can even add stock photography so you have a visual image of your reader, or write a little bio or story about them. That way, when you are writing, speaking, marketing – you’ll be reminded of exactly who you are talking to.

• Finally, write a brand statement that captures all of the above in three sentences or less.  Write it in the third person and include your purpose, your attributes, and your audience (leave your goals out). Try a couple of different versions to see what strikes you. The final version isn’t something you need to use verbatim (in marketing or on your blog), but it should serve as a beacon for everything you do. Your brand statement should represent the experience you want your audience to take away when they interact with you, your books, or your communications materials. As a final step, bring out your goals and ask yourself – does it seem like this person (this brand) will be able to reach these goals?

Maribeth Kuzmeski, a colleague of mine and author of many business books including The Connectors, has built her consulting firm, Red Zone Marketing, and her personal brand around developing strategies that help companies win all the business they want. I imagine that Maribeth’s brand statement might go something like this: With a drive to coach others to success, Maribeth Kuzmeski combines her passion for football, winning, and story telling to engage and motivate her audience of CEOs, management, marketing, and sales teams. She practices, teaches, and supports leadership whether it’s developing strategies to help her audience win all the business they desire, or through her 501c3, Red Zone Leadership Foundation which helps advance leadership skills and support today’s youth toward becoming tomorrow’s successful leaders.

Whether your’e creating marketing materials for a book signing, a blog, social media or speaking purposes, with your brand statement as your guide, you will ensure a unique, consistent, and authentic experience for your readers.

A special thanks to Hank Phillippi Ryan, who epitomizes a great brand herself, and for giving me the opportunity to share my branding expertise with a whole new audience!

HANK: Aw.  Okay, I know this sounds…difficult. But if you start thinking about it, it’s amazing. Like making a mission statement for yourself. Have you thought about branding at all? It’s also pretty fascinating—I know, for instance, when I go to a Rhys Bowen event, how she’ll look, and behave, and present herself. If she showed up in jeans and a poncho—we’d all think—whoa. Off brand.  

If I decided to write science fiction. Or hot sex. Off brand, right? (And impossible…)

And it could also help authors decide what events to participate in, right? How bookmarks should look? And author photos?

And meanwhile readers—what’s the most effective author brand you’ve ever seen? (Sandra Brown? Charlaine Harris? Lee Child? Nora Roberts?) Do you think it matters in author world? Does it matter to you?

Chris will be here today to answer questions…anyone?   

Christine Tieri is president and certified brand strategist of smith&jones idea agency located in Central New England. Her expertise in brand development and deployment is captured on her blog BrandStanza.com. Please visit. 

Do you Have a Brand? Great Insights from Jennifer Fusco

RHYS: When I got my first contract to write mysteries I thought (naively, as it turns out) that I'd write a book, send it off to the publisher and that would be that. They would do all the promoting and I would collect the royalties.

Well, no. As I soon discovered, publishers may pull out all the stops for the really big names, but for most of us we have to work just as hard publicizing the book as we did writing it. And frankly how many of know where to start? So this post by Jen Fusco is particularly useful. How to let people know what they are getting when they see one of your books. How to build your brand.

So please, take it away, Jen.

What is brand?

By Jennifer Fusco

            Over the years, I’ve talked about the importance of building an author brand, why it’s necessary and what the benefits are for having a brand. I’ve also learned that brand means different things in different genres. And, while that’s true, at its core brand is perception. Brand means the author’s identity. Collectively, it is how the author wants people to think, feel and talk about their work. It is how the author will be known and what he or she will be known for. Brand identifies the author in the mind of the reader and delivers on the promise it makes to the reader through their work. 

Brand has existed long before authors assumed they need to create a brand for themselves. Brand pioneer Walter Landor (1935-1995), founder of Landor Associates, left his mark in the business world by helping to increase the recognition of some of the world’s top companies, including, Levi’s, Kellogg’s, and Bank of America. Landor is quoted as saying, “Products are made in the factory, but brands are created in the mind.” (http://www.areaofdesign.com/inthespotlight/landor.htm)

Yet, you, the author have an advantage over industry. Brand must appeal to the emotions of the consumer, and an author’s most powerful tool to support their brand is the emotions they evoke from their readership.

Some authors choose to have a brand statement, that is to say they craft a 5-7 words statement which identifies and introduces their work to a potential reader. Others let their work and cover art speak for the brand itself. The choice is up to the individual author. However, if you are interested in crafting a brand statement, here are some tips to get your started:

Write down the answers to the following questions:

·        What is it about your work that speaks to your passions?

·        What makes you unique?

·        How would you describe your voice?

·        Look at your body of work. What are the common themes?

·        Write two or three power words associated with your book. (Examples of power words are: Thrilling, Sexy, Steamy, Murder, Forbidden, Daring, Confessions, Stunning, No-risk, etc.)

