I’ve been reading about author “branding” lately. No, it doesn’t involve a hot iron and burning flesh. The idea is to promote your name as a writer, to make your name a brand name. Quick! Name a horror writer. Thriller? Mystery? Literary? YA fantasy? Wouldn’t you like to be the author whose name comes to mind first? Yeah, not realistic, but you do want your name to come to mind at some point, right?
Right now, some of you are probably remembering author Maureen Johnson’s Manifesto: I Am Not A Brand. I do get her point; I’m just as human as she is. But when I’m published, I will have a product to sell, and it will bear my name as author. Therefore, it only makes sense that I want as many people as possible to recognize my name when they see my book.
I’m not an extrovert, maybe you aren’t either, but as published authors we’ll be expected to sell our books. We’re told, “Get your name out there, and do it now!” Great … how do we do that? What’s your Twitter name and Facebook identity? If you’re GreenLady on Twitter, and you’re known as Liz Wilder on Facebook, you’re missing out on two opportunities to brand Elizabeth Cox-Wilder— the name you write under— on the minds of potential readers.
Take a look at your blog. How easy is it for your followers to learn your real name? Or do you plan to publish anonymously? I blog through WordPress so my url was lindacassidylewis.wordpress.com, then I registered my domain name, so now if you go to just lindacassidylewis.com you also end up here. I set my blog profile to display my full name here and on every other blog where I comment. And my name links back to this blog in the hope readers on those other blogs will click through to visit here. (Good reason you should all start commenting on my blog. 😉 )
You’ll find me as Linda Cassidy Lewis on Facebook (no fan page, yet), but that was too long for a Twitter username , so I tweet as @cassidylewis, which admittedly is not perfect because a couple followers have assumed Cassidy is my first name, but hey, if they ever take the time to look at my Twitter page, they’ll see my full name. The more opportunities you take to connect your name with your writing, the easier it will be for book buyers to remember you. Of course, you’ll want to mind your manners as make yourself known, or you’ll be remembered in the wrong way.
So, yeah, I guess you all know my name by now. 😀 Too bad I’m not already published. But I hope when I am, you’ll see my book and say, “Oh, I know her. She’s nice. I think I’ll buy her book.”
Now, it’s your turn. Tell me, how do you get your name out there?
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Linda Cassidy Lewis 
Hi, Linda. I agree with what you say about the necessity of branding, but I disagree it has to be your name that is branded. Certainly Stephen King, Dan Brown and John Grisham are big examples of branded author names.
However, I’d say Harry Potter was a bigger brand than JK Rowling. I’d say the Wheel of Time was a bigger brand than Robert Jordan. I’d say Twilight was a bigger brand than Stephenie Myer.
Whilst I agree with your idea of the necessity of branding, I won’t be branding my name, but rather the name of my publishing company, Scathach. My logo (I have an artist working on one right now) will take a more prominent place on my covers than my name.
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Thank you for explaining your view, Chris.
Though I agree the whole world knows of Harry Potter and Twilight, I believe their authors names are well known too. However, even for a bucketful of money, I couldn’t tell you who published either series.
Nevertheless, I wish you well with your publications.
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