Monday, April 8, 2019

YOU are Your Brand

Missy Tippens



Writers, have you ever thought about your brand? If you’re a seasoned published author, then you probably have. If you’re new to writing but plan to publish down the road, you may not realize YOU are your brand.

I recently attended a 1-Day workshop, Your Author Brand,hosted by my local ACFW chapter, ACFW North Georgia. The presenters were Lindsey Brackett, Brandy Heineman, Kristi Ann Hunter and Hope Welborn. They shared their knowledge and experience and have generously allowed me to summarize for you what I learned and want to focus on to improve my own branding.

I learned that branding is a lot more than a tag line and logo. One quote that really spoke to me is that if you’re not intentionally creating a brand, then you’re UNINTENTIONALLY creating a brand.



Yep. Ouch.

In this workshop, I learned how important brand is. We need to attract the right readers—the ones who will love our stories. We do that by honestly portraying ourselves and our work. We want to build trust with our readers so they’ll become loyal fans. Ideally, someone would see our website or social media pages or logo and would recognize them. We aim to earn brand recognition.

So how do we do that?

First, it’s important to establish what our brand will be. In the workshop, I learned that good branding makes promises and sets expectations. We need to make sure we fulfill those expectations. My website for my small town southern contemporary stories will look different from someone who writes historical romance, different from someone who writes suspense.

Part of branding is figuring out why you write and the type stories you want to write. Where does your passion lie?

Here are some really helpful questions to ask, taken from a 2013 article by Margie Warrell at Forbes.com titled Do You Know Your Why? 4 Questions To Find Your Purpose:

  *what makes you come alive?
  *what are your innate strengths?
  *where do you add the greatest value?
  *how will you measure your life?

Once we figure out why we write and the type stories we want to write (and thus, who our target reader is), there are several steps we can take to help brand ourselves. These are the items I plan to work on:

--Come up with a color palette. 

It’s really interesting to look at this webpage that discusses The Psychology of Colors.  I want to keep this in mind as I choose colors. Also, we shouldn’t use too many (maybe two or three). Plus, we also need to keep in mind things like the effects of using contrasting colors, complimentary colors, etc.

One thing mentioned in the workshop is that color can help improve brand recognition by 80%! So once we choose our palette, we need to use it (or portions of it) everywhere—website, social media, logo, newsletter, ads, and print collateral.

Note: Once the color palette is established, make sure to identify and save the colors using the HEX or RGB color codes. Here is a style sheet that Beth Erin created for our Seekerville blog.



--Decide on the typography.

We should choose fonts wisely. We shouldn’t rule out default fonts, because they are very readable. Don’t go too fancy—they can be hard to read. It was suggested to use no more than two font families. It’s okay to mix a serif font with a sans-serif. And we need to make sure the line length and spacing makes everything legible and neat. It was also suggested to align everything on the left. When I was reading more about this, one website said not to center text because it creates unsightly uneven edges on both sides. (Oops. I’ll be working on that!)

--Choose a style guide (ie. Chicago, AP…).

Traditional publishers can tell you what they have chosen to use. Indie authors should also choose one. It’s helpful for author brand to use this consistently through all content we create.

--Choose appropriate Images.

Our brains process images 60k times faster than text. Images are our visual language and create emotion, so we need to choose them to appeal to our typical reader and to create a certain experience for our readers.

--Create content that fits within the brand.

Everything we write or create should fit in our brand. We don’t want to create anything that will make our readers lose trust in what we’ve promised (unless we have plans to change our branding, which would be another blog post). For example, in addition to my inspirational novels and novellas, I also took part in a short story project by Callie Smith Grant, Second Chance Dogs, as well as a devotional project from Guideposts, All God’s Creatures. Both fit my brand as a writer of Christian fiction. Plus, I sometimes include animals in my novels/novellas, and I also post about my beloved pets on social media.

My precious Duke.

My takeaway from the workshop was the importance of consistency. The importance of figuring out who I am and how I want to present myself. I need to figure out exactly who my typical reader is and to be intentional about that reader’s experience. I want to come up with a style sheet for fonts, colors, etc. that will portray the emotion I want to create (the same emotion someone would feel while reading one of my stories).

