Survival Tips for the Waiting Part of Writing, Tip #5 – Develop Your Brand

In my younger homemaking days I cooked almost every night. One of my favorite meals to prepare was roast, carrots, and potatoes—slow cooked in a Crock-pot. There’s nothing like walking into the house after a long day of errands and being accosted by the tantalizing aroma of slow roasting beef. But one day I was running short on time and decided to take a shortcut that would cut the cooking time in half. I heated a skillet to ultra-high temp, added some butter, let it sizzle, then seared the beef for several minutes on each side. This method had worked well in the past, but when it came time to flip the roast from the skillet into the Crock-pot, to finish cooking, I missed.

The heavy skillet buckled my wrist, and the scalding beef landed squarely on my arm. In the two seconds it took for my brain to register the culinary fail, my tender fore-arm flesh melted away underneath the weight and heat of the roast. A third degree burn ensued. It wasn’t until later—much later—that I was able to laugh at the fact that I could possibly be the only human on earth who has ever been branded by a cow.      

I have found the process of author branding almost as painful as that burn. But unlike my run-in with the roast, author branding is necessary. Successful authors give their readers a solid characterization of themselves through branding. Good branding is the vehicle that readers hop aboard to join us on our writing journey. They feel comfortable doing so because they know where we are taking them. On the other hand, if an author is all over the map it might make it difficult for a reader to click their seat belt into place and enjoy the ride.

That is why it is important to discover who we are as writers and weave that theme through everything we write. Here are three simple steps to start the process:

1. Recognize that you already have a brand. There’s no need to make one up. You were created with a purpose and a message. Authenticity and transparency are key in branding.
2. Make a list of everything that defines you as a writer—use words that clarify your values, your message, your vision, and your style. Then look for the common threads and narrow it down to three words or phrases that best describe you.
3. Use the big three as your guide to show your readers, through every means possible, those traits in action. Everything you write, say, post, tweet, and promote should point back to those traits. 

Scripture: Ephesians 2:10, Matthew 5:16

Fun Fact: Stanley Martin Lieber originally decided to write under the pen name Stan Lee because he hoped to publish more serious literary works in the future and wanted to save his real name for that. But once his comic books became a huge hit, Lieber legally changed his name to Stan Lee.

Annette Marie Griffin is a award-winning writer who speaks at local women’s group meetings and women’s retreats on the topic of biblical womanhood and finding our identity in Christ. She is the Operations and Events Coordinator at a private school for special needs students and is the editor of their quarterly newsletter. She has written custom curriculum for women’s retreats and children’s church curriculum for Gateway Church in San Antonio, Texas where she served as Children’s Ministry Director and Family Program Director for over twenty years. She and her husband John have five amazing children and two adorable grands. She’s a member of Word Weavers International, ACFW, SCBWI, and serves on the Board of Directors for The Creative Writing Institute.