I know what I know about branding from trial and error and total cheese-covered fuck ups. This has become a delightfully twisted journey to publishing full of encounters with big bitches like hindsight and a bunch of lessons learned too late.
I am not a marketeer by profession, so don’t expect technical wordery, theoretical mumbojumbo or any other professorial nonsense. This post is just the culmination of my obsessive fascination of all things marketing and brand creation.
Do you know who you are as an author or what your brand is? Or even how the fuckins you’re meant to figure it out? No? Let me help…
This week, I am a hand-flapping squawking school girl because the seriously awesome Allie Potts, founder of Axil Hammer Publishing and Productions, made me something I’ve been hankering after forever. A super spangly glitter covered unicorn Sacha Black logo. Three of them actually:
I’ve wanted something to identify my brand visually in the blink of an eye for the longest time, and finally, I have it. The cog means a lot to me for a variety of reasons, most of which you will have to wait for in a later post. But for now, what do you think?
Allie is open for business and requests. If you need a book cover, a logo or marketing materials designed, drop her a line here. In her own words:
A brand is a mechanism to set you apart from everyone else in your field. It’s a symbol (physical, visual, emotional or otherwise), a concept, a trigger, something that jogs customers minds all the way to your doorstep.
THING 1 – IT’S ALL ABOUT THE CONCEPT, DARLING
Steven Pressfield, author of the War on Art and Nobody Wants To Read Your Shit Anyway, explains that your novels need a concept when advertising them. He says:
“A concept frames (or, more frequently, re-frames) the issue entirely. One of the seminal concepts in advertising history is Avis Rent a Car’s “We’re #2 so we try harder.“” Steven Pressfield, Nobody Wants To Read Your Shit Anyway, P.18
He goes on to explain the reason it’s that’s a concept is because it turns a negative (being second best) into a positive – they will try harder to make your experience better than our competitors (which at the time was Hertz).
Fucking genius. When I read that I had one of those eyeball popping orgasmaphy moments (a hybrid of a big O mixed with an epiphany).
THING 2 – WHO THE FUDGEFUCKLES ARE YOU ANYWAY?
At this point, knowing who you are as an author really helps. If, like me, you recently found yourself wondering around wearing a gormless expression only to smack into a glass-clear door in your local library, then watch mortified, as your glasses ping off your face and you rupture the blissful silence by giving three old biddies coronaries because you bellowed “fuck” at the top of your voice, then trust me, it’s time to sort your shit out.
Dig deep. Figure out what in your life is a hell yeah v.s. a fuck no. It’s those details that help you define who you are as a writer, and as soon as you know that, you can use it to brand yourself.
If you don’t know who you are, let me tell you who I am and it might help you figure out what’s hiding in your secret author brand draws.
I’m an (almost) thirty-year-old teenager, with a potty mouth and a twisted sense of humour. I’m the teenager your parents were terrified you’d make friends with. I eat rules for breakfast because fuck rebellions they’re child’s play, I want a revolution. My darkest secret is that my big black heart has a mushy centre full of ALL THE WORDS AND STORIES, romance, love and shit ton of meliorism. And if you tell anyone I will kill you… slowly…silently…and with a blunt knife… while you’re watching Big Brother.
That’s why my tagline is: Book Business and Bad Words.
I will NEVER stop swearing because I love it. I like the way it tastes dirty and how the words knock against my teeth. But more than anything, I adore the look of pure horror on people’s faces as I drop some obscure swear word in an inappropriate situation. *snigger* (see told you I was a naughty teenager)
Seriously though, that paragraph might read like nonsense, but it’s not.
- The naughty child writes non-fiction and blog posts using bad language and strange made up bullshit.
- The soppy meliorist teenager writes YA fiction.
Annoyingly for me, I am one person, but I have two identities that will lead to two brands and two audiences (I hope).
It comes back to why. Why are you writing? Why does your story matter? If you don’t know, don’t expect me or more importantly your audience to know either.
Who are you? And what is your brand? Let me know in the comments.
THING 3 – VOGUE IT LIKE YOU’RE ON A RUNWAY
I have zero fashion sense. Seriously less than fuck nothing. The other day I was forced to go shopping because I had four tops left and three of those had bloody holes in. I’m worse than tragic, I’m pathetic. But at least I have a consistent style – the clothes I do have are ALL the same colour… the same colour as my heart… Black.