Writers, I hope you’ll chat today about what you’ve done (or need to do) with your author branding! Readers, I hope you’ll tell us about how you’ve experienced author branding, and what you find attractive. All of you, share authors you think have done a great job!

A big thank you to my fellow ACFW North Georgia writers for sharing their knowledge at the workshop and for allowing me to talk about it today! I hope you’ll check out their websites and book links below!

Hope Welborn’s website

Lindsey Brackett’s  website and info on her book, Still Waters

Brandy Heineman’s website

Kristi Ann Hunter’s website and info on her book, A Defense of Honor, which is on sale right now.


After more than 10 years of pursuing her dream of publication, Missy Tippens, a pastor’s wife and mom of three from near Atlanta, Georgia, made her first sale to Harlequin Love Inspired in 2007. Her books have since been nominated for the Booksellers Best, Holt Medallion, ACFW Carol Award, Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, Maggie Award, Beacon Contest, RT Reviewer’s Choice Award, and the Romance Writers of America RITA® Award. Visit Missy at www.missytippens.comhttps://twitter.com/MissyTippens and http://www.facebook.com/missy.tippens.readers.

51 comments:

  1. Hi Missy:

    It sounds like you had a really good seminar on branding. One thing about branding: it's like getting a tattoo. Please don't be like a teenage girl who simply must have a tattoo like everyone else. Take your time. If you write for Love Inspired Suspense, the cover art and titles will brand what type of book it is for you. Before you get a tattoo at least know who you are.

    I see a brand as essentially what the reader can expect from your pen. (Can you tell I'm older than the average bear?) It does not have to be colors, artwork or type faces.

    For example:

    What is an Alfred Hitchcock movie? It has a look on screen by the type of camera POVs used and it has a quirkily ending.

    I like what James Patterson says about his brand. It's a fast moving story, in each genre he writes, that keeps asking questions that the reader can't wait to have answered. You pick the book up and can't put it down…even if it is not your cup of tea. Each scene is its own chapter and each chapter changes the trajectory of the plot. As such there is never a sagging middle. If it sags, it's cut. Patterson writes all genres and age groups with this one brand.

    For me, Missy's books are like a warm hug with love and spiritual awareness all revealed in a voice that expresses her love for her readers. All I need to see to 'get' this brand is the name, Missy Tippens. That's all.

    James Patterson needs just his name in big type on every book. Readers know what they are going to get.

    Art, fonts, and colors are very important to show the reader that you are a professional and that they need not fear the book is full of typos and poor writing. Sure, work on a look and feel for your work, posts, etc. That's called fusion and it protects against some of your work seemingly contradicting your other work.

    For example: I've seen a furniture store run newspaper ads about their biggest warehouse sale ever and at the same the radio and tv ads are saying nothing about the big sale. This makes the big sale ads look like a lie.

    It's good to work on the image and message. But as for branding, really think about it before you get that tattoo. Of course, a tattoo can be removed but it is not easy and it is not cheap.

    Well that's just something to think about at 1:30 am. :)

    Vince

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    1. Vince, thanks for your kind words about my brand. I feel like my overall author theme--and something I find myself writing about over and over--is being accepted and loved for who we are. So I hope all my work makes my reader feel that way. I want to make sure my website and social media has a feel of coming home. So I want to think more about colors and fonts to make that consistent on all platforms. I'm also really interested in the psychology of colors so will look a little more into that. But no branding "tattoos!" :)

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    2. Hi Missy:

      I would say that you've been very successful at creating the image and 'brand' you want to achieve for your work. To me it's in the 'voice' and who you are. The rest is also nice as well.

      BTW: I have a funny story my boss, the Vice President of Advertising, would always tell a new artist who complained about the choice of colors or type faces or any type appearing over his beautiful artwork.

      Boss: "You have a point there Jones. Just the other day I heard a customer on the sales floor say she would have bought the advertised sofa except she didn't like the use of Bodoni bold type in the headline nor the use of a sans serif font for the subheads in the body copy."

