Episode 234: Branding Part 3, Verbivore Branding
Today on Fable and the Verbivore, we talk about the Verbivore’s brand using the same questions Fable used last week to help develop her own author brand.
This episode is part three of our new series on developing a distinctive brand as an author. In it, we dig into the Verbivore’s personal author mission statement and brand. Specifically, by looking at her stories and asking herself what her writing is and what it isn’t.
In this conversation, we use a method for brainstorming and workshopping your own personal author brand by reviewing the natural tendencies within your work and asking yourself some key introspective and fill-in-the-blank questions.
Things like:
What is consistent across my work?
What are my strengths?
What are my weaknesses?
My voice is…
My reader wants…
My reader needs…
When they read my stories, they want to feel…
They read my books, when they want (a consistent thread or experience)...
My reader’s pain points are…
What gaps in the market can I fill?
What is the kind(s) of story readers can expect from me?
My target audience is…
My author competitors are…
My ideal readers are…
What font and colors best reflect the feeling of my brand?
For instance, the Verbivore’s brand is creating amusing nerdgasmic romances with diverse casts that are scrumptious, sensual, and spicy. Her work is earnest with an edge, immersive, introspective, wry humored, wholehearted, instinctive, and nerdy af. Readers pick up her work when they want to decompress with a little laugh, fall into the rush of a romance, or take a break from a world that can sometimes be too much.
Towards the end of this conversation, we touch on the idea that by actively choosing areas and aspects that we want to lean into with our stories we help make our stories more distinctive. Also, by clearly communicating our specific flavor and brand in all author materials (for ex: author website, query letter, hook, and bio) we can more easily help readers who would like and connect with books like the ones we’re writing find us.
We hope you enjoy listening to this episode and that you find it useful wherever you are at on your writing journey! Keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!
Into the woods,
Fable & The Verbivore
Notes:
We reference a couple past episodes from the Fable and the Verbivore podcast. They are:
Here are a couple resources referenced in this series of episodes on author brands:
Techtarget.com Definition of Brand: “A brand is a product, service or concept that is publicly distinguished from other products, services or concepts so that it can be easily communicated and usually marketed. Branding is the process of creating and disseminating the brand name, its qualities and personality.”
The Verbivore references Kris Jenner’s MasterClass on “The Power of Personal Branding”, especially episode 2 “Create Your Personal Branding Story”
WritersDigest.com Article “3 Ways to Find Your Book's Unique Selling Proposition”
Forbes.com Articles “What is a Brand, Anyway?”, “The Importance of Being First”, and “Brand New Profits”
Ramotion.com Article “Brand Attributes Examples & List for Understanding”
Publishdrive.com Article “6 Effective Ways to Build an Author Brand”
TheBookDesigner.com Article “Author Branding: What’s Your Author Brand?”
Music from: https://filmmusic.io
’Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)