·        Answer the question, what is your book’s emotional hook?

Examine the answers. Circle the power words. Then, using the selected power words, compose a statement, in less than ten words, that describes you as well as your work while incorporating the answers to the questions above. It sounds like a chore. It is. But, give the exercise a try and see if you like the results.

     Keep in mind, brand is more than just a statement. You can create a brand my blending your work and your persona. Our own Hank Phillipi Ryan says, “People want to know what they're getting. They don't want to have to guess. Having a good brand means you're reliable, dependable, and desirable. It means if they liked what they got the last time, they're going to get it again. That’s good.”

     So, do you have a brand? If so, what is it? How did you create it? And what tips would you give to others for creating theirs?

RHYS: And Jen did not mention that she has written a definitive book for writers!  Ask her questions.

            

To Tweet?Or Not toTweet?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Well, it's happened again. Yesterday, Reds chose team Hank or Team Hallie on tax preparation--it didn't start out that way, but that's how it evolved.

Today, somehow, hilariously, we've got another H or H decision for you.

Ten years ago we had NO idea what this was!

I tweet. @hank_phillippi

Our fabulous secret weapon @JungleReds tweets. (You DO follow us, right? It's never a dull moment, trust me.)

@rhysbowen tweets.

And @deborahcrombie, and @LucyBurdette, and  @JspencerFleming.

Hallie--doesn't. (But she does other stuff, of course. And what ever it is, seems to be working quite successfully, thank you so much.)

So it happens again. Are you a Hank or a Hallie? 

According to branding expert extraordinaire Dorie Clark--and more about her below--anyone who thinks Twitter is too silly or too shallow or too difficult or too easy, should take one more look at this new-ish shiny thing on the internet. And Dorie, because she's always ahead of the curve, is now shairng--just for Jungle Red!--her

Three Twitter Tips for Mystery Writers (and Readers)

                     By Dorie Clark

Dorie Clark--actually tweeting!

I was originally a Twitter skeptic – when it first hit the scene seven years ago, it seemed like the worst combination of useless and narcissistic. But my opinion has changed, and I now think it’s one of the best ways to build a following, establish your brand, and keep connected with your community.

In my new book Reinventing You: Define Your Brand, Imagine Your Future, I profile a number of “professional reinventers” – including Jungle Red co-conspirator Hank Phillippi Ryan, who used her successful career in television news as a launchpad for her mystery writing career. Whether you’re seeking to grow your profile as a mystery writer or stay on top of news and cool opportunities as a reader, here are three quick tips I recommend.

• Leverage the power of lists. Twitter allows you to create lists, a terrific feature that enables you to make sense of the ceaseless stream of content. Set up lists for your favorite authors, other readers whose opinion you respect, industry insiders, potential agents you’re querying – you name it. That will make it easier for you to track what they’re posting and, if appropriate, respond in a timely fashion.

• Schedule your retweets in advance. How do you avoid the last-minute stress of not knowing what to post? And how can you strengthen your connections with other mystery writers and readers? Kill two birds with one stone by scheduling your retweets in advance. Using a service like Hootsuite or TweetDeck, you can glance at your lists once a week, pick out the best tweets others have sent, and schedule them as retweets throughout the week. Others will appreciate that you’re sharing their content, and your own pipeline will be full.

• Brainstorm in bulk. Another way to ensure you have plenty of Twitter content is by brainstorming in bulk. Block out an afternoon on your calendar to create a list of tweets (i.e., 1-2 sentence nuggets). I can often bang out 100-200 in a couple of hours. These should be tips, insights or recommendations that establish your expertise or give readers a sense of your perspective. (In my case, writing a book about business and careers, I might write, “How to create buzz? Think about marketing as you design a product, not after” or “Have you had coffee with your local reporter? If not, invite them today.”) For a mystery author, you could share links to the menus of restaurants your characters visit (“Want to try [protagonist’s] favorite apple pie? Visit [name of restaurant] in the South End”), information about the milieu of your novel (“Fun fact: 95% of the population in Thailand is Buddhist”), or simply recommend great authors or books you admire.

Twitter is a fabulous “real time” communication tool, and part of the fun is responding to messages quickly or commenting on breaking news. But to stay sane (and ensure you have enough time for writing and reading), most of us should only log in for a few minutes a day. The majority of your Twitter presence can be handled once a week, in bulk – and hopefully these tips will make that easier.

HANK: So how about you Reds? Are you on the twitter bandwagon? What have you learned and what are your secrets? We'll give Dorie's new book on branding to one lucky commenter! And hey, what's your twitter address..we should all follow each other!

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Dorie Clark is CEO of Clark Strategic Communications and the author of the newly-released Reinventing You: Define Your Brand, Imagine Your Future (Harvard Business Review Press, 2013), a book about how to change careers, embrace new professional challenges, and take control of your professional reputation. You can follow her on Twitter.