We all have a story to tell because life is a constant struggle. It is full of suspense, unpredictable twists and turns, and great characters, all hallmarks of a great novel. Now, you must ask what I am talking about because the title of this blog suggests a different topic. Just bear with me for a moment. We’ll get there.
In the middle of creating my first novel, doubts kicked in. I questioned everything: my creativity and originality, my style, my tone and narration, the settings, you name it. My first novel suffered so many drafts and versions, finals, final finals, and, of course, final final finals. But then, it occurred to me: you can be remarkable, but nobody can be perfect in everything.
While some aspects of my writing may be better than others, there are certain areas in which other writers excel. And that’s OK. As long as I don’t give up on my writing, I can strive to make my novel the best example of my talents and what I can offer to the reader. And it is the same with the most controversial word among writers: marketing.
As with writing skills, we are all unique individuals with distinct qualities. Creating your author brand is a multi-faceted process that involves a range of actions, such as building your website and social media profiles, maintaining an active presence on each platform, writing a blog, hosting a podcast, and much more. But it doesn’t mean you have to do it all perfectly. So, the good news is that you don’t have to do everything in marketing but you should try doing something.
First, you list all the steps to build an author brand, such as defining your author brand, developing the tagline, finding your target audience, creating a website, a blog, a podcast, and posting on social media. You see that some are perfectly acceptable. Underline those in green color and make them your first task.
Others might be a little more tricky, but you can choose at least one that, with a bit of extra effort, you can imagine yourself doing. You can mark those as blue or another color of your liking. It’s OK to mark the one you absolutely refuse to do with red.
Similar to writing, there are things you excel at and others you don’t. Once you accept that doing something is always better than doing nothing, it becomes easier to take action. Who better to promote your book than you?
