Blogs and Brands

Thanks for all the great comments on my previous post What’s Your “Brand”. Clearly, this issue of “branding” is something authors wrestle with. While we can blame it on the current state of publishing, I think there may be a big upside to the process of defining your “authorial signature.”

That aside, perhaps the biggest element in building and sustaining an author brand is not an author’s books, but their blog. From Tribal Writer, the online art of developing your author brand global microbrand thing:

I still remember when the president of a dot.com company told me, years ago, how he had advised a (now very successful) nonfiction author that “his books support his blog, and not vice-versa.” At the time I found it a radical and slightly dubious concept, but now I think I see what he means.

Your books come out intermittently.

Your blog (or tweetstream or Youtube channel or whatever you decide to use) is always there, always discoverable, always conveying a sense of who you are and what you care about. It doesn’t mean that the books themselves are any less important – in today’s cluttered chaotic marketplace, it’s more important than ever to be as kick-ass as possible.

It does mean that the personality of the author is front and center in a way that perhaps suggests that the whole idea of a ‘writing career’ has to be re-envisioned. Neil Gaiman’s fans can experience him everyday – through his blog and Tweets – in a way that Stephen King’s fans, when I was growing up, could not (except by reading his books). And Neil doesn’t engage his fans by bleeting “buy my books”; he provides them with stuff they find interesting.

It’s a very interesting post which I encourage you to read. And I think the author’s point is valid: A writer’s “books support his blog, and not vice-versa.” Your blog does more to further your “brand” than your novels do. Of course this should not diminish the necessity of a good book, but heighten the importance of a good blog.

I recently stumbled upon an author’s website that I think does a good job of framing her brand.

Erin Healy has co-authored some books with Ted Dekker and recently released a novel of her own. A quick glance at her website gives you an idea of the author’s brand. Her tagline in the header is Read Into the Mist with a header image of a fog shrouded forest. Her pic and bio further the atmosphere with references to “the veil between physical and spiritual realities” and “bridges between the seen and unseen elements of our lives.” Honestly, I really like this.

Erin’s site, however, is not a blog. It is a static website. And the contention of Tribal Writer’s post is that it’s the ongoing social networking — whether blog, Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube — that really builds author brand.

I know many authors debate the extent to which they should immerse themselves in social networking. Nowadays, websites are non-negotiable. It’s the blogging and Tweeting that’s the stickler. To the busy novelist, maintaining a regular blog is a lot more challenging than a static website. Nevertheless, if the post above is accurate, a blog can accomplish much more to further an author’s brand than can a static website. Yes, a good website is a great step. But blogging can garner a regular readership which intermittent novels cannot.

Question: Do you know of some blogs which nail the author’s brand? (And feel free to provide a link, even if it’s your own. I’d love to check it out.) Do you think your blog effectively captures and expresses your own brand? Or do you think this emphasis on blogs and social networking is conflated and negligible to an author?