By Asher Burns - Fall 2025 Intern
Implicit within the concept of marketing is the idea that a person or organization has to actively pursue consumers. One can’t simply develop a product and assume that people will show up to purchase it. The same is true for authors. If an author wants their books to sell, they need to pursue an audience. One of the major ways to do this is by branding, “the process of giving a meaning to [a] specific organization, company, products or services by creating and shaping a brand in consumers’ minds” (Andrivet, 2015). Developing a brand highlights the distinctives that make an author special, and allows readers to quickly familiarize themselves with the author’s content.
When developing a brand, an author must consider who their audience is or will be. If an author wishes to cater to college-aged readers of romance novels, their brand will significantly differ from that of an author whose primary audience is retired home and garden enthusiasts. The audience need not be this precise: it could simply be “people who enjoy fast-paced, funny books” or “children,” or suchlike. Nonetheless, it is important to have a specific audience in mind so that you can consider how to market your brand and writing toward them. It’s also important, though, to remain authentic in this process. Finding your audience helps you define your brand, but defining your brand also helps you find your audience. Write what you want to write, and consider who would want to read that material. Then develop your brand in a way that appeals to both you and your audience.
When you have a target audience in mind, it becomes easier to market yourself and build your brand in an effective way. For example, it is crucial to become active on social media, where “you can find vast groups of interested people to engage with, spread the word and start building a following of your own” (99designs, n.d.). But depending on the specific demographic you’re targeting, you might focus your efforts on a specific social media site. An older audience might be more active on Facebook, while a younger audience might be more active on Instagram or TikTok, and virtually all age groups are present on YouTube (“Social Media Fact Sheet,” 2024). This will also guide your decisions as you consider whether to focus on selling ebooks or physical books, what publications to seek publicity interviews with, and so forth.
There is a lot more to developing a brand than simply defining your audience. But without defining your audience, it becomes nearly impossible to build a truly effective brand.
References
99designs. (n.d.). 3 key steps to building your author brand. Jericho Writers. https://jerichowriters.com/3-key-steps-to-building-your-author-brand/.
Andrivet, M. (2015, October 27). What is branding? The Branding Journal. https://www.thebrandingjournal.com/2015/10/what-is-branding-definition/.
(2024, November 13). Social media fact sheet. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/social-media/.