      Enough said!

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    3. LOL, Vince!! Point well taken!! haha

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  2. I am still learning about branding, even though my second book is about to come out. Something I hadn't thought about before is the color scheme. Pretty sure I have more than one. And I know I used a different one with my first book than this one because I changed it to match the cover.

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    1. Amy, that's one thing we discussed in the workshop--book covers. We don't need to change our website and social media branding with each cover. Of course, if we design our own covers, they may fit within our palette, but not always. What I think I plan to do is to stick with a color palette that's simple and welcoming and not worry about the book covers. One websites, I like seeing a lot of white area anyway.

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  3. Hi Missy! Branding seems like such a huge issue but you've managed to bring it into focus. I have trouble picking "good" fonts although I'm much better with colours. For my website I went with cool blues and greys because I wanted to use Canadian winter pics to match my first book. But I'm not a website designer by any stretch and I can't wait to be able to afford someone to take it over and do a professional job for me. And I default to purple just because it's my favourite colour and i feel comfortable with it. It's not really a "suspense" colour unless it's in its deepest form but I love all shades of purple.

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    1. Laurie, I’ve usually used purple too because I love it. :) Plus it matched the front porch photo I used to use. Be sure to check out the link above which can be helpful with how colors make readers feel—just for fun. The effect also depends on tint and shades of the colors we use.

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    2. I will, Missy, because I know colour psychology's very important. When I was a police officer we had a cell painted hot pink in the cell block where we kept prisoners for short periods of time, like court day. The hot pink cell was for drunks or violent prisoners. It calmed them down, believe it or not! :)

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    3. That's crazy that hot pink calmed them down!! Maybe it just distracted their minds LOL!

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  4. Missy, thank you for sharing the branding workshop with us!

    Early in my career, I thought I would always be writing Amish stories, so I started developing my brand around an Amish theme. But by the time my second book came out, I realized that I might not always write Amish books, so I started tweaking my brand - I widened it, generalizing it a little bit to include whatever stories I would write.

    That took some thinking about my passion, just as you said. Once I found why I was writing, that helped me focus on what I wanted to share with my readers. Through that process, I think I've developed a brand that would include more than one genre and both contemporary and historical stories.

    The color palette thing and the fonts...I've dabbled in both a little bit, but after reading your blog I can see I need to work on those. Thanks for the homework!

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    1. Jan, one of the things we talked about in the workshop was changing or expanding genres. The main idea was to do so gradually. But if it’s a huge switch, you might want to consider a re-launch. It sounds like you’ve handled it just right! I may someday try writing sweet romance, but I think that would still fit my brand.

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  5. This is such a great idea! I hadn't heard much about it until I heard Donald Miller speak at The Art of Writing Conference last year before the Christy Awards. He's an excellent speaker & had so many good insights into building a brand successfully. I highly recommend hearing him speak if you get the chance.

    He also has a book: Building a Story Brand that might be helpful. I have a copy, but haven't had a chance to read it yet. I'm looking forward to having the time to delve into it because I know it'll help me as an editor & designer.

    So much to learn, so little time! ;)

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    1. Beth, I’ve done a couple of his webinars. I’ll have to go back and look at my notes to see if any of them were on branding. Thanks for the recommendation!

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    2. Sure thing! It's such an important part of marketing yourself as an author & I know that I could help my clients better by learning more about it. He was a great speaker. If you come across other videos about branding that you find helpful, I'd love to hear about them. :)

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  6. Great food for thought, thank you. I'm still trying to hone what my brand is, so found the questions super helpful.

    With color palette done right, I think of the robin egg's blue that Robin Jones Gunn uses on her website, social media and even in her outfits for her profile pics. Not only does the color tie-in to her name, it also makes me think of nature and peace-- elements that I identify in her books.

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    1. Wonderful example, Samantha! I’ll have to watch more of what Robin does!

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  7. I am out for a while and will catch up when I get back! Y’all keep chatting!