Why am I talking about my threadbare wardrobe when I should be talking about authorly brandage?
Because style matters.
I might not have style when it comes to donning frocks. But I sure as shit know what I do and don’t like on my blog and across my platform. It matters for you too.
- What imagery do you use?
- Do you use the same voice across your platform?
- Do you use certain colours in your media and designs?
- Do you use certain fonts?
- Have you got a logo, or image or something that sets you apart from everyone else?
- Do you always write about life the universe and the number 42 or do you give people information on the latest scientific breakthroughs in hair re-growing maggot juice?
Be deliberate. You know like when you deliberately trip the bimbo-bitch up at work and pretend it was an accident? That kind of deliberate. Everything you put out says something about your brand. The internet is a fucking virus with a memory like an elephant. Remember that Christmas do when you were catatonically drunk and thought it was a good idea to flash your vaj at the copier boy to see if he passed out and then someone took a photo at a particularly crucial moment? Once you put it out there that shit ain’t ever coming back.
PUT YOUR ‘BRAND’ EVERYWHERE. That’s when it becomes branding. It’s what identifies you as you instead of Chad the chunky butt cheese chunderer.
It’s why you know there’s only one boy with a lightning scar and only one drinks brand that comes in a red can with white swirly writing.
Style matters. Choose yours carefully.
THING 4 – CONSISTENT LIKE YOUR 8AM COFFEE
I’ve already said I’m calculated and deliberate. But I do it for a reason. It makes me consistent. Being consistent builds brand awareness. You’re reliable, people know what to expect. People are sheep. They like consistency and they like knowing what to expect. That’s why everyone reads the same genre, over and over and over and over……. times eleventy cuntzillion.
You need to be deliberate and you need to be consistent when you deliberatize yourself.
(that’s totes a word).
It’s subtle. I doubt anyone would even notice without me highlighting it. But some of the things I do deliberately and consistently are…
- I use the same three fonts in all my imagery
- I use a lot of purple and black in my website design (not on my blog header photos)
- My blog header photos have a ‘look and feel’ to them, even though each post has a completely different image and colour scheme
- I swear constantly
- I always post on a Monday and always a lesson I’ve learnt recently about writing
- I deconstruct everything I come across into a forensic level of detail so I can use it as examples to learn from
- I share my learning because I believe we’re all in this together
- I HATE detail and am beyond shit at grammar so I always have typos no matter how many times I proof read.
If you come here often, those things should ring true to you. What do you do deliberately and consistently? Let me know in the comments.
If you don’t believe me, Charli Mills is a marketeer by profession, she wrote a fantastic series on decoding your author platform 18 months ago, I read it way back then and although it was some time ago, I haven’t forgotten the impact the series had on me. If you haven’t read them, you really, REALLY should. Find her posts here: Decoding the platform, Branding, Why, Voice, Community.
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Yes to all of this, Sacha! Without pulling back the curtain too much, I do have a purpose whenever I post anything on Instagram, WordPress, my public Facebook page and Twitter. I have an idea of what I’d like my brand to be and so consider content carefully. There’s also been a fair bit of learn-as-you-go – in my early blogging days I just wrote about writing. Then one day I wrote something different and whammo! New audience. And that’s a huge thing too – you have to know who your audience are and go where they are.
Yes exactly and I am so glad it’s not just me 😀 😀
Ahh I am so with you, have learnt SO much and this blog has had about 4 different lives. I think I am happy with it’s current one, although I would like to bring back the weekly wonders too, but it’s just time at the moment, they require so much research and I just don’t have time for it. So inevitably I write what I know and what I can produce quickly, which ends up being ‘writing’ related. Sigh.
I think your blog is great! Message is on point, visual branding works well and it’s definitely your voice 🙂 You’ll get back to the weekly wonders when you’re ready.
ahh thank you my lovely <3 – am planning a whole new series thing of them for next year
Excellent! Look forward to reading them 🙂
🙂
Reblogged this on Anita Dawes & Jaye Marie.
Thank you for sharing, hope you had a lovely weekend
I tried to, but didn’t get as much editing done as I would have liked.
Sounds like me, I never get as much done as I would like. ugh.
Lovely post and logo, Sacha. Just the thing for a grey monday morning…
Thanks my lovely glad you like it ??
I love the suggestions. I like the middle one best. It is so true about the 4 aspects. It needs to be recognizable and it has to give you a good feeling connected with the message you want to spread. That can be so very difficult. Congrats and compliment to Allie!!!
Thanks Erika glad you like them 🙂 🙂 the middle one is my fave too ??
Allie is SUPER talented ?
They are all great! Blogging introduces us to so many fantastic people!
Middle one is nice, but I like the one on the left too. Really depends where you are going to be using it. On your books? Blog? As an avatar?
I think people are getting a lot more savvy about branding/corporate ID. When I took over as PR manager for an organisation (it was a new post) I couldn’t believe the lack of consistency in what was being sent out. Just. Unbelievable. Writing a style guide banning 8pt Courier was a priority. Telling well paid managers (ie better paid than I was) to check their spelling, grammar, and overall sense, was another.
Thank you 😀 I guess it might go on the spine of my non-fiction but then I’d need to remove the wording as it would be too small to see.
I know what you mean about corporate branding – there are some faux pas I just cringe over, from senior people too (this is in my org) what can you do though? I’m only junior and I don’t care enough to shout.
Reblogged this on Don Massenzio's Blog.
Thanks so much Don 😀
You’re welcome
A very useful article but written in such a funny way you feel compelled to read it all, not just the four main points.
Well thank you so much, that means a lot to me, I love that I made you smile 😀
Great Logo, Sacha! When I saw it pop up in my list of Notifications it caught my eye immediately (as a great logo should!). I LOVE the “Cog” look, as you might guess from my own, haha. Fantastic tag line too, really sums up your page into a snappy snippet!
Indeed you do – love your cloud and cog too – what made you choose it? Love that you like the cog – I know Allie will be pleased to hear it 😀
I ‘ve always found clockwork to be quite fascinating so I went with the name “Clockwork Clouds” for my blog. Despite not posting as regular as clockwork, the name stuck and I commissioned a Logo to match. 🙂 I just need a tagline now, mine is still dated from when teenage me thought he was being witty.
Definitely pass my feedback onto Allie, I love the design. Especially with your colours blended into it. Beautiful work! As if you needed to stand out anymore 😉
Well it’s a fab logo, and I love the name too – should totally be a book series…..
and thank you for that last comment… *blush*
Thanks for the kind words, Sacha! 🙂
Haha! Omg yes! You and only you are so YOU! Defo consistent, and Everything you say up there about yourself is true. Except for your black heart. That part of yourself you Don’t know at all. As I have frequently pointed out to you. ???
lol, hush up you, didn’t you read the bit where I said I’d kill you…. with a blunt knife… :p :p
Oh… you meant ME??? ??
Haha actually no, but seeing as you threatened to expose me there…. ?
Lol! ?
aww shucks – thank you Judy <3 <3
hehe, thank you <3 <3
and that makes my day to hear I made you chuckle. :p Monday's suck, so everyone needs a giggle first thing in the morning 😀
DO pay her a visit, she's a creative genius and has a knack of being able to capture the essence of 'you' REALLY quickly, she's awesome, but shhhhh don't tell her it might make her head explode :p
I have a question. When you are a published author will you change your blog name to your author name? I have been trying to decide what to do. Get a ColleenChesebro.com or keep silverthreading.com. Any advice?
Sacha black is the name I am publishing under so no change needed, I am in the process of deciding whether to set up a fiction website as well tho…. but again under Sacha Black
Do you think I should change mine? I do but will have to set up a new domain.
My guy says yes. Consistency is important and if you have the same name everywhere it’s easier to find you. Say someone reads your book and wants to find your website and they type your name in, they might not find you if your websites silver threading… but that’s just my opinion, I’m not an expert, just muddling my way through ??
That’s what I was thinking also. I think I will tackle that issue next. Thanks for the reply. I always like the way you think. <3
aww thank you <3 well I saw you made the change on your Facebook page, hope it's not caused you too much agro – I need to move to self hosted in the next couple of months. I'm dreading it.
colleenchesebro.com is live today! ??
hurrah <3 <3
My favourite branding term I ever came across was “Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room”. Updated for modern life: What do people post on your wall, share with you, or say “I saw this and thought of you”?
Mine seems to be weird-ass shit, bats, anything Gothic, mummies, and supernatural stuff. HELL YES.
I use the same shade of purple on my site, along with Gothic looking images on my header, and the same fonts on all of my social media graphics. I want people to know that if you cut me, I’d bleed Goth.
Though I don’t have a tagline for my brand yet. Just my books. Maybe I need to come up with one!
I’m SO sorry for the delay – I just found this comment in my spam folder 🙁
NOW that is an amazing amazing A.M.A.Z.I.N.G way of coining branding. I have no clue what people say about me but now I want to find out!! hahahahaha I saw this and thought of you, oh god – when I send you weird stuff you know it’s cause I love you right?!
pahahha if you cut you you bleed goth – HILARIOUS. love that. I guess I bleed swear words and random metaphors?
Frankly I like the tagline if you cut me I bleed goth!!!!!! <3 <3 this comment made me smile so many times
Great post, Sacha. Not only do you share the four Things to branding, but you demonstrate them. My brand isn’t quite so keenly honed, I’m afraid, but I’m getting there little by little. You gave me some new ideas and a little homework. As always, thanks for sharing your incredible research and for making it fucking enjoyable to read (now that was totally outside my brand, but I couldn’t resist). 😀 😀
ahhhh thank you that means a lot to me <3 <3 hahahahah omg you swore!!! hey, I tell ya, that's one thing that my swearing loses – the shock factor. Because I swear constantly it's not shocking any more sadly. Love that you swore over here! :p :p. To be fair, it's taken a long time for my brand to develop and honestly, I am not sure it's completely there yet, and there is a new one coming for my fiction when I split it off into its own website so then I am going to be totally head Fudged.
Ah, so that’s the plan – separate website for the fiction. I was wondering how you were going to do that. I have a “book site” that I’m not giving enough attention to. I’ll be curious to learn your tips there too!
I sitting pretty at 85% sure that I will separate out and do a fiction and non fiction, but the fiction will be pretty static. Used more for marketing and readers and maybe quarterly newsletters at most, and the occasional blogpost about research or something, but mostly just a home page / contact portal. but who knows, I still haven’t quite made my mind up, I need to transfer this bad boy to self hosted too. UGH.
That’s what I did. I have a static site with blurbs and excerpts, maps, and book club questions. My goal is to post once a month and I haven’t been consistent about that yet. It doesn’t get much traffic, but it serves.
Interesting. Did not know you had a second site – what’s the link?
http://dwallacepeachbooks.com. I’m embarrassed to give it to you, Sacha. The poor little lost website is so neglected! Now I have to post something on it tomorrow or faint with shame!
HA! What? Don’t be silly, I popped over and it looked lovely. My new site is being set up with the migration of this site, which happens Friday, but I will probably keep it under wraps for a few weeks till I get it sorted.
I’m thinking I need to connect mine – have the book stuff all link over to the other site….eventually. A nice project for mid-winter. 🙂
I will connect them in someway. It’s been created! woo hoo. Just need to set it all up and put info on there now. 😀 😀 *bites nail*
“I will NEVER stop swearing because I love it.”
LOL
You’d love the U.S. Marines. The profanity flows like a raging river of sperm. No one I’ve every known cusses like Marines. It’s sounds like hard-core porno poetry, orgasmic art, a Tsunami on fucking steroids.
hhaha, I can just imagine! that many lads together I bet the air was completely blue! a tsunami on fucking steroids! hahahahahahah hilarious.
Great advice. I work hard on branding, in my own corny way, but it works.
I happen to like your branding too – especially when it pops up on Facebook – One thing I do know, is exactly who it belongs to when I see those cartoons 😀
I appreciate that.
Reblogged this on firefly465.
Now you have got me thinking Sacha, about who I am as an author and a blog person. omg…….panics and lights a ciggie. Will get back to you on that one. Btw, when I do will you please take a look see and if it’s shite, tell me. I do need a brand, it makes perfect sense so now is the time to do it,
Thanks for the share my lovely. Really appreciate it. OF COURSE I will help. Drop me an email and I am ALWAYS here for you. Whatever you need <3 <3
Thank you Sacha. x
Of course, always here for you <3
Love ’em Sacha. Very eye catching. 🙂
Thanks my lovely – sorry for the delay – I had to fish you out of my spam folder – did you get the issue sorted?
Yes, I think so…. Hope it stays that way. 🙂
🙂 <3
All good stuff as always, Sacha, and I totally love the cog!
ahh thank you so much Colin 😀 glad you like it. I thought of you this week – I’m going to watch the BBC Sherlock series.
Black heart. Pah! You’re a puppy-soft-caramel-baby-cheeks person and everyone knows it. Though the rest is true and your creative swearing one of the joys of the net. Fudgefuckles has to make it into the OED or there is no God. What? There isn’t? Bazollicoids. That’s unreal. On a serious note I read all Charli’s brilliance, I thought about it loads and I still drew a blank. The nearest I get to a brand image is a slightly warm blancmange: it means well but you’re not really sure what it’s for. One day you will have to take me in hand and explain in small words with lots of pictures dipped in coffee
I found this comment in my spam, at first I was going to say I felt bad, until I read the content… and now I am coming for you Geoffle, with my blunt knife and unicorn mane as a garrotte HOW DARE YOU EXPOSE MY DARK SECRETS. ‘pahahahahahaha, I can certainly do pictures and coffee and chocolate! Maybe when we search down a venue!
With you on all counts girlfriend! 🙂 xo
yay 😀 hope your outlining is going well x
Don’t even go there. I’ve had 2 weeks of craziness. Haven’t even written for my book. 🙁
well I hope you’re back to it now? xx
I’m getting there. It’s a process, lol. 🙂 xo
sending you love and productive thoughts
Thanks girlie. I’ll take it! 🙂 xo
😀 😀 You’re awesome. Thank you for sharing. <3
you’re more than welcome, thanks for stopping in.
XX
I LOVE your new logo! ?
So true. Brand and all that jazz. I remember those posts about marketing from Charli. They’re really good. (Nice tag line. …bad words.) Yup. That’s you. Also, you are so right about your images. Whenever I see them it doesn’t matter what the image is or what the color scheme is, I always know they are Sacha’s. ?
hehe, thanks my lovely. Love that you love it 😀 I knew you would like the colours <3 <3 glad you think the tagline works, I wasn't 100% sure but decided to plump for it anyway I can always change it if I want at a later date. Not that I think I will. It's grown on me. hehe glad you agree about the photos too, I try hard to keep them consistent. Hope you're feeling at least a bit better today.
When I first started to blog I immediately decided to write about whatever it was that was on my mind. The subtitle of my blog says it all. That way, as you quite rightly say, you pull in a far bigger audience. I’ve often read advice that says that blogs should stick to one subject. Great, if that is what you want and you don’t mind a limited audience, but when I decided to publish that first post, I wanted EVERYONE to read my blog. ?
I understand the point, but I think I sit on the other side of the fence, I don’t believe everyone would ever be interested in everything I have to write or say, I think (for me) it’s more effective to be a bit more niche and appeal to a specific audience and pleasing them, than it is trying to appeal to everyone and not really pleasing anyone. But then I have a specific focus, so I would say that, because thats what works for me. Each to their own, with their own journeys and that’s what’s so amazing about this whole industry <3 <3
True, but I guess that could be said for somebody who blogs nothing but recipes. Not everyone will like every recipe. Plus, just about every post I’ve published (apart from the early days) got likes and comments, so somebody was interested in that post. For me, ‘Variety is the spice of life’ and that’s why I blog about just about everything.
However, as you say, everyone is different. We all need to find our own comfort zone, otherwise, what’s the point? We do that as we gain more experience. Eighteen months ago I’d never have believed I would have written several posts that gave tips about blogging or published posts that included my own photography. I could never run more than one blog, so I have to cram it all into one.
Different strokes <3 <3 let's agree to disagree and then we can hug it out at the bash! :p
I hope we don’t have to wait until the Bash ?
fingers crossed for a writing retreat
I had WAY too much fun working on this. Seriously, thanks for letting me help out.
Well thank you for doing it ???
Indispensable information. Thanks, as always, for sharing, Sis. I can’t wait to pass it on.
and as always I am so grateful for you sharing my posts 😀