Monday, May 13, 2013

Creating an Author Brand



I have been reading on the internet lately about creating an author brand and growing readership.

You need to create a distinctive theme-tagline that draws your writings together under a single identity. You want one to capture your reader's imagination. Something different or noticeable so people will remember it.
You can put your tagline on your book covers, title pages of your works, in your Amazon descriptions, etc.
You get the point, eventually your name will be recognizable with your tagline.

Also you need to create an author biography to put inside all your books, even your eBooks. Always keep the bio the same.

You can read more about this over at this site.  It is really interesting and something I think we as writers need to do.

Here is another site where it talks about this.

I have created a theme-tagline for me. Here it is: (I notice this doesn't come out right. My name, the words and my picture are supposed to be all on the same line.
Janet Smart   Shhhh! A child is reading

Here is the bio I have created.
Janet remains a child at heart. Writing articles, poems, picture books and middle grade novels to touch the lives of children. She brings her thoughts, dreams and imagination to life – refusing to grow up.  Her inner child flows onto the paper.
A mother of three grown boys, she and her husband live in picturesque West Virginia. They have a yard filled with apple trees, flowers, blackberry patches, blueberries, grapevines, birdhouses and bird feeders.  When not outside enjoying nature, she sits at her desk and writes for children.

Any suggestions to make mine better?
What do you think about this idea?
Do you have one you put with all your writings?

  

14 comments:

  1. Ugh. It's so hard to write bios...

    As a kid, I always thought the blurbs written in books about authors were written by someone else. :-)

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    1. Hi Barb. We've learned a lot since we've grown up, haven't we? And, I agree, it is hard to write bios.

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  2. I love your tagline and your bio is nice and short.
    I wish I can come up with such a snazzy tagline. :)

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    1. Thanks! I don't know if it's all that snazzy or not, but I think I like it.

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  3. I love it. Never heard of it before but thank you for the info..xo

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  4. Janet,
    What a great idea to put a theme tagline next to your name. I never thought of doing that. Your theme tagline is great. Your bio is wonderful, too.
    Thanks for sharing these excellent writing ideas.

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  5. I think your tag line is great. My co-author and I try to use the tag line for our book whenever we can: Fear not the unexpected. :)

    Your bio is nice and short. You say a lot with few words, which is perfect. I am not sure if the second sentence needs a word before writing- maybe She? I pasted it below with the word "she" in the second sentence so you could see if you like it. :) I also moved the last sentence of the first paragraph to the end of the bio- because it seemed like that could be another possibility. :)

    Here is a suggestion (all your words):
    Janet remains a child at heart. She writes articles, poems, picture books and middle grade novels to touch the lives of children. She brings her thoughts, dreams and imagination to life – refusing to grow up.

    A mother of three grown boys, her and her husband live in picturesque West Virginia. They have a yard filled with apple trees, flowers, blackberry patches, blueberries, grapevines, birdhouses and bird feeders. When not outside enjoying nature, she sits at her desk and writes for children. Her inner child flows onto the paper.

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    1. Thanks for your comment and suggestions. I think your changes sound good! I like your tagline, too.,

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    2. Thanks! I love yours! :)

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  6. I have never heard of having a tagline before.

    And...I've never liked seeing the same author bio from book to book to book. I want to know more about the author than I knew before. To me, a repeated bio says "outdated." But then, I tend to not feel the way the majority does.

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    1. Hi Marcia. Thanks for your comment. I'd never heard of these two things before, either. But when I read those articles about it, I kind of liked the ideas, especially the one about having a 'theme tagline.' I decided I'd give it a try.

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  7. "Creative Writing in the Blackberry Patch" has been included in the A Sunday Drive for this week. Be assured that I hope this helps to point even more new visitors in your direction.

    http://asthecrackerheadcrumbles.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-sunday-drive_19.html

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  8. Thank you for this post, Janet! Those articles have definitely got me thinking. I've never thought of myself as a 'brand', but I can see how all the components work together that are mentioned. Now. . .to go find a tagline! (And I LOVE yours:))

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    1. Hi Rose Mary. Thanks for your comment and good luck with your tagline! I know you'll think of a good one.

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Thank you for your comments. I love comments!