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  8. Missy, this is great and so helpful as I prepare for my first book launch ever. After I read this I went back and updated my Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Web site so they are at least consistent with each other. I don't know yet if they scream "Kathy Bailey," but at least they're all screaming the same thing. For the time being I've got a candid shot of me by my daughter, but I was happy that day and in a good place; and for the background I've got a picture of maple syrup sap buckets, which speaks to my New England heritage.
    I do both contemporary and historical stories, but they're all romance. I do city, small-town and Oregon Trail. The one thing they have in common is they're about people trying to get home, to Christ and each other, so I'm playing with tag lines along that theme. My current favorite is "The Heart Finds a Home." I was going to do "Welcoming You Home," figured people might mistake me for a Realtor.
    I may hire it out. One of my friends is in marketing and actually is the head marketer for our denomination's publishing house. Might be a good idea to get it right the first time.
    But at least you've got me thinking. Thanks Missy.
    Kathy Bailey
    Building a brand in New Hampshire

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    1. Kathy, it sounds like you got a lot done already! Nice work. And as for a tag line and logo, I learned that you don’t necessarily need them. So don’t feel rushed on that. Maybe give yourself some more time to develop your brand.

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  9. Thanks for this post Missy. I have been thinking about platform lately, and obviously part of that is branding. When I worked in non-profit, branding our events was such a big thing and I learned so much through that process that everything I've been learning about author platform/ branding makes sense. I have a lot of ideas for myself as an unpubbed author trying to " break in". One author's website I like for branding is Julie Klassen. Thanks again for the summary - Lee-Ann B

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    1. Lee-Ann, it sounds like you some really useful experience! Thanks for the recommendation of Julie’s sites! I’ll check her branding out.

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  10. Missy, thank you for your post! Since I want my brand to include various features, I decided on "Sparkling stories of God's treasured blessings." This would serve my (someday) author platform of historical and contemporary romance, my blogging book reviews to promote Christian fiction, and my developing devotional writing.

    I had never considered integrating color palettes and fonts. My website setup was a gift from my son and daughter-in-law many years ago, so I need to update soon to incorporate my current direction. I want to convey a welcoming spot where readers gathered over tea and scones to chat about the encouragement of God's blessings in our lives. Your tips will certainly help me focus as I revamp my website and promote my brand. Thank you!

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    1. What a great gift, Sherida! I’m hoping to hire someone down the road to help me on my site. So far I’ve done it all myself(and you can tell). :)

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  11. Missy, this is incredibly helpful information! I spent (with my hubby's help) so much time on my book's website, that I still don't have an author's website! I know that most everyone in Seekerville writes fiction, which I hope someday to do. But my first book was nonfiction and I was required to write under a pen name. So it's hard to know how to develop an author's web page, when the first work was not even written under my own name. Any thoughts, coments, and suggestions are greatly welcomed!

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    1. Edwina, if you need to keep the pen name separate and private, then you would need to do a totally separate site with your real name (or other pen name). But if you don't plan to keep the pen name private, you could turn that book page into an author name and just have a tab/page for non-fiction or a tab/page for that pen name. It might be difficult to have a non-fiction site and a fiction site and a book site for that one pen name. So maybe you can manage to have only two. I hope that makes sense! I just think the less sites the better just for managing your time and cost.

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    2. I just realized one of my sentences is really hard to read! If you don't need to keep that pen name private, then maybe you could do a website under your real name (or whatever your main author name will be) and just make a tab/page for that non-fiction book (or for its pen name). Gosh, I hope that makes better sense this time! :)

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  12. Excellent post, Missy. Lots of great info to be pulled out no matter where one is in their writing career.

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  13. This is a great post! I've thought a lot about my brand and colors over the last few years. I write for Harlequin Heartwarming, which uses a lot of green in their branding and I find myself leaning more and more toward a combination of green and yellow (after seeing the color wheel and meanings, now I know why!) but when I designed my logo, I stuck more with pinkish colors. Pink, yellow and green don't go together too well, lol. This post gives me some great insight!

    I also try to be mindful of everything I post on instagram, facebook and twitter and make sure that it is all part of my brand. I see too many authors (and sometimes editors and agents, too) posting things that really turn off potential readers/clients. I purposely stay away from certain authors for that reason.

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    1. LeAnne, I checked out your website, and I think it's great! I don't think that's little bit of pink is too much. I think your photos fit well, too.

      I agree about being cautious what we post. I'm very careful. There's so much in social media that's divisive these days that I try to avoid reading it when I'm on there just to catch up with friends and share with readers. I want positivity. I need it.

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  14. excellent post, Missy! One that applies to we bloggers/social media types as well as authors! Great advice :)

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    1. Carrie, I've learned a lot about branding from you, Annie and Beth! Y'all are doing great with it!

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    2. aww thank you - I mostly learn from Beth :D

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    3. as in... she reminds me of the importance of branding and I say "oh yeah I need to sort-of define that." ;)

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  15. Missy, I began reading this yesterday, and was finally able to swing back by today. SUCH good words here. Over the weekend, Jim Rubart spoke at a one day conference our ACFW chapter hosted, and he shared a session on branding. Now, you have. And I saw one other site. Maybe God is prompting me to get serious about figuring out my brand. :)

    I loved your suggestions. And i need to begin at the very beginning with those four Why questions you shared. Thank you so much for this awesome primer on determining my brand and what I want to convey. :)

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    1. Jeanne, don't you love it when something comes up in several places? I'm glad you found this helpful!

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  16. Hello Missy,

    Thank you for this informative post. I'm just starting out, but the good news is, this confirms some things about what I've been working on and that is my business cards. I've grown up in the South, the daughter of a farmer and retired English teacher who've been married for 62 years now. The love story of my parents, their experiences during the 50s, as well as the stories they tell of their own childhood and how it relates to their faith is very inspiring to me. The farmland of their childhood, which remained a part of my surroundings until the last decade or so, when it began to disappear, is so beautiful and serves for inspiration as well. So, when I found myself using a photo I'd taken of the side of an old red barn as the background of my business card and adding an old-style font in a color I would describe as 'Granny Smith green', I can see now why it was so appealing to me. There are 4 colors I am consistently drawn to- including in decorating my house. Those are red, green, blue and yellow. For me, the red speaks of the fields of red clay farmland, chipping barn paint, and my dad's Farm-All tractor. The green is Granny Smith pies, fresh homegrown vegetables and my Grandma Sain's green gingham apron. Of course, blue is the expansive sky above the fields, my Uncle Tenn's overalls, and blackberry jam. While the sunshine of summer days, my Grandpa Hovis's hay fields and baling twine are what yellow makes me think of. These things are cliches for some, but not for me. I increasingly find myself inspired to record my dad's old-timey idioms and the values that both of my parents share with the Greatest Generation. I'd love to bring the good things about the South alive for those who don't know it well. On the other hand, I see myself as someone who, by virtue of being a native, can speak with some authority on the particular hypocrisy of southerners who hold on to racism in the heart of 'The Bible Belt'. And using humor to bridge a gap between 'rednecks' and our beloved northern transplants is another passion. Anyway, thanks again for your post. Very good points!

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    1. Meleah, you have a wonderful way with words in describing your family and history and farmland! I feel like I would love to spend time there. :) I'm sure you write beautiful stories. I love how you've found your calling and wish you all the best in your writing endeavors!

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  17. What a great recap, Missy! Glad you were able to get so much out of the workshop and be able to help those who couldn't be there. ;)

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  18. I love this, Missy!!! The whole idea of consistent color schemes and fonts was super interesting to me. I usually stick with BLUE to go along with the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are part of my brand, but I hadn't even considered meshing all of it with my website, business cards ( I know...duh, right?). Kristi and I were just talking about brand this morning! HA!

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    1. Pepper, I'm glad you found it helpful! I love the idea that you use blue! I love the photos on your site. Gorgeous.

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  19. Thanks for the grest post Missy. I'm thinking my brand needs a makeover so this is very timely for me.

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  20. Winnie, enjoy the brand makeover! I look forward to working on mine